Marks, a wiry 6-foot-4 post, played against girls who were just as tall, but maybe twice as big.

"I was playing against the other girls and to see, 'Oh, I'm not in Utah anymore. Welcome to the big leagues,' '' Marks said. "I don't plan on playing [center] in college. I'm just not built for that for Division I basketball."

Marks, who will play for Brigham Young University next season, finds herself in the same position as other Utah high school centers who plan to play at the next level - they have either the height or the body size, but not both.

Orem's Jamie Sagers is 6-foot-5 and has committed to Southern Utah, but her club coach, Salt Lake Metro's Dave Hammer, said she would benefit by gaining more body mass.

"The better your bodies are, the better you can bang around," Hammer said. "If you have small legs and a small body, you can be moved off the block."

It's a trend at the college level, too. Not every school has a center as dominant as Oklahoma's Courtney Paris, Ohio State's Jessica Davenport or Duke's Alison Bales. All three centers are 6-foot-4 or taller and have the body type to dominate the inside.

Having a commanding center is a luxury for a lot of programs. Only three of the top 10 women's college teams in the country have true centers; the other seven teams use players who can play both the forward and center positions.

Of Utah's five major college women's programs, no team has more than three players playing center and a few of them have skills better suited for the three and four positions.

"A big-body post is a rarity in the women's game," said Matt Legerski, who coaches the centers at the University of Utah. "The Parises of Oklahoma and the Brooke Smiths of Stanford, you don't see those all over the place."

Marks, who has a similar body frame to former BYU athlete Shawn Bradley, says she is incapable of getting any bulkier. Because she won't be able to play a center in college, she'll have to work on her perimeter skills. She has been focusing on ball handling and foot speed. Marks understands she'll be guarding quicker players.

Timpview's Karlee Weight knows she has to adjust her game to play for Weber State next season. Weight has the body type of a strong post, but at 6-foot-1, she is undersized. Her high school coach says it could affect where Weight will play.

"We keep her mainly inside. She's our center," Timpview coach Kawika Akina said. "She uses her strength. She's a strong girl. She's got a lot of moves inside and she's grown a lot in terms of being more patient with the ball. But it all depends on the style or system Weber State runs. She'll probably play a four and a five."

It's an adjustment for players who know they're not big enough to play a post in college but have to play that position in high school. Players are forced to prepare for college while playing on a high school team.

"Overall, you're doing a different job. The five is, 'Lets bang around under the basket' and the four is a finesse position," Marks said. "When I played in that tournament, I kind of realized, I'm never going to be a big girl but I couldn't give up the five position up because I had to play it in high school."

There are intangibles that can cause coaches to overlook height and body size. Jonas Chatterton, who coaches the post players at BYU and will likely be working closely with Marks, says there are many factors that make up a good college-level post.

Chatterton's ideal post is strong enough to guard someone in the key, skilled enough to score with her back to the basket and quick enough to get up and down the court.

But overall, "the perfect center is someone who dominates the paint on both ends of the floor," Chatterton said. "No matter what their size."

mthach@sltrib.com