2022 Center Review
The featured image is of Haley Thomas Haley Thomas 6'1" | C West Lafayette Harrison | 2022 State IN of West Lafayette Harrison High School and Grand Park Premier-Drudge 16U. While the frontline group in the Class of 2022 might…
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Continue ReadingThe featured image is of Haley Thomas Haley Thomas 6'1" | C West Lafayette Harrison | 2022 State IN of West Lafayette Harrison High School and Grand Park Premier-Drudge 16U.
While the frontline group in the Class of 2022 might not be as top heavy with talent as the wings, it is a reasonably deep collection of prospects. Typically there are less quality frontline prospects than any other group, so college coaches, especially small college coaches in this case, tend to overload in recruiting a class such as this, because you never know when a class is going to come along with several quality power forwards and posts. Below is a look at the 14 centers who currently reside in our Class of 2022 Top-175 rankings, along with a review of seven of those prospects who have been singled out for a trait we think they do better than anyone else on this list. Disclaimer: We tried to “share the wealth” with the categories below. While a few girls could (and probably should) be the recipient in multiple categories, we wanted to make sure someone different was named in each. With just 14 posts in total, we did the best we could.
Rk. | Prospect | Ht. | Pos. | High School |
18. | MyKayla Moran MyKayla Moran 6'2" | C Hamilton Heights | 2022 State IN | 6-3 | C | Hamilton Heights |
24. | Taylor Singer | 6-3 | C | Gibson Southern |
33. | Ally Madden Ally Madden 6'1" | C Blue River Valley | 2022 State IN | 6-2 | C | Blue River Valley |
48. | Abby Sanner Abby Sanner 6'2" | C Warsaw | 2022 State IN | 6-1 | C | Warsaw Community |
79. | Haley Thomas Haley Thomas 6'1" | C West Lafayette Harrison | 2022 State IN | 6-0 | C | West Lafayette Harrison |
89. | Carly Bolser | 6-1 | C | Mississinewa |
106. | Jordan Richmond Jordan Richmond 6'0" | C Avon | 2022 State IN | 6-0 | C | Avon |
111. | Madeline Robertson Madeline Robertson 6'2" | C Mitchell | 2022 State IN | 6-2 | C | Mitchell |
124. | Hannah O’Brien Hannah O’Brien 6'1" | C Parke Heritage | 2022 State IN | 6-1 | C | Parke Heritage |
141. | Maddie Hudspeth Maddie Hudspeth 6'1" | C Oregon-Davis | 2022 State IN | 6-0 | C | Oregon-Davis |
145. | Zoe Bolding Zoe Bolding 6'3" | C Hamilton Southeastern | 2022 State IN | 6-3 | C | Hamilton Southeastern |
152. | Leah Carter Leah Carter 6'1" | PF Northwestern | 2022 State IN | 6-0 | C | Northwestern |
157. | Cortney Dove Cortney Dove 6'0" | C Princeton Community | 2022 State IN | 6-0 | C | Princeton Community |
171. | Niesha Anderson | 6-2 | C | Fort Wayne Snider |
Best Mid-Post Scorer
Anytime I think about the play of
Haley Thomas
Haley
Thomas
6'1" | C
West Lafayette Harrison | 2022
State
IN
from West Lafayette Harrison, I always consider how she combines physicality with finesse. She has a fairly strong frame, and she’s willing to seek contact and play physically inside. At the same time, though, she has great touch in the mid-post and can even knock down the occasional 3-point shot. She plays with a nice motor and a quiet toughness as well, but I feel like it’s her ability to play facing the basket that’s unique amongst this group of centers. You don’t often run into many face-up ’5s’ who enjoy playing physical inside, so even though she hasn’t played a lot of minutes for Harrison yet due to talent older than her, look for her to still draw a lot of nice small college recruiting attention moving forward.
Best Low-Post Scorer
When it comes to scoring the basketball around the block, it has almost become a lost art. “Bigs” today want to play outside, or at least facing the basket, and there isn’t quite the emphasis from most coaches on developing a traditional back-to-the-basket post player. With that said, I think this group as much as any has a few girls who do a nice job scoring down low. One who stands out to me is
Abby Sanner
Abby
Sanner
6'2" | C
Warsaw | 2022
State
IN
of Warsaw. She has a solid/strong frame, some length, and she doesn’t mind contact one bit. She has good hands, decent footwork, and she’s a much better and bouncier athlete than you’d probably expect. She keeps the ball high, finishes over defenders, but she also does a nice job of slipping inside for box-outs and getting rebound buckets that way.
