Fall Rankings Review: 2023 Power Forwards
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The featured image is of Olivia Marks Olivia Marks 5'9" | PF South Central (Union Mills) | 2023 State IN (2023) of South Central High School in Union Mills, Indiana. Last Friday, September 30th, we released the Fall rankings update…
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Continue ReadingThe featured image is of Olivia Marks Olivia Marks 5'9" | PF South Central (Union Mills) | 2023 State IN (2023) of South Central High School in Union Mills, Indiana.
Last Friday, September 30th, we released the Fall rankings update for the Class of 2023. There were a handful of new additions, a few players who raised their “stock”, so to speak, so subsequently there was some movement throughout the list. I wanted to take this time to circle back and address all of the ranked prospects, position by position. Below is a look at 46 power forward prospects who make up 20.4% of the rankings this time around, with analysis on a handful to “keep an eye on” detailed at the bottom.
KEEP AN EYE ON:
Zionsville will likely start the year as a Top-10 team, and Mallory will be a “secret weapon” of sorts for them. While everyone is more focused on our top 2023 power forward, Laila Hull Laila Hull 6’1″ | PF Zionsville | 2023 State #49 Nation IN , plus their 2024 shooters, Mallory can operate comfortably around the paint and in the mid-post, and she has the potential to average a double-double. She is a strong kid, she plays with a nice motor, and she’s willing to be physical. But she also has good hands and feet, a solid handle for her position, and she too can knock down jumpers to the 3-point line.
Dani is in a similar role for Noblesville as Heerdt (above) is for the Lady Eagles. Dani is a strong, physical, hard-working front-liner who does a lot of the “little things”, like rebound and defend at a high level. She can score with her back to the basket or in the mid-post, and with all the focus on the Lady Millers’ backcourt, she should find several easy scores this season, whether that’s off of simple put-backs or just finding space when her defenders help to penetrating guards. She, too, could approach a double-double average in 2022-2023.
Whitney is another one of those tough-nosed, high-motor, not-gonna-get-outworked kids. She has a fairly strong frame, nice length for her build, and she likes/seeks physicality. She has good hands and feet around the low-block, she can finish in a variety of ways, plus she is consistent in the mid-post. She can even step outside and knock down the occasional 3-pointer in pick-and-pop situations. She has a nose for the ball and can box out or pursue to rebound, plus she is an effortful defender who will take on whoever you ask her to.
I really like Kenady’s potential as a small college prospect, and I think she can have a nice season on a potentially very good Thunderbirds team in 2022-2023. She has a fairly strong frame, broad shoulders, and really nice length. She works hard and runs the floor well North/South, plus she has solid all-around skill. She can handle it a little in transition, she has nice touch and can knock down an outside jumper from time to time, and she’s highly effective playing in the mid-post. I think she “fits” a lot of the Midwestern small colleges.
Highlights
I finally saw Reagan for the first time over the Summer, and there are a lot of intriguing qualities about her game. She will definitely need to get stronger, but she has tremendous length, a little bounce, and she’s a fairly fluid athlete in most directions. She will pursue rebounds, but she’s not much of an interior player in general. Instead, she likes to work a 15-bubble around the basket, knock down jumpers, and attack from there. She will even step outside and look to shoot/attack. I also like her use of her length at the defensive end.