Ranking best freshmen in college basketball:

[Tango Two]

A look at the top performing freshmen in college basketball last week and for the 2024-25 season​

Ranking best freshmen in college basketball: North Carolina's Ian Jackson earns Freshman of the Week honors

A look at the top performing freshmen in college basketball last week and for the 2024-25 season

www.cbssports.com

 

[RUTrack94]

Two of the Top 5 :)

 

[RedTeam1994]

I have watched snippets of Duke games. Haven’t seen Flagg do a single damn thing.

He must be doing something really damn special to beat out Dylan.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

I have watched snippets of Duke games. Haven’t seen Flagg do a single damn thing.

He must be doing something really damn special to beat out Dylan.

It's called the hype machine. ESPiN has done a good job of of hyping Flagg because he plays for a team they control. The average fan who hasn't seen Flagg play this year will still say Flagg is playing head and shoulders above Dylan and Ace. They have a herd mentality, so the hype must be true. Flagg is a good player, but he hasn't been as good as Dylan up to this point of the season. It's still based on potential more than actual performance. BTW, take anything from CBSports.com with a grain of salt. Rarely do they do their homework when reporting on things.

 

[pmvon]

It's called the hype machine. ESPiN has done a good job of of hyping Flagg because he plays for a team they control. The average fan who hasn't seen Flagg play this year will still say Flagg is playing head and shoulders above Dylan and Ace. They have a herd mentality, so the hype must be true. Flagg is a good player, but he hasn't been as good as Dylan up to this point of the season. It's still based on potential more than actual performance. BTW, take anything from CBSports.com with a grain of salt. Rarely do they do their homework when reporting on things.

Yup whole article on his game against VT when Ace put up the same numbers.

 

[pmvon]

But then there’s this.

Dylan Harper Strengthens Case for No. 1 Pick with Triple-Double Against Columbia

On Monday night, Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper became the first player to record a triple-double for the school since 1983. This feat adds on to the growing lis

www.si.com

 

[Rutgers25]

It's called the hype machine. ESPiN has done a good job of of hyping Flagg because he plays for a team they control. The average fan who hasn't seen Flagg play this year will still say Flagg is playing head and shoulders above Dylan and Ace. They have a herd mentality, so the hype must be true. Flagg is a good player, but he hasn't been as good as Dylan up to this point of the season. It's still based on potential more than actual performance. BTW, take anything from CBSports.com with a grain of salt. Rarely do they do their homework when reporting on things.

He’s shooting 44% from the field and 27% from 3. That is horrible on a stacked team. Agree with you that the hype is based on potential given his age and other intangibles he brings.

What would his shooting percentage be on RU?

 

[Mr Magoo]

I have watched snippets of Duke games. Haven’t seen Flagg do a single damn thing.

He must be doing something really damn special to beat out Dylan.

Yeah, he plays for Duke and the media kisses Duke’s ass

 

[NickRU714]

Haven't watched Flagg at all so don't know about his actual production.

But Flagg isn't the likely #1 NBA draft pick because of "ESPN hype".
As said above, he has future potential (similar to Ace) fueling the hype at least somewhat.
Even if that potential isn't realized this specific year in college.

 

[lion1983]

Haven't watched Flagg at all so don't know about his actual production.

But Flagg isn't the likely #1 NBA draft pick because of "ESPN hype".
As said above, he has future potential (similar to Ace) fueling the hype at least somewhat.
Even if that potential isn't realized this specific year in college.

True, his NBA draft pick slot is because of his potential.

But supposedly, this ranking is supposed to be about THIS year, who are the ebst performing freshmen.

No one who looks at the stats, or for that matter has seen them play, who has any real basketball acumen, can make the case Flagg has been a better performer THIS year than Harper.

Flagg's greatest edge over the other top 5-10 freshmen is his DEFENSE: Fundamentally good defense, blocked shots, steals. All to his credit. But offensively, he is not in the top 5 freshmen in the country in my opinion. He is just not a good enough shooter (27% from 3, and 44% FG overall) - though he does get to the FT line a bit, which helps him score more points than his FG and 3-point FG percentages would indicate he could. Even his rebounding, which started off gang-busters, has really tailed off: Just 16 rebounds in the last 4 games, down to 8.2 rebounds/game (Bailey is up to 7.6 reb/game, FYI).

The best OFFENSIVE freshmen in the country are:

1) Harper
2T) Tre Johnson, Fears, Bailey
5T) Queen, Fland, Flagg, Jakucionis

Bailey is better offensively than Flagg right now (better FG% - 47.4% to 43.8%, better 2-point FG% - 52.8% to 50%, better 3-point FG% - 32.6% to 27%) - Bailey is closing in on Flagg with rebounding. Flagg has infinitely more assists, turns the ball over VERY slightly less, takes a lot more FT's ... and is a better defender (though Bailey is catching up on blocked shots - 11 in 11 games and 6 in his last 4 games, to Flagg's 16 in 13 games and 6 in his last 8 games). Just saying ...

The best "All-Around" freshman - in no particular order: Harper, Flagg, Jakucionis and Demin (?).

The most "explosively" dangerous freshmen (not athletically, but scary scoring explosiveness), in no particular order: Harper and Fears.

The most "efficient" freshmen: Harper and Queen?