Ranking the freshmen class so far

[ISUnorth]

Iowa State might not have thee best freshman but the freshman duo Brown/Crooks will be hard to beat out for best pair.

 

[triaddukefan]

Leads the team in Points, Rebounds (at 5'9"), Steals, and shooting 43% from downtown (which also leads the team)... in 20 minutes a game.

Didactic as I don't think our colleague was trying to be "annoying" per se' (which is what being pedantic would have connotated), just pointing out an issue on Kitts. Plus I want to give him the benefit of the doubt though he may have been pedantic!

While researching this data, I did notice that Duke, who had the #6 ranked class only had their #27 person placed on the list, whereas their #3 Donovan, #29 Thomas and #62 are no where to be found and given their stats, something seems to be amiss. What say you @triaddukefan, lover of the Blue Devilness-what's going on that this squad is not contributing more?

Donovan started out slow, but is getting better and better. She mentioned a few weeks ago that the game is slowing down for her. Her biggest issue (outside of shooting) is her propensity to get into foul trouble. One thing that sets her apart is her motor especially on the defensive end. Disruptive and relentless. She will be a fixture on All-ACC defensive teams for years to come.

Thomas produces, but she doesn't get many minutes. She is the 8th player in a 10 player rotation. Surprisingly, her two best performances were vs Stanford and South Carolina. 14 points in 31 minutes vs Stanford. 13 points in 18 minutes vs SC on 6-7 shooting. I like her... nothing flashy... but a solid solid player.

Not sure where you got your stats from on your chart.. but Okananwa averages over 6 rebounds a game, not 1.5 Not sure if that has any affect on her rating.

 

[ISUnorth]

Cyclone freshman Audi Crooks was named Big 12 player of the week. She had won freshman of the week before but no Cyclone freshman has ever won POW.

"Crooks led Iowa State to a pair of AP Top 25 wins in the same regular season week for the first time since 2009-10. The Algona, Iowa native had her second career double-double, scoring 22 points with 11 rebounds as the Cyclones erased a 19-point third-quarter deficit to defeat then-No. 24 West Virginia 74-64. The freshman center hit a go-ahead basket with 24 seconds left, which stood as the game-winner, capping a 23-point performance against then-No. 4 Baylor. The criminal justice and sociology major averaged 22.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and shot 57.6 percent from the floor as she collected her first career player of the week nod after two previous freshman of the week selections." - Big 12

In the win over Baylor fellow freshman, forward Addy Brown, had 9 PTS 11 REB 5 AST 6 STL. She's #2 in the league in assists (she's a forward) and #4 in rebounds. Both Crooks and Brown are top 10 in league scoring.

 

[Plebe]

Cyclone freshman Audi Crooks was named Big 12 player of the week. She had won freshman of the week before but no Cyclone freshman has ever won POW.

"Crooks led Iowa State to a pair of AP Top 25 wins in the same regular season week for the first time since 2009-10. The Algona, Iowa native had her second career double-double, scoring 22 points with 11 rebounds as the Cyclones erased a 19-point third-quarter deficit to defeat then-No. 24 West Virginia 74-64. The freshman center hit a go-ahead basket with 24 seconds left, which stood as the game-winner, capping a 23-point performance against then-No. 4 Baylor. The criminal justice and sociology major averaged 22.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and shot 57.6 percent from the floor as she collected her first career player of the week nod after two previous freshman of the week selections." - Big 12

In the win over Baylor fellow freshman, forward Addy Brown, had 9 PTS 11 REB 5 AST 6 STL. She's #2 in the league in assists (she's a forward) and #4 in rebounds. Both Crooks and Brown are top 10 in league scoring.

The future is bright in Ames. The Cyclones took their lumps early in a challenging OOC schedule, but they're now a better team for it. (Take note other WCBB coaches: having a young team is no excuse for scheduling pathetic nonconference schedules.)

 

[DallasDomer]

Gonna disagree with you. I guess we will see, but Williams performance vs Colorado and VT show me she will likely to continue to stick out in those high profile games and is capable of being that go to player even with all the talent on that roster. I actually think Williams will be more efficient than Hailey Van Lith when SEC play is all said and done. And let’s be honest, LSU does not have a bench so Williams and that starting 5 is gonna essentially play a lot all of SEC play. More so than they would like, which could cause issues for LSU down the road.

But to me, when evaluating these freshmen, gonna need to see more than who scores the most. How efficient are some? Are they rebounding the ball? Assist to turnover ratio? How are they impacting the game on the defensive end. All of that will work itself out down the road. But it’s apparent who the top 5-10 freshmen at this point. Conference play will start to separate those even more.

See the post by DefenseBB on 1/3. He laid out many performance measures.

 

[BRS24]

One of the most impactful freshmen classes in recent memory. Ranking based on quality of play from scoring, to assists, to defense, to rebounding.

