These 4A 2025 Bigs will make their presence felt this season

No matter the conference or classification, bigs are heavily relied upon. The same is said for the 4A classification. This article covers just a few of the rich group of bigs 4A has to offer.    [player_tooltip player_id='1051963' first='Maggie' last='Gresham'] is a phenomenal two-way big for Clinton High School. Gresham is not highly recruited, but if her play picks up in her senior year, expect her name to be on the radar.   Gresham's offensive game is her strong-suit. She can finish with both hands comfortably and has a soft touch. Gresham has good size for her position, and she uses her height to get her shots over defenders with ease. She is also patient in the paint. Gresham uses her shot-fakes well and waits for the defender to fly by before going up for the shot. Outside of the paint, Gresham has shown some versatility. Short baseline jumpers and jumpers from around the free throw line are her specialty outside of the paint. She is not bothered by tight defense, as she uses her high arch to get her shot up and over the contest. Her release and shot mechanics are fluid, and I would be interested to see if she could stretch that shot out to the 3-point line. There have also been moments where Gresham has shown off her handles, and she has the ability to take the ball up the court.   Defensively, Gresham is an impactful shot-blocker. She has great timing on her blocks, and she can make those defensive plays no matter where she is on the court. Gresham is also a solid rebounder.   [player_tooltip player_id='1051963' first='Maggie' last='Gresham'] is a solid all-around center who has the potential to be more impactful along the perimeter. Clinton can be a really good team in 2024/25 if they can utilize Gresham more on offense, so keep an eye on them this upcoming season.     Brookland High School is loaded! [player_tooltip player_id='1049465' first='Macy' last='Slater'] is one of several great players on this 4A-3 powerhouse that should have a great season in 2024/25. Slater is a bit undersized for a center, but her skillsets allow her to still make an impact at the 5 and even at the 4.   Slater is a stretch 5, something that is hard to find at this level of Arkansas high school basketball. Slater lacks hesitation on her 3-point shots, and she is definitely not afraid of a defensive closeout. She gets her shot up quickly and she can also knock it down from a couple feet beyond the arch. This is her main skill that can translate between the center and power forward positions.   On defense, blocking shots is Slater's primary skill. Slater has shown the ability to block shots from behind, directly in front of her assignment, and when coming over on help-side defense. She can also rebound the ball well, but I would like to see even more activity from her on the boards.   [player_tooltip player_id='1049465' first='Macy' last='Slater'] may be undersized for a big, but she can make plays on both sides of the basketball, and she will be one of Brookland's best players this upcoming season.     Za'Niya Mooney is a double-double machine! Her impact on the game is huge, and she is a big star for Hamburg High School. There are very few players who can stop Mooney inside, so I would fully expect Mooney to find her name on college radars very soon.   I cannot decide what Mooney is better at, scoring down low or rebounding. Rebounding is not a glamorous part of basketball, but it is one of the most important parts of the game. Mooney uses her stature well to go up and grab every rebound she can. She also knows exactly how to box out her opponents. Once she has her feet set, no one is getting around her for a rebound. Mooney is also very physical and has great timing, which are important when being a strong rebounder.   Mooney's low-post offense is another strong part of her game. She has great hands and can catch every pass, even some really bad ones. Off the catch, Mooney can go up for shots immediately and with great success. She has a soft touch around the rim and no matter how strong the defense is, she will score. Mooney has also shown her ability to use the power dribble to get herself into a great position inside.   Za'Niya Mooney is a high-impact player who can perform right away. She stuffs the stat sheet, especially in the points and rebounds columns. I have also noticed that if she is not having a strong night on offense, she is still finding ways to impact the game. During a game against Warren High School in February, Mooney only managed to score 1 point. Despite that, Mooney still recorded 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.   Her willingness to impact the game outside of just scoring is rare amongst high schoolers. Of course, she can put up a lot of points in a short period of time, but she can do literally whatever her team needs, and every college in America needs that type of player. Za'Niya Mooney should not be underrated for long.     [player_tooltip player_id='1049467' first='Emilee' last='McConnell'] is a fantastic rebounder, and perhaps the best player on the Lady Bulldogs. McConnell has a lot of ability and she has been able to have a large impact on the game for her team.   