Best Rebounder
While the power forward group might not possess a ton of big, strong, physical frontline players who dominate the boards, several of these girls above are very good at it. One player in particular who stands out to me from a rebounding standpoint is Taylor Singer of Gibson Southern. First, she has an incredibly strong, almost muscular frame. Second, she is a really nice athlete with some speed and very good bounce. And third, that combination can be a real problem for opponents, as she can just beat people to the ball or absolutely move them out of the way. She is a physical player defensively, and she enforces her will at that end of the floor. Add to that her ability to block shots, and she could become one of the better interior defenders in the state, regardless of class.
Best Defender
Speaking of defense, I think that’s a great spot for
MyKayla Moran
MyKayla
Moran
6'2" | C
Hamilton Heights | 2022
State
IN
of Hamilton Heights to come into the picture. The growth she has shown in her game over the last couple of years has been tremendous. She has great size, a strong frame, and she plays with a good motor. Defensively, her awareness and activity have improved so much, that she’s now a huge problem for opposing teams. She can clog the lane and not let you get any shots off inside of about 10-feet, she can rotate to help and trap penetration, she is an excellent box-out rebounder who will also pursue, but I have also been really impressed with her ability to sit down in a stance and either hedge or switch ball-screens and be able to contain ball-handlers for a few seconds.
Best Athlete
I don’t know that there are many big-time athletes in this position group, but there are definitely a variety of types of athletes, so this category is a bit subjective. One player who certainly stands out to me, though, is
Jordan Richmond
Jordan
Richmond
6'0" | C
Avon | 2022
State
IN
of Avon. If she is anything on the court, she is an athlete first. She is incredibly long and wiry, she is extremely bouncy, and she is fast North/South. I think once she gets a little stronger and can maintain a lower stance for longer periods of time, she will also be much quicker laterally. Most games she puts up numbers because she is just more talented. She out-jumps opponents for rebounds, and she gets to her second jump quicker in order to finish before they react. She comes out of nowhere to block shots at times, as well as to pursue long rebounds.
Best Motor
Unlike every other position group, as I looked through the list above there was one name who stood out. Other girls play hard, yes, but I’m not sure anyone competes the way this prospect does. I have chosen to go with
Ally Madden
Ally
Madden
6'1" | C
Blue River Valley | 2022
State
IN
of Blue River Valley because she always looks like she’s playing at a different speed than other “bigs”, when in reality, she’s just always out-working them. Ally is a fairly strong kid, she plays with a quiet toughness, and she absolutely battles at both ends of the floor. She’s one of those kids who doesn’t necessarily look like she’d dominate a game, but when you watch her at length, you want no part of her. This will sound like the oddest of comparisons, and I hate comparing girls to guys, but given her location in Eastern Indiana she kind of reminds me of Connersville’s Matt Howard (2007) who ended up becoming a fan favorite for the Butler Bulldogs because of his hustle, tenacity, and physicality.
Most Under The Radar
I’m sure many prospects above think they are under-recruited, as that’s just a competitor’s mindset. So similarly to my selections at other positions, in this category I have chosen someone I doubt many of you are familiar with…kind of the whole point of being considered under the radar.
Madeline Robertson
Madeline
Robertson
6'2" | C
Mitchell | 2022
State
IN
of Mitchell was actually new to me as of August, and she’s new to the rankings in Indiana’s 2022 class. She has a solid frame with some strength, she has really good length, and she plays the game the “right way” for a post player. She seeks out physicality at both ends of the floor, she plays with a quiet toughness, and she doesn’t back down from anyone. She gets position early offensively and holds her seal, she catches the ball well and keeps it high, and she finishes with a variety of moves. They need a little polish, but she looks like she’s been coached and has absorbed coaching. Defensively, she blocks her share of shots and rebounds well by boxing out. She also tries to front the post, but if someone beats her to the spot, she does a nice job of rooting them out of their comfort zone.