1. Juju Watkins (USC)
2. Hannah Hidalgo (ND)
3. Madison Booker (Texas)
4. Malaysia Fulwiley (SC)
5. Taliah Scott (Arkansas)
6. Zoe Brooks (NC ST)
7. Ashlynn Shade (UCONN)
8. Addy Brown (Iowa St)
9. KK Arnold (UCONN)
10. Mikaylah Williams (LSU)
11. Stailee Heard (Ok St)
12. Oluchi Okananwa (Duke)
13. S'Mya Nichols (Kansas)
14. Audi Cooks (Iowa St)
15. Kailey Woolston (BYU)

After looking at ESPNs rankings of the week (frosh, player, team, etc), I went back to the recruiting rankings to see how this current list compared to final HS rankings, and yes, there were changes to the list. The right hand side shows the remaining HS ranked up to 20, that were not in the latest ESPN list. Toomey is in italics as she's out for the season.

Interesting that ESPN's December rank had the following, although these players were not originally in the top 100 recruiting list.
8. Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State
12. Kailey Woolston, BYU
14. Natalie Potts, Nebraska

 

[ISUnorth]

Thought I'd bump this thread on best freshman. Most talk has moved to the overall Freshman of the Year but who will be FOY in YOUR CONFERENCE ?

Being a Big 12 alumni I'll throw in the two top contenders for the Big 12. Both Madison Brooker for Texas and Audi Crooks for Iowa State have both stepped it up in conference play and are #2 and #3 in scoring. Crooks is #2 in rebounding. Brooker is #1 in assists. Pretty much a forgone conclusion Brooker will win it but Crooks is putting up great numbers and ISU is probably 2-4 and not 6-2 without her.

Here's the conference game only stats for top freshman and contenders for All-Big 12 Freshman Team. Only five slots so someone is going to get cheated (probably Woolson) unless there's a tie and six player slike last year.

• Madison Brooker, Texas: 20.6 pts 6.8 reb 5.6 ast (only bad is 4.9 TO)
• Audi Crooks, Iowa State: 19.3 pts 9.4 reb - just short of a double-double avg
• Smya K Nichols, Kansas: 14.2 pts 2.8 ast
• Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State - 13.1 pts 6.1 reb
• Addy Brown, Iowa State 12.3 pts 8.5 reb 4.4 ast (only non-guard in league leaders for assists)
• Kailey Woolston, BYU: 12.6 pts

 

[JellyBean]

Big Ten side right now:
1). Natalie Potts, Nebraska
2). Grace Grocholski, Minnesota-Pretty close
3). Mary Ashley Stevenson, Purdue-Step or two behind GG.

 

[Darwin]

Tremendous freshman class, one of the best maybe in many many years.

 

[LoTrader]

Time for everyone to acknowledge Donovyn Hunter, freshman PG from Oregon State. I can tell you the PAC-12 coaches have acknowledged Donovyn.

 

[DallasDomer]

Thought I'd bump this thread on best freshman. Most talk has moved to the overall Freshman of the Year but who will be FOY in YOUR CONFERENCE ?

Being a Big 12 alumni I'll throw in the two top contenders for the Big 12. Both Madison Brooker for Texas and Audi Crooks for Iowa State have both stepped it up in conference play and are #2 and #3 in scoring. Crooks is #2 in rebounding. Crooks is #1 in assists. Pretty much a forgone conclusion Brooker will win it but Crooks is putting up great numbers and ISU is probably 2-4 and not 6-2 without her.

Here's the conference game only stats for top freshman and contenders for All-Big 12 Freshman Team. Only five slots so someone is going to get cheated (probably Woolson) unless there's a tie and six player slike last year.

• Madison Brooker, Texas: 20.6 pts 6.8 reb 5.6 ast (only bad is 4.9 TO)
• Audi Crooks, Iowa State: 19.3 pts 9.4 reb - just short of a double-double avg
• Smya K Nichols, Kansas: 14.2 pts 2.8 ast
• Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State - 13.1 pts 6.1 reb
• Addy Brown, Iowa State 12.3 pts 8.5 reb 4.4 ast (only non-guard in league leaders for assists)
• Kailey Woolson, BYU: 12.6 pts

It's KAILEY WOOLSTON 13.8 pts 3.3 tens 2.4 assists 0.9 steals 0.2 blks 2.7 to 47.6%

I don't know if she deserves the award but she played well against K state and certainly deserves to have her name spell right with up to date stats. No offense meant but it is one of my hot buttons to misspell a deserving players name.

Time for everyone to acknowledge Donovyn Hunter, freshman PG from Oregon State. I can tell you the PAC-12 coaches have acknowledged Donovyn.

The one who's averaging 6 points per game 2.9 assists and 1.4 turnovers?

Maybe she had a great game but in my opinion she's not in this discussion.

 

[triaddukefan]

Another good freshman flying under the national radar is Kymora Johnson, PG for UVA. She will probably be runner up for ACC freshman of the year.

 

[domerduck]

Time for everyone to acknowledge Donovyn Hunter, freshman PG from Oregon State. I can tell you the PAC-12 coaches have acknowledged Donovyn.

After today she will cerltainy will get PAC12 Freshman of the week over Juju who didn't play well losing to the Huskies.

 

[Dillon77]

Another good freshman flying under the national radar is Kymora Johnson, PG for UVA. She will probably be runner up for ACC freshman of the year.

