NCAA Basketball: Top 30 frontcourt players for 2021-22 season
By Ian Mumm
24. Myles Johnson, UCLA Bruins
Things are looking great for the Bruins following their surprise run to the Final Four last season. A terrific offseason in which they maintained nearly the entire roster has become even more dangerous through recruiting and adding prized defensive-savy big man Myles Johnson from Rutgers. Despite the Bruins; successes in 2021, they only held an average defense and at times struggled to shut teams down.
With Johnson in the mix, the Bruins are likely to be vastly improved this year with him anchoring the paint at times. The senior is by no means going to command a huge portion of the Bruins’ offense this season, but he will be a solid and efficient contributor to a deep roster. With Johnson’s consistency on both ends of the floor, there’s no reason to think UCLA can’t repeat their fortunes from last season.
23. Zach Freemantle, Xavier Musketeers
The Musketeers significantly benefitted from the improvement of sophomore Zach Freemantle last season. The 6’9” forward showed strong development on the offensive end to earn All-Big East and the Big East’s Most Improved Player in 2020-21. Following the departures of talented frontcourt stars Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones from the 2019-20 team, Freemantle picked up the slack by garnering a lot of the offensive responsibility by doubling his shot attempts and placing more emphasis on perimeter production.
The leap provided by Freemantle should continue this season with Xavier featuring a very similar roster to last year, however, his presence should also help to launch the Musketeers into Big East title contention. While he doesn’t boast tons of defensive production in the way of blocks and steals, Freemantle is still one of the team’s most reliable defenders in disrupting shots and opposing offensive production. Xavier will look to him again to produce and carry the load on both ends of the floor.