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ASU Women's basketball lands Top-50 prospect

Meg Newman, the No. 46 overall recruit in the 2021 class according to ESPN, is the latest big recruit for Charli Turner Thorne and ASU women’s basketball. (Image courtesy of prospectsnation.com)
Meg Newman, the No. 46 overall recruit in the 2021 class according to ESPN, is the latest big recruit for Charli Turner Thorne and ASU women’s basketball. (Image courtesy of prospectsnation.com)

Big Arizona State women’s basketball news came in on Saturday night when Meg Newman, a 6’3 junior forward out of North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, committed to play for coach Charli Turner Thorne and the Sun Devils.

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Newman, the No. 46 player in the ESPN 2021 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings Super-60, will join forces in Tempe for the 2021-22 season with a talented 2020 recruiting class and current key players Taya Hanson, Iris Mbulito, Jade Van Hyfte, and Eboni Walker. We had a chance to talk to the newly committed Sun Devil.


DevilsDigest: What drew you to Arizona State and what led to your decision to play for the Sun Devils?


Meg Newman: “Well the first time I ever talked to head coach Charli (Turner Thorne) I got this vibe from her that was awesome. She’s so charismatic, someone you can connect with. I really enjoyed talking to her. I really felt like she was the kind of person that I can kind of bond with and build a solid relationship with. Fast forward to now … About three weeks ago, I hosted them on a home visit and I was extremely impressed and I knew that this is a relationship I wanted to continue for the next five years and I wanted to go to school there. So just the relationship is really what drew me to ASU but on top of that … them having the No. 1 school for sustainability … what I want to study was something else that was really, really impressive to me. So it kind of checked all the boxes as far as what I was looking and it had me really, really excited.”


DevilsDigest: Have you been able to visit ASU?


Meg Newman: “Yeah. Last summer I came on an unofficial visit in June and really, really liked it.”


DevilsDigest: What was your favorite part about the campus and Tempe?


Meg Newman: “… I’m from the Midwest … just how different it was. The environment and it’s so much different from anything I’ve experienced here so that was really appealing to me. Also, just the climate and the people.”


DevilsDigest: What coaches recruited you the most?


Meg Newman: “Coach Charli and then Angie Nelp, an assistant coach. They mostly recruited me but I feel like I have strong relationships with all four members of the staff for sure.”


DevilsDigest: What other schools were you considering other than Arizona State?


Meg Newman: “I had a top seven of North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Pittsburgh and Arizona State of course. And I had home visits with all of those schools except for North Carolina.”


DevilsDigest: How quickly did you zoom in on ASU as your No. 1?


Meg Newman: “They were kind of part of a top three … that I was considering most strongly. And then they completely distinguished themselves with their home visit as my No. 1 school which made it a really, really easy decision for me.”


DevilsDigest: What about ASU’s style of play do you like?


Meg Newman: I feel like I fit in really well with their style of play. I’m a versatile player. I feel like I can play all five spots on the floor … and I can guard almost any position. And in the Pac-12 that’s something that’s really, really valuable. So I’m really excited to be in that situation. … Arizona State … the basketball reputation of having a lot of players that score in a pretty high volume but they’re not super high volume scorers. And that’s kind of how my high school team plays. We have four players on our team that are going to play Division I basketball so there’s a very equal distribution in scoring and seeing that at ASU was something that was really, really appealing as well.”


DevilsDigest: What are the best aspects of your game?


Meg Newman: “Definitely my versatility. And then I think another aspect of my game that makes me pretty unique is how vocal I am. I pride myself on being a pretty good leader. And my work ethic is something that I take a lot of pride in as well. So I do everything I can to lead by example.”


DevilsDigest: Are you more of an inside player or outside player?


Meg Newman: “I’m a little bit of both. I play a little bit more on the inside with my high school team. I play more on the wing for my AAU team.”


DevilsDigest: What is something you need to improve on the most during your senior year before you head to ASU?


Meg Newman: “I just want to become comfortable guarding all the positions on the court. I typically match up with a player who loves to play in the post and I want to be able to guard any player I have to and really become a strong defensive player before getting to the college level.”


DevilsDigest: ASU’s got a good recruiting class coming in this year. How much of a factor was that in your decision?


Meg Newman: “It got me really, really excited for the future of the team especially since they were so young this past year. With so much talent coming in, I knew I wanted to be a part of a group that was going to take this program to another level. So I’m super, super excited for what the future holds.”


DevilsDigest: What’s your goal for your senior year before you head to ASU?


Meg Newman: “I really want to win a state championship. Whatever individual accolades come with that I’ll be thrilled and humbled to receive but my team comes first and we want to win a state championship so anything I can do to ensure that’ll happen I’m going to do so I’m excited to see what happens.”


DevilsDigest: What is your goal for your ASU career?


Meg Newman: “To hopefully make it to a Final Four and eventually win the national championship and after that hopefully get drafted into the WNBA.


DevilsDigest: Was ASU trying to schedule an opponent near where you live in Indiana something that was part of your recruiting process?


Meg Newman: “Yeah, I mean (Charli Turner Thorne) brought up with me during the home visit that my freshman year we would be playing at Notre Dame which is about two and a half hours from where I live which was really exciting to me knowing that a lot of my friends from home can see me play but that didn’t honestly play too much of a factor. I was sold enough on the program and coaching staff and the school itself that I knew I wanted to be there and it didn’t really matter where in the country I was going, I knew I wanted to play for her.”


DevilsDigest: What do you like the most about Coach Turner Thorne and why do you think she’s a good coach for your style of play?


Meg Newman: “Her energy and how much she cares about the people she surrounds herself with. When I committed to Arizona State the first thing she said was ‘are you sure?’ And I said yeah, 100 percent. And she was like, ‘I just want to make sure that you’re sure because we’re sure and but I want to make sure you’re sure’ and just that selflessness that she carries herself with is contagious and it makes me excited to experience so much personal growth with someone I care about so much.”

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