Rebounding is an imperative key to winning in college basketball. Offensive rebounding leads to more opportunities to score, while defensive rebounding prevents the opponent from attempting more field goals - fairly straightforward.
My question is whether or not height truly matters when it comes to rebounding. As a Purdue fan, I always hear analysts preview a game by saying that the Boilermakers will win the rebounding battle (to be fair, they usually do) due to their size, as they have 6-9 Caleb Swanigan and 7-2 Isaac Haas in the frontcourt.
Is it really that simple, though? Two of the tallest players in college basketball the last half-decade are UCF’s Tacko Fall (7-6) and UC Irvine’s Mamadou N’diaye (also 7-6).