Ranking the freshmen class so far

[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.

 

[bbsamjj]

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.

In general I'd agree with you, except USC has a much more impressive resume and way more quality wins than ND thus far.

 

[JstVisiting]

There are four teams who legitimately wouldn’t trade their top freshman for any other - USC, Notre Dame, LSU, and Southern Cal.

Going to be interesting to see what each player does in their career.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Interesting, kinda looks like against Louisville, Hidalgo was trying to carry the team a la Watkins, and it didn't work.

 

[Reypl21]

Interesting, kinda looks like against Louisville, Hidalgo was trying to carry the team a la Watkins, and it didn't work.

I mean, if she didn't score all of points they would have lost by 15-20. Louisville did a good job of crowding Citron and Westbeld. They left KK open on the perimeter and DeWolfe, Watson, and Marshall are limited.

 

[JellyBean]

Interesting, kinda looks like against Louisville, Hidalgo was trying to carry the team a la Watkins, and it didn't work.

Hannah did a pretty darn good job of keeping them in the game.

 

[nwhoopfan]

My point is that others have been noting that ND has had more balanced scoring and wasn't quite as dependent on Hidalgo as Watkins/USC. Except for tonight.

edit--also note Hidalgo had 1 reb/1 assist, well below her season averages, but she did get 7 steals; this is not a criticism, just not quite the typical game from her this season.

 

[From France]

At the moment, I would choose Hanna Hidalgo as Freshman of the year

But a good thing is JuJu is attracting next classes to USC for a revival

 

[Darwin]

Interesting, kinda looks like against Louisville, Hidalgo was trying to carry the team a la Watkins, and it didn't work.

The Ville played amazing defense on Hidalgo the entire game, she had little room to operate. Credit where it is due.

 

[From France]

FoY is for Hidalgo, my opinion

 

[ISUnorth]

My Iowa State Cyclone freshman duo put up great numbers last night and combined for 41 points and 25 rebounds. Houston's not a good team (actually pretty) but Brown seemed to have hit a freshman wall and had been well off her earlier numbers. Still it was a road game, albeit one in front of maybe 150 fans.

Last night:
Audi Crooks: 25 pts, 12 reb, zero TO
Addy Brown: 16 pts, 13 reb, 7 ast (7 TO on the bad side)

Crooks has moved up to #4 in scoring in the Big 12. Think it's higher for conference only but can't access Big 12 stats from where I am at to sort by conference games.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

There are four teams who legitimately wouldn’t trade their top freshman for any other - USC, Notre Dame, LSU, and Southern Cal.

Going to be interesting to see what each player does in their career.

Legit, you need to add Texas to that list.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

My Iowa State Cyclone freshman duo put up great numbers last night and combined for 41 points and 25 rebounds. Houston's not a good team (actually pretty) but Brown seemed to have hit a freshman wall and had been well off her earlier numbers. Still it was a road game, albeit one in front of maybe 150 fans.

Last night:
Audi Crooks: 25 pts, 12 reb, zero TO
Addy Brown: 16 pts, 13 reb, 7 ast (7 TO on the bad side)

Crooks has moved up to #4 in scoring in the Big 12. Think it's higher for conference only but can't access Big 12 stats from where I am at to sort by conference games.

Currently, Crooks is second in scoring in conference games at 20.1 pts per game. Booker is third at 19.6 per game. Crooks scored 24 points at Texas. And Coach Schaefer said after the game that Texas’ Jones and Gaston had played well against her!

 

[visitingcock]

Legit, you need to add Texas to that list.

Yup. Booker’s a beast.

 

[ISUnorth]

Currently, Crooks is second in scoring in conference games at 20.1 pts per game. Booker is third at 19.6 per game. Crooks scored 24 points at Texas. And Coach Schaefer said after the game that Texas’ Jones and Gaston had played well against her!

Thanks. I was wondering how they ranked in conference only games. Out of country right now and stats are the one item blocked on Big 12 sports. Weird. Had to go toe ESPN stats.

Crooks did have a good game at Texas. My reaction to Booker in that game is she should shoot more. That's a really sweet WNBA level mid-range jumper she has. I get she's trying to run point and all but I'd think she might want to lean a tad more to scoring PG than facilitating PG. Either way she is looking awesome out there.

Crooks is defying all of the conditioning and Big 12 play wearing her down talk. She just keeps get more minutes and more points. I didn't see that coming from her as a freshman, at all.

 

[ISUnorth]

@Txhoopsalot

What do you think about Big 12 freshman of the year and player of the year? Will Booker get both?

I think the coaches should collude on their voting and give Booker POY and Crooks FOY.