(2025) - Madison Francis to Mississippi State

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

6'2" Madison Francis attends Lancaster Central HS in Lancaster, NY (approx. 20 miles east of Buffalo).  Per Jared Kelly, she's the #8 player in the '25 class.

MaxPreps

Hudl

https://jrallstar.com/2023/02/madison-francis-scores-her-1000th-career-point-while-leading-lancaster-to-success/

https://buffalonews.com/sports/high-school/lancaster-high-school-madison-francis--basketball-espn-hoopgurlz-top-10/article_762edbc8-d7b3-11ed-93f8-d73654359ee3.html

https://ohiobasketballlive.com/madison-francis/

 

 

 

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

If ever a game needed a running clock it was Lancaster vs. Williamsville East.  Watching the pre-game warmups you knew it would be ugly and it was.  Lancaster led 27-4 after 1Q and the final score was 63-24.  Francis is very athletic and would likely excel in most any sport she wanted to play.

I scored her with 27p on 13-34 FG; 1-5 on 3s and no FTs.  8r; 5a; 10s 1b; 2t.  I'm sure I missed some of her stats as it was hard to stay focused.  They put her at the top of the key and she'd greet the opponent's PG and force a steal and a breakaway layup.  Lancaster as a team was always looking for the fast break at every opportunity.  A lot of her missed shots were at the rim but she'd get her own rebound and a putback bucket.  The times she made drives to the basket she tended to just throw the ball in the general direction of the rim.  She made her first 3-pointer but missed her next 4 a couple were really bad misses.  She tried to dunk the ball on a breakaway but couldn't get the ball over the rim.  She went to the bench with 2:30 left in  the 3rd and leading 48-15.  I assumed she was done for the day.  No, the starters opened the 4th - beats me why - and in the minute she played in the 4th she added 4 more points and 2 more steals to her days total.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

And she's just a junior!

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

https://buffalonews.com/sports/high-school/madison-francis-becomes-lancasters-all-time-leading-scorer-in-win-against-sacred-heart/article_79337b38-9aec-11ee-a5d8-ff3083be1ad4.html

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

SMH over Madison Francis.   Haven't been able to keep up with her game-by-game performance but finally watched another 2 of her games.  The first was a 56-37 win over Frontier in a game played this weekend.  The second game was back on Dec. 21, vs. Williamsville North.  Oddly, both opponents have a single win on their respective seasons.  In the Frontier game, there was Francis and 9 girls who just wanted to put on their college applications they played high school basketball.  

In the Frontier game:  12p; 13r;  3a;  5s;  7b;  3t      6-19 FG;  0-8 on 3s;  0-0 FT

Williamsville North:  31p;  11r;  6a;  4s;  1b;  1t        13-27 FG;  1-4 on 3s;  4-6 FT

Both games she was the tallest player on the court and rarely exhibited any jumping ability.  Flatfooted rebounding for the most part.  In the 2 games she was 1-12 on 3s and many were really bad misses.  If she didn't get a steal or a rebound and take the ball coast to coast for a layup she rarely scored.  IMO she exhibits little jump shot making ability.  She can handle the ball reasonably well but don't know how that would translate in games against much better competition.  

Hard for me to envision a spot for her at IU but she is just a junior and could make substantial improvement over the next year.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Watched another non-competitive game played 12/19/23 and the State of New York desperately needs to implement a running clock.  Score at halftime was 45-13 and the final was a 75-34 win for Lancaster.  I'd like to watch a game where Francis was matched up against someone of similar size and with some athletic skills.  This was another game where there was Francis and 9 other nondescript girls running around.  She finished with 26p; 10r;  9a;  5s;  2b;  2t.    She easily could have had another 10+ points but willingly dished the ball off to teammates when she could have just as easily taken the shot herself.

As I mentioned before she is very athletic and can handle the ball often grabbing a rebound and taking it coast-to-coast.  She doesn't demonstrate a lot of verticality and rarely has to.  Many of her rebounds are just reaching over the top of shorter players who have very little jumping ability.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

https://buffalonews.com/sports/high-school/sister-maria-pares-buffalo-news-player-of-the-year-madison-francis-goes-from-cartwheels-to/article_4c82d6ee-f83c-11ee-b858-9b4bcf7424d2.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_bufnewspreptalk

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

https://www.wivb.com/sports/high-school-sports/lancasters-madison-francis-named-to-usa-womens-u18-national-team/

[mickey one]

She supposedly has 29 offers. That is insane. How could she make an intelligent and rational choice? When probably the majority of the 29 schools would be perfectly fine, what decides the matter? How can any school (IU included) explain what their program is about, get a fair hearing, and hope for a commitment?

Seems like this all creates inflated egos, and many players end up in the transfer portal when things turn out as less than advertised. 

Edited June 27, 2024 by mickey one
grammar

[Stuhoo]

10 minutes ago, mickey one said:

She supposedly has 29 offers. That is insane. How could she make an intelligent and rational choice? When probably the majority of the 29 schools would be perfectly fine, what decides the matter? How can any school (IU included) explain what their program is about, get a fair hearing, and hope for a commitment?

Seems like this all creates inflated egos, and many players end up in the transfer portal when things turn out as less than advertised. 

Because 25-ish of those offers are from schools she won’t consider 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Commits to Mississippi State.  2 big pick-ups for them in the last 24-hours.