Good call. She's been the driver of the UVA resurgence, as of late. Very good athletic and technical skills, but it's her headiness that caught my attention against both ND and FSU.

 

[Dillon77]

Big Ten side right now:
1). Natalie Potts, Nebraska
2). Grace Grocholski, Minnesota-Pretty close
3). Mary Ashley Stevenson, Purdue-Step or two behind GG.

Mary Ashley Stevenson (formerly "Groot") has played an undersized power forward for Purdue all year, but she's tenacious and smart. Really good pick-up for the Boilermakers to find a kid from a Manhattan private school ready for P5 play as a frosh.

 

[visitingcock]

Mary Ashley Stevenson (formerly "Groot") has played an undersized power forward for Purdue all year, but she's tenacious and smart. Really good pick-up for the Boilermakers to find a kid from a Manhattan private school ready for P5 play as a frosh.

Thanks. I was wondering about the last name. She is a gamecock legacy and played in Columbia with Ashlynn Watkins coached by a former Gamecock. Wishing her well!

 

[Dillon77]

Thanks. I was wondering about the last name. She is a gamecock legacy and played in Columbia with Ashlynn Watkins coached by a former Gamecock. Wishing her well!

If I remember correctly, she transferred for a year during the pandemic to keep playing. Her NYC private league shut down that year....

 

[LoTrader]

Time for everyone to acknowledge Donovyn Hunter, freshman PG from Oregon State. I can tell you the PAC-12 coaches have acknowledged Donovyn.

PAC-12 Freshman of the week:

 

[Dillon77]

PAC-12 Freshman of the week:

The lead/kind of parabola lead pass to Beers and bounce pass to Beers off the break were textbook.
Like the lefty drive, as well.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The lead/kind of parabola lead pass to Beers and bounce pass to Beers off the break were textbook.

I only saw one dish to Beers. Rees and Gardiner were also recipients of nice passes.

 

[oldhusky]

Williams is decent but she is still very out of shape, she doesn't look nearly as athletic as she was in AAU. Their strength and conditioning coach dropped the ball. As of today she hasn't come close to living up to her recruiting rankings (#2). Her defense is pretty bad and a 'top 5' freshmen should not be struggling vs Coppin St and Northwestern, I haven't been really all that impressed with her, her game is too one dimensional so far but its early.

Taliah Scott and Fulwiley look like much more rounded freshmen in the SEC, and you could even make a case with Cody Essence being better.

I think with Williams and all of the LSU players for that matter, there are really two different sets of stats. Their overall numbers are a combination of a cupcake out of conference schedule and now a much harder in conference schedule.

If you look at PER stats, for the season vs. conference games only, virtually every LSU player is way down on the conference only efficiency stats which may be a better indicator of their performance against very good competition. From that perspective Williams looks more like a good player than a great one.

Watkins and Hildago have separated themselves substantially from the rest of the pack IMO, but it is a very impressive class.

 

[Vowelguy]

If the W could get its act together, it could add an expansion in Toronto for 2027 just as these players are hitting the league.

 

[Rowdy831]

JuJu is to me the clear number one in the class. She really is what makes USC go and last night she scored 51 on 26 shots against a top 5 team and her team got the win. Like others have said the Freshmen class this year is good but more than that they are getting some of the spotlight they usually don't get. Seems to me like you have Clark and a number of younger people sucking up all the air in WCBB and that is good for the game.

 

[Rowdy831]

Idk, Arkansas schedule is pretty horrendous. SC is far tougher so that is true. I’m a big Taliah fan but her numbers are worse than MK across the board in every category and the assist to turnover ratio is pretty horrific.

MK did prove her worth in her two ranked games Vs Colorado and Virginia tech, one of the best players on the entire floor in both games. She averaged nearly 20 PPG on greater than 50% shooting in those two games combined. The fact people want to over look that is funny to me. She does need to get in little better physical condition but she seems in ways like owusu where she is just effective and gets the job done despite her build.

Idk who wins SEC freshmen of the year, but MK, Fulwiley and Taliah are definitely the best of the SEC with a gap beyond them.

Not sure where the MK hate is coming from. She is easily one of the top freshmen in the country. I’d trust her to make shots Vs elite teams more than reese tbh…

She is a great scorer but not so impressive playing defense. Unfortunately in todays game the offense is way more rewarded than defense so she is at or near the top of most lists but I would like to see her get in college condition and learn how to defend.

 

[DallasDomer]

JuJu is to me the clear number one in the class. She really is what makes USC go and last night she scored 51 on 26 shots against a top 5 team and her team got the win. Like others have said the Freshmen class this year is good but more than that they are getting some of the spotlight they usually don't get. Seems to me like you have Clark and a number of younger people sucking up all the air in WCBB and that is good for the game.

I disagree. Watkins numbers versus Hidalgo give Hidalgo the "lead" right now. Yes Watkins scored 51 but her team didn't do very much. Hidalgo's high is 35 but she has the advantage of leading a team who scores and defends from her play, plus a better shooting %, more steals, and assists. Those statistical differences yield better overall and better team performance.

But everyone has their own opinion.