Will this year's freshmen Bigs rival last year's guards?

[Bone Dog]

No, just that I prefer pfs to be 6'3 to 6'4.

Then they're likely to be slow for the position. At 6'2" Fournier will surprise a lot of opponents with her quickness.

Being an inch taller doesn't really amount to much. It's what you bring with those inches.

 

[Ladeeeeda]

First I've heard of this. When is she allowed to participate? Don't recall hearing this when Koabel joined the team in 2022.

Koabel joined in August 2022. Yep Duke has a dumb policy related to the Visa process that doesn't allowed freshman international players prior to start of school. They have made an exception this year for a men's player who is on his country's nat'l team. Maybe they will be open to change soon. Toby is expected on campus mid August.

 

[JellyBean]

The 24 recruiting class had a LOT more highly ranked bigs than last year - or next years.

Strong should have an opportunity to get major minutes at UConn, maybe even start. Edwards will have a tough time getting minutes in SCar's deep lineup. (but I said that last year about Fulwiley & Kitts). I don't see Adhel Tac breaking through that insane depth. Her redshirt was used up in the Spring, but more time to heal can't hurt.

Notre Dame seems to have an opening for true post Koval and her strength should allows her to muscle up against ACC schools. Is Toby Fournier at Duke her biggest freshman challenger? What a leaper! Or is it Duke's Arianna Robinson? Justice Carlton at Texas? Another strong, big body.

And there are a number of other quality Bigs in this Class, I generally expect bigs to take more development so they probably won't have the immediate effectiveness of last years guards, but it could be a special class of bigs,

Great topic! The potential is there for a lot of these '24 BIGS, especially the top tier post/BIGS. For me, I am looking forward to seeing Faith Wiseman (Indiana) and how that all falls into place. Indiana does well with their post players in terms of skill development. The same with Breanna Williams (Maryland), Berry Wallace (Illinois), and Mackenly Randolph (Louisville) just to name a few. Some of these players could make a serious impact for their programs.

 

[Wildcatfan3]

Don't sleep on Clara Silva of Kentucky.

 

[cancontent]

Then they're likely to be slow for the position. At 6'2" Fournier will surprise a lot of opponents with her quickness.

Being an inch taller doesn't really amount to much. It's what you bring with those inches.

Good point, when you think of someone like Naz Hillmon who is also the same height. At the same time, we're seeing players 6'3" and up who are much more agile than what we saw in the past. Assuming that players 6'3" and up are slow doesn't hold water anymore in today's game.

 

[Bone Dog]

Good point, when you think of someone like Naz Hillmon who is also the same height. At the same time, we're seeing players 6'3" and up who are much more agile than what we saw in the past. Assuming that players 6'3" and up are slow doesn't hold water anymore in today's game.

Sure, there are exceptions. But the quick big is unusual.

 

[cancontent]

Sure, there are exceptions. But the quick big is unusual.

You think so? It doesn't seem that way to me. Not saying they're a dime a dozen, but I don't believe it's as unusual as you think. Especially when you see how they're being coached at the grassroots level.

 

[Bone Dog]

One last thought about Toby: I saw a tape of her HS playing against Qadence Samuels' HS and they ended up matching up against each other a bit. From that encounter you could see that Toby was a significant physical presence and that Qadence couldn't really contain her. It was also interesting to see how much Toby ended up handling the ball outside of the paint. Qadence is a very different kind of player, and though she'd not likely get matched up against her at this level, she might show other dimensions of her own game that Toby wouldn't be able to stop.