McConnell's best ability is her rebounding. Even if there is not a lot of space to maneuver in the paint, McConnell is there fighting for the board. She boxes out well and is more physical than her opponents fighting for the rebound. Once she grabs the board, if she cannot pass to a guard, she does not hesitate to take it up the court herself. Her ball-handling ability is solid, especially for a center, but she understands when to give it up.   On offense, McConnell uses her size well to create space to get shots up. When she has her back to the basket, she backs down her defender and can either spin off of them or go into their body for a shot. McConnell also knows what to do once the help-side defense comes. Regardless of the defense's position, she gets to her spots and can score with a nice touch off of the glass. As I mentioned earlier, she can handle the ball well, and on multiple occasions, McConnell will drive baseline and score with ease. She also has the ability to hit floaters.   [player_tooltip player_id='1049467' first='Emilee' last='McConnell'] is of course, underrated. But, she has multiple skillsets that will be important for Waldron's success in the 4A-4. Keep an eye on McConnell in her senior season.     It is hard to find players over 6-foot in the lower classifications of Arkansas high school girls basketball, especially ones with as much skill has [player_tooltip player_id='1051968' first='Jaylin' last='Finley']. Finley has already received offers from South Arkansas College and Lyon College. These are respectable offers, but Finley's skillset warrants more.   A sign of a great center is a soft touch around the rim, like I have mentioned with several of the other players on this list. Finley has that soft touch, and I think she is a great basketball player. She uses her size to her advantage by barreling her way inside and scoring over everyone. She boxes out well, and she records a number of putbacks. In addition to her touch around the rim, Finley also has a great mid-range shot. Her mechanics are solid and she shoots well in motion and with the defense in her face. Finley is also exceptional at shooting turn-around jumpers. This is a skill that most bigs do not have in high school. Frankly, most college players are not even good at this, but Finley has shown the consistency to knock down these shots. She gains elevation easily and hits these shots over every defender.   Finley has shown the ability to make plays on defense. As expected, she uses her 6'2" frame to block a lot of shots and is a challenge to try to score on. Add in her solid defensive rebounding ability and Finley has solid two-way abilities.   [player_tooltip player_id='1051968' first='Jaylin' last='Finley'] is a player I highly suspect will have a massive senior season. She is deserving of more college offers, and there are not a lot of weaknesses in her game. If Malvern can take the next step they need to take as a team to make some noise in the 4A-5 South, then Finley's college recruiting profile will benefit.     Prairie Grove High School has a talented offensive player in senior center [player_tooltip player_id='1049469' first='Bella' last='Barnes']. Barnes can make plays in the three main areas of offense, and it can serve her team well in 2024/25.   The paint, the mid-range, and beyond the arch. Those are the three main areas of offense that players should have comfort level playing in. Barnes is comfortable in all three. She has a nice touch around the rim, and she uses her size well to create space and push defenders around. Barnes has a solid mid-range shot and she can shoot from anywhere inside the arch. Now on the other side of the line, Barnes has shown the ability to knock down the deep ball off the catch. She has a quick release and can be a matchup problem for opposing post defenders.   Another part of Barnes' offensive game that is noteworthy is her ability to hit short jumpers. These jumpers are anywhere between 15 feet and 7 or 8 feet away from the basket. Some of her shots might even be closer, but regardless, Barnes hits these shots efficiently and defenses cannot seem to figure her out.   [player_tooltip player_id='1049469' first='Bella' last='Barnes'] is a player that deserves more opportunities to score the basketball. She can be a major difference-maker for Prairie Grove in 2024/25, so I am interested in seeing how her senior season plays out.    The 4A classification had a deeper group of solid bigs than I thought, and I probably could have made this article even longer. These players here have bright futures, so their final chapters of their high school basketball careers will be worth keeping up with. Keep an eye out for my next article, which will cover a new classification...3A! It is another classification with a hoard of schools who have some great basketball players, so we will get to see which 3A senior guards will be taking the state by storm in this upcoming season.

No matter the conference or classification, bigs are heavily relied upon. The same is said for the 4A classification. This article covers just a few of the rich group of bigs 4A has to offer.