Best Freshmen of All Time >>> SI.com

[BigTime]

Wonderful Wayman checks in at #7.

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They are "projecting" Harrison Barnes to be number one. Don't really think that is fair to him or the others on the list....

 

[Sam]

I don't think they're really ranked based on the wording, thats just the slide show order. Also after Barnes it seems to be chronological.

 

[BigTime]

I don't think they're really ranked based on the wording, thats just the slide show order. Also after Barnes it seems to be chronological.

Oh my bad. Yeah that makes a lot more sense.

 

[coolm]

I feel rather fortunate to have seen all of them play (and most in person)

 

[bocabull]

If I had to vote for those people my vote would go to Ewing, even though I couldn't stand him or Georgetown.

 

[coolm]

If I had to vote for those people my vote would go to Ewing, even though I couldn't stand him or Georgetown.

yeah Ewing was a beast...and so was Chris Jackson...what a shootin' mofo.

 

[SoonerEyeDoc]

Barnes at #1 is f'ing ridiculous (see his wonderful performance yesterday against Minnesota, 0-15 from the field). Not that he's a bad kid or going to be a bad player, but let's wait to annoit him over all of the HOF'ers listed behind him before making him the best frosh ever. How is Pervis Ellison not on the list? I think being MOP of the '86 tourney, leading your team to the title over one of the best teams of all time warrants a top 15 listing. Carmelo should be higher as well. I say Sampson and Tisdale best I've ever seen.

 

[coolm]

elevating Barnes so high on any list before he played a single game has been utterly ridiculous. may as well make the AA lists 3 years before they enter college.

 

[Big Old Booger]

After looking at that list, I'd say the only players I could definitively state were better as true frosh than Wayman was Bernard King, and maybe Durant.

Beasley was probably as good as Wayman, but not better, and the same for Carmelo, IMO.

Ewing, Sampson, Hansbrough, O'Neal, Ellison and Aguirre were not as good as frosh as Wayman, they just had more talent around them than he did.

Jackson was pretty darn good, too.

Barnes? Please. What a joke.

 

[qwertyqaz]

Simmer down everyone. Please read the text under the Harrison Barnes section of the slide show and read the first few posts in this thread. They are NOT saying Barnes is the best of all-time, this is NOT a ranked list, and the slide show appears to be in chronological order.

Also, for whoever mentioned it, Never Nervous IS in the slide show.

 

[Sam]

Simmer down everyone. Please read the text under the Harrison Barnes section of the slide show and read the first few posts in this thread. They are NOT saying Barnes is the best of all-time, this is NOT a ranked list, and the slide show appears to be in chronological order.

Also, for whoever mentioned it, Never Nervous IS in the slide show.

 

[gracefor24]

The difference between Durant, Anthony, and Beasley and the others is the fact that the NCAA's had been decimated by early entry so they weren't competing against as many top notch upperclassmen as the guys in the late 70's and early to mid 80's were.

 

[GParker]

The difference between Durant, Anthony, and Beasley and the others is the fact that the NCAA's had been decimated by early entry so they weren't competing against as many top notch upperclassmen as the guys in the late 70's and early to mid 80's were.

Very good point, grace. Although, I will counter that the game has changed so much since the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's. Harder to put up big numbers as you don't see the run and show like play of that era.

 

[SoonerEyeDoc]

My bad querty, you are right, Ellison is there, just somehow missed him.

 

[Cheno]

yeah Ewing was a beast...and so was Chris Jackson...what a shootin' mofo.

Yes, Chris Jackson in college was unreal. Only Dale Brown could not go to a FF4 with Jackson & Shaq not to mention a lot of other good players.

Wayman is a stud. The world misses that dude.

 

[WaymanFan]

Beasley was probably as good as Wayman, but not better, and the same for Carmelo, IMO.

No, Beasley nor Carmelo or anyone else was as good as Wayman as a freshman. Here's why. Wayman was a 1st Team All-American as a freshman when ALL of these guys were playing college basketball: Michael Jordon, Akeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Ralph Sampson, Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins, Steve Stipanovich, Mark Price and Dell Curry.

That baker's dozen list above contained 7 players who were on the top 50 all-time NBA players list.

Give me a baker's dozen of guys who were in college basketball when Kevin Durant, Michale Beasley or Carmelo Anthony were playing. If they were as good as the players listed above, I'll admit I was wrong.

 

[Sooner79]

WaymanFan is right on this. As a freshman, there were none better than Wayman Tisdale. I would be willing to bet that anyone who officiated our games back then would say the same thing. There was never anyone more fun to watch because his personality on the court was every bit as great as his ability.

 

[jwg]

how about TOM gOLA he played four years in an era when freshmen rarely played and when almost all players played to the end of their elgebility

 

[True Colors]

No, Beasley nor Carmelo or anyone else was as good as Wayman as a freshman.

Come on...... Kevin Durant was the national player of the year. He was not just "a" great player. But THE national player of the year.

Durant won a clean sweep of virtually every major award in america..... Wooden award, AP player of the year, Oscar robertson trophy, Naismith Award, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

TC

 

[DenverSooner]

Very good point, grace. Although, I will counter that the game has changed so much since the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's. Harder to put up big numbers as you don't see the run and show like play of that era.

I don't think it is any harder to put up big numbers now than it was in the 70s and early 80s. They did not even have a 3 point line until the mid 80s. Additionally, I think players worked on the fundamentals a bit more back then and likely played a bitt better defense.