Fall Rankings Review: 2024 SF Rundown
As the Fall rankings updates continue, last Tuesday we turned to the 2024 class, updating them for the first time since June, and we added another 25 prospects to the mix. In this article I take time to break down…
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Continue ReadingAs the Fall rankings updates continue, last Tuesday we turned to the 2024 class, updating them for the first time since June, and we added another 25 prospects to the mix. In this article I take time to break down the small forward position, giving you a look at a number of types of wing players from different perspectives.
Top of the Class
Heading up the small forward position group in 2024 is none other than Ellery Minch Ellery Minch 6'3" | PF Mt. Vernon (Fortville) | 2024 State IN of Mount Vernon (Fortville). She has good height, tremendous length, and she’s a fluid/smooth athlete. She can handle the ball and initiate the offense like a point forward, she is a good perimeter shooter with extended range beyond the 3-point line, plus she can attack the basket and score, or she can use her height and make plays from the mid-post and short-corners. She could become a valuable defensive player, as her measurables and athleticism should allow for her to take on a number of different positions at that end of the floor. All-in-all, she’s just the most complete player of this group. Pushing her the most is Alexis Castator Alexis Castator 6'1" | SG Fort Wayne Northrop | 2024 State IN of Carroll (Fort Wayne). Castator is another nice-sized wing prospect, plus she has a real nice pace and smoothness to her game. She has some strength and absorbs contact reasonably well when she attacks the basket, but she also has good touch around the perimeter and nice ball skill. Castator can already play some guard or a point forward role, but defensively right now she’s more of a ’3’. She’s obviously another incredibly versatile wing in this class with a number of tools to turn to.
Sophie Johnson Sophie Johnson 6'0" | PF Evansville Memorial | 2024 State IN of Evansville Memorial is probably the kid less people are familiar with, and a big part of that is due to location. She has a strong, athletic frame, she’s still growing and might be pushing 6-0 now, plus she has physical talent and can run and jump with the best of them. She too has really nice ball skill, she can handle and create for herself or others, plus she can make shots consistently from all levels. She put together a couple of weekends in the Spring where she drew the attention of National scouts, and they continued to follow her throughout July. Look for her to continue growing her game as her role at Memorial should expand this Winter. I also really enjoy watching Scarlett Kimbrell Scarlett Kimbrell 5'11" | SF Franklin Community | 2024 State IN of Franklin Community, and she put together as good of a Freshman year in 2020-2021 as any of these wings. As an athlete, she too has nice length, wiry strength, and fluid athleticism. But it’s her ability to absolutely fill it up anywhere on the offensive side of half-court that stands out. She is a lethal shooter, and if you come out to defend her, she just scoots back. What I liked about her game over the Summer is that she was much more aggressive attacking the basket, and she seemed to absorb contact well. As she continues getting stronger, she’ll only get better. From a whole different angle, Destini Craig Destini Craig 5'9" | PF Fort Wayne Northrop | 2024 State IN of Fort Wayne Snider is one of the top prospects in this class. She is more of an imposing presence physically than these other girls. Craig uses her strength/power, her athleticism, and her toughness to control a game. She is a physical attacker off the bounce, she goes through contact inside, and she is a strong rebounder as well. She does have a developing stroke around the perimeter, plus she can defend multiple positions with her athleticism. She can slide between a wing position and an undersized ’4’ at times, helping the team play smaller and faster.
On the Rise
While Crown Point has a lot of talented upperclassmen, I felt like wing Ava Ziolkowski Ava Ziolkowski 6'1" | PF Crown Point | 2024 State IN really played well throughout the Spring and Summer. She has a great deal of length, she looks like she still might have a couple of inches left in her, and she moves fairly fluidly around the floor. She is known primarily as a perimeter shooter, and that was her role off the bench for the Bulldogs last Winter, but in 2021-2022 she’ll likely be called upon for more minutes as a complete scoring threat. As she finishes growing and continues to gain strength, look for her to really become a nice offensive weapon for Crown Point. Keylee Hudson Keylee Hudson 5'10" | SG Eastern Greene | 2024 State IN of Eastern Greene was an accidental omission on our part when we released the rankings in June, as she had been present ever since we initially posted 2024 lists in June of 2020. We apologize. But her play throughout July was strong and improved. She has a wiry-strong, but somewhat physical frame, and she plays with a competitive attitude/toughness. She has nice ball skill and can play a point forward role, initiating the offense or creating for herself or others. She also does a nice job of getting downhill and being a North/South athlete who absorbs contact well. In 2021-2022, I’d expect her to help lead the Thunderbirds to maybe their best season in the past 15 years.
I hit on this over the Summer, but Alivia Elmore Alivia Elmore 5'8" | SF Jennings County | 2024 State IN of Jennings County was outstanding, almost invaluable to her team, throughout the July stretch. She constantly kept possessions alive, pursuing rebounds outside of her area and diving on the floor for loose balls. Her energy and effort were infectious, and she probably triggered the beginning of a couple of comeback wins for them. She is a really nice athlete with a wiry-strong frame. She also has solid perimeter skill, but she’s still most comfortable playing in the mid-post and serving as that nonstop, high-motor, blue-collared kid. As she adds a more diverse scoring skillset, she could become highly productive. I would also keep an eye out for Carys Wilson Carys Wilson 5'10" | SF Franklin Central | 2024 IN of Franklin Central. She has a somewhat quiet demeanor about her, but her game speaks loud enough. She is long, fluidly athletic, and somewhat bouncy. She is a slashing style of scorer right now, but she can change directions off the bounce and finish in a variety of ways around the paint. She gives nice effort, she’s somewhat versatile defensively, and I think as she continues to develop her perimeter skillset, she has enough physical talent to potentially become an upper-tier kid in this class.
