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(2026) - Marcis Ponder to Florida State

Class of '66 Old Fart
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Class of '66 Old Fart Community Regular

Class of '66 Old Fart

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Ponder now attending The Gillion Academy in Springfield, VA.  Plays AAU ball for Team Breakdown on the New Balance circuit and there aren't any published AAU statistics that I've been able to find.  He did play in the recently concluded DMV Live event and those stats are below.

Ponder's high school career has been well-traveled.  The following is from a Providence Friar story this past March:  Two things stand out when watching clips of Ponder: the athleticism for a young player his size and the ferocity with which he plays. Ponder is a traditional center in that he owns the paint — a “get out of the way” dunker and a solid rebounder, with signs of shot blocking ability.  Ponder is a Miami native who now plays at West Oaks Academy in Florida. Like so many players in today’s day and age, he is well-traveled. Ponder started his career at Miami Northland High School, spent an injury-filled 2023-24 season with Overtime Elite, and played this year with West Oaks.

A return to Florida (and good health) led to Ponder losing 40 pounds last offseason, and the high school junior looks plenty explosive now:

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/rim-rocking-big-bodied-7-foot-class-of-2026-center-marcis-ponder-of-the-gillion-academy-lands-an-indiana-scholarship-offer-251400608/

https://www.on3.com/teams/indiana-hoosiers/news/2026-7-foot-center-marcis-ponder-earns-offer-from-indiana/

DMV Live Stats

247

Rivals

On3

West Oaks Acad Stats 24-25

 

Stuhoo Community Regular

Stuhoo

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The kid has completely dropped out of school. "The Gillion Academy" is not an actual school; it's a gym with a half court, a weight room, and a room with desktop computers for online school access:

image.png

And his prior "school," West Oaks in Orlando was only marginally better. How does a kid like that get eligible to play college ball, even in today's lax environment?

Home Jersey Collaborator

Home Jersey

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2 hours ago, Pagoda said:

My goodness, that video might have the worst competition I’ve ever seen.  Zero defense and some of these opponents… 

IMG_1242.jpeg

I saw that video a while ago before I had any idea who Ponder was. I learned the team in white is actually a "troll" team - a bunch of content creators who get together to sign up for legitimate tournaments and farm clips for social media. 

Shocked and dismayed is an understatement, lol

Pagoda Enthusiast

Pagoda

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29 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I saw that video a while ago before I had any idea who Ponder was. I learned the team in white is actually a "troll" team - a bunch of content creators who get together to sign up for legitimate tournaments and farm clips for social media. 

Shocked and dismayed is an understatement, lol

Ah, that explains it.  I was looking at Stu's screenshot and was wondering why that kid had on those big red boots that appeared as a trend a few years ago. 

Untitled.jpg

Well, that's his thing per this Tik Tok...

https://www.tiktok.com/@athletics.ote/video/7516540571712818464

Gen Z (the tail end of it before Gen Alpha) is really losing me with this "bit" to get clicks... 

Now get off my lawn!

Demo Collaborator

Demo

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On 7/1/2025 at 7:06 AM, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Ponder now attending The Gillion Academy in Springfield, VA.  Plays AAU ball for Team Breakdown on the New Balance circuit and there aren't any published AAU statistics that I've been able to find.  He did play in the recently concluded DMV Live event and those stats are below.

Ponder's high school career has been well-traveled.  The following is from a Providence Friar story this past March:  Two things stand out when watching clips of Ponder: the athleticism for a young player his size and the ferocity with which he plays. Ponder is a traditional center in that he owns the paint — a “get out of the way” dunker and a solid rebounder, with signs of shot blocking ability.  Ponder is a Miami native who now plays at West Oaks Academy in Florida. Like so many players in today’s day and age, he is well-traveled. Ponder started his career at Miami Northland High School, spent an injury-filled 2023-24 season with Overtime Elite, and played this year with West Oaks.

A return to Florida (and good health) led to Ponder losing 40 pounds last offseason, and the high school junior looks plenty explosive now:

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/article/rim-rocking-big-bodied-7-foot-class-of-2026-center-marcis-ponder-of-the-gillion-academy-lands-an-indiana-scholarship-offer-251400608/

https://www.on3.com/teams/indiana-hoosiers/news/2026-7-foot-center-marcis-ponder-earns-offer-from-indiana/

DMV Live Stats

247

Rivals

On3

West Oaks Acad Stats 24-25

 

Finally got around to looking at his DMV Live stats. The young man shot 60/76 from the floor and 19/56 from the line that included a 4/17 game and a 1/10 game. So if he ain’t dunkin’ it, he ain’t makin’ it.

Stuhoo Community Regular

Stuhoo

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1 hour ago, Demo said:

Finally got around to looking at his DMV Live stats. The young man shot 60/76 from the floor and 19/56 from the line that included a 4/17 game and a 1/10 game. So if he ain’t dunkin’ it, he ain’t makin’ it.

That's rough. lol

I wanna say "hard pass" for so many reasons, but 7'00, 320 lbs and runs well is something that just flat out can't be taught. That having been said, there's gonna be some program that's way slicker and slimier than IU that is probably gonna win this sweepstakes. Will be interesting to watch how this plays out.

This one has a Memphis/Miami-like feel to it in a big way.

Stuhoo Community Regular

Stuhoo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Demo said:

Finally got around to looking at his DMV Live stats. The young man shot 60/76 from the floor and 19/56 from the line that included a 4/17 game and a 1/10 game. So if he ain’t dunkin’ it, he ain’t makin’ it.

Geez... what a pessimist!

  1. If you take away those two bad games he was 14 for 29 from the line; SO much better!
  2. In those two bad games he may have fouled out half of the opponent players. #hackaMarcis
Demo Collaborator

Demo

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I trust this staff but I don’t really get this one… at all.

I’m fine with due diligence on pretty much any player and the kid is such a freak show physically that I imagine when DDV saw him up close he decided you just have to dig in a little bit. Or maybe Kenny has some backstory and thinks he’s a decent kid who’s been handled poorly. Either way, given that they’ve offered basically every top 30 big in the class I doubt this becomes a thing.

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