By: Nailah Thomas
Women’s basketball has really elevated in the last few years; from Brittney Griner, Angel Reese, Aliyah Boston, and Aja Wilson. From high school to college to the WNBA, more viewers have come to watch women’s sports and it is continuing to grow here in North Carolina as well. The Carolina All-Stars girls’ basketball program, CAS, began by Coach Ty Cox and his daughter, Bayley, back in 2004 and has continued to make a name for themselves this year.
“I started CAS in 2004,” Coach Cox said. “We just completed our 20th season and over that time, we got about 250+ players going to play college at various levels.” The beginning of CAS started with only two teams and since then it has grown to have teams from 9U to 17U. “I started with a group of 10U and 12U. By the end of the season, we went from two teams to four teams. We had 9U, 10U, 11U, and 12U. Then, I just added one team per year. We eventually got to the point where we had 3rd and 4th-grade teams all the way to the seniors.”
His daughter Bayley, who played Division 1, was with him along the way while starting up CAS. “I started it because of my daughter, who was 8 years old when I started. She was an 8-year-old on the 10U team. This year in September, Bayley turns 28. She went on to be her school’s all-time leading scorer and played Division 1 at Hampton University. I have continued to do it 10 years beyond.”
Her Class of 2013 went on to do amazing things in their careers, including one of her teammates who is now overseas playing in Israel. “Her class was a great class, every player on her team (class of ’13) went on to play Division 1 or Division 2 basketball. From ACC to various levels and one of them is playing in Israel,” Coach Cox said.
Ty Cox has been the glue since the beginning. He says “The reason why I keep doing this is, the relationships that I’ve built over these years, and I’ve seen how impactful being able to be a scholarship student-athlete is, from just a life experience and a financial one. It can be a good tool for families to not have to pay for college.”
Girls’ basketball deserves just as much exposure as men’s basketball or any other sport. The mentality, skillset, and physicality of these girls have shown how much work they put in. It also shows how competitive they are. “Most of our players have been in our program for years,” Cox continued. “That is very important because we’re very loyal to our players. So, pretty much we’ve had about 100 percent college placement. Very few players come through our program and don’t go on to play college.”
This just shows how successful this program is.
The most important part of being an athlete is making sure you are putting being a student first. You can’t be a student-athlete with bad grades, attendance, etc. Coach Cox makes sure that his girls are always on top of everything, and not just basketball because that’s what coaches look for as well.
“You’ve got to get the grades because college coaches ask me a lot of grades and character. So, you don’t want to fall short in those areas because it can be very costly. One thing the players will tell you is that I will not lie to a college coach for you. So, you need to be who you are every day because if they ask me the question, I’m going to give them an honest answer. And it’s not to the point where I will damage them, but I will also tell the truth. Colleges trust me and I understand that this is their job, many of them will base decisions based upon what I tell them.”
Coach Cox has many respectable relationships with coaches from all levels.
“Everybody is not a Division 1 player, and they understand that. I even think playing Division 2 is a big opportunity for players,” Coach Cox says when discussing his team’s success in having so many Division 1 offers.
“Very few players are ready to play Division 1 and I know players look at our players and say all your players go Division 1. I know that but we are not the normal program. The process we take our players through is also not what most clubs do. So, the fact that our entire ’23 class signed Division 1, that can’t happen for any AAU program in the state but us. Well, there’s a reason for that. It’s how we play, the mindset that they know what we need to do and how to do it, and I make sure our players build relationships directly themselves with college coaches.” Coach Cox said.
Carolina All-Stars do not travel that much, they focus on skill and character development. This program teaches players how to be good at whatever they do in all aspects of life. “I think way too many clubs focus on exposure at an early age when players just aren’t ready. I think if clubs spent less time traveling and more time in the gym, their players and families would be better off for it. They would spend less money. The reason the younger ages don’t travel much is that this is a long journey to get to the point where they can be recruitable athletes.”
The younger ages have shown out in every Phenom tournament they have attended and dominated to win each game. “We’re really excited about our younger players. Our ’27-’29 classes are really strong. We’ve even got offers from players as low in the ’26 class already,” Coach Cox says.
Coach Cox went on to highlight some key players on the 17U team.
“Our ’24 class, Maddie Pounds and Khloe Miller, went from not having any offers a year ago to each having double-digit D1 offers. I get to coach both for AAU and my NCGBB Academy for high school. Two players that I think are going to be special college players are Lilli Booker, a super quick point guard who is the engine that makes us go on our 17U team, and Krystal Haddock, a 5’10 athletic wing defender who can score on all three levels, she’s like the glue, she’s going to defend, get 7-8 rebounds a game, 4-6 assists and steals, 8-12 points, and really check the box in every category. Physically, she is college ready. The two of them are going to really make some programs very special. I think as we close out for those two the recruiting will really skyrocket.”
The 17U is an exciting team to watch, the development of each player and how they work together is fascinating. On May 27th, 2023, we got to talk to Tia Bryant at the Lady Phenom Memorial Day Classic who received an offer from UNCG just last month and she says “We have a lot of long arms on our team. When we work together as a team, we are unstoppable, and nobody can go against us.” This team can block shot after shot no matter the height. To see more of this interview, check out @LadyPhenomHoops on Twitter.
On that day Coach Cox also said “Our 17U is a very talented group most of them have offers already, even our younger players.”
Carolina All-Stars will continue to be on the radar and will constantly have players to prove that. Make sure to tune into this program for the rest of the summer to see where they go.