Don’t Sleep on Them
Every class has a handful of girls you can identify quickly as really standing out, whether it be size, strength, skill, or ability. At the same time, there is another group of prospects who tend to fly under the radar for a number of different reasons, so I wanted to mention four such young ladies. Aniyah Bishop Aniyah Bishop 5'10" | SF Lake Central | 2024 State IN of Lake Central is a prospect a number of people were familiar with for a few years, but she missed the 2021 grassroots season, so her name hasn’t been echoed nearly as often. However, she’s back, and she’s ready to get rolling this Winter. Bishop is a long, fluidly athletic, fast, and somewhat bouncy wing prospect. She plays with a nice motor and is a playmaker in transition. She has good vision and can find open teammates, plus she’s athletic to the rim. I also think she can become a high-level defender because of her athletic ability. If she can learn the nuances of the game in the half-court, she could be a more dominant scorer. Greenwood Community’s Brooklyn Bell is another prospect who wasn’t seen throughout the grassroots circuit this year, but she has a vast amount of potential. She has good height at 6-1, she’s extremely long, and she’s fluid and bouncy. She has really nice ball skill and can play a point forward role, plus she can score the ball a little bit at all three levels. She will need to get stronger and absorb contact better, but she already possesses a number of tools that turn her into a mismatch for opponents.
Noblesville has a great deal of talent right now, so it won’t be hard for Ava Shoemaker Ava Shoemaker 5'9" | SF Noblesville | 2024 State IN to go overlooked. But like Alivia Elmore Alivia Elmore 5'8" | SF Jennings County | 2024 State IN (above), Shoemaker always finds ways to contribute. She has an athletic frame, she moves well in most directions, and she plays with an outstanding motor. She does have a little touch around the perimeter, but she’s more comfortable in the mid-post right now. She brings value defensively as well, because she can take on wings or undersized ’4s’, plus she is an aggressive rebounder. She could be a nice wildcard off the bench this year for the Millers. Another under-the-radar prospect right now is Sadie Marks Sadie Marks 5'9" | PF South Central (Union Mills) | 2024 IN of South Central (Union Mills). Location could be a big part of her being hidden, but she definitely has some game. She is another nice, run-and-jump athlete who moves well in all directions. She has skill around the perimeter, she can act as a point forward at times, but she’s also an effective scorer who can put it on the floor and create, attack, or knock down open shots. Once she understands a little greater sense of urgency, she could be a high-level scorer and a really nice small college prospect.
Newcomers
With expansion comes new additions, and as I mentioned above, we added 25 prospects to our list for 2024, giving us 125 total prospects now listed on Prep Girls Hoops Indiana. When I went back through that list newbies and reviewed each of those 25 girls, there were a dozen small forwards new to the list. I already mentioned Keylee Hudson Keylee Hudson 5'10" | SG Eastern Greene | 2024 State IN (above), though she was more so reintroduced to the list. I also felt like Isyss Donelson Isyss Donelson 5'8" | SF Warren Central | 2024 IN of Lawrence Central, Liza Froedge Liza Froedge 5'10" | SF Trinity Lutheran | 2024 IN of Trinity Lutheran, and Sarah Werth Sarah Werth 5'9" | SF West Lafayette | 2024 IN of West Lafayette displayed quality play when I was able to see them. Donelson is a strong, physical wing with creative ability. She likes the ball in her hands, she’s a solid North/South athlete, and she loves to attack the basket and draw contact. Froedge is the complete opposite. She is long, more slender, but fluid and somewhat smooth around the perimeter. She has touch from 3-point range, and she has a nice mid-range pull-up. As she gets stronger, I look for her to be continually more productive. Werth is somewhere in between those two. She has a wiry-strong, athletic frame. She can put it on the deck and attack the basket, but she also has a little touch from outside. Below is a quick list of the other girls new to the 2024 rankings this quarter:
Erica Buening
Erica
Buening
5'9" | PF
Franklin Community | 2024
State
IN
, Franklin Community
Sincere Coleman-Francis
Sincere
Coleman-Francis
5'9" | SF
La Lumiere Prep | 2024
IN
, Ben Davis
Emma Hendricks
Emma
Hendricks
5'8" | SF
Brownsburg | 2024
State
IN
, Brownsburg
Peyton Honchar
Peyton
Honchar
5'11" | PF
Morgan Township | 2024
IN
, Morgan Township
Reese Hoover, Westfield
Alexis Lynch
Alexis
Lynch
5'10" | SF
Danville | 2024
IN
, Danville Community
Kierstin Niehaus, Castle
Kayla Wilkerson
Kayla
Wilkerson
5'8" | SF
Lake Station Edison | 2024
IN
, Lake Station Edison