Best Freshmen of All Time >>> SI.com

[WaymanFan]

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

Apples and oranges. Suffice to say, Wayman would have easily accomplished the same thing going against the same competition as Durant. Please list the 13 best players in college basketball that year. The scary thing is, I didn't even list the 13 best players in college basketball in 1983. I probably have 7 or 8 of them, but did not even include the likes of Rodney McRay, Jon Sunvold, Sidney Green, Thurl Bailey and Dale Ellis.

27+ years later, I'm still trying to comprehend how a freshman can be 1st team All-American with all that incredible upper-classmen talent.

 

[NickZepp]

Harrison Barnes is a talented player and will be really good. But putting him as the best freshman of all time after one game is ridiculous. He's scored 14 points in the last 2 games combined. Wait till he plays a full season before hyping him up.

Look at Wayman's stats for each of his 3 seasons and they are all as good as Blake's best year when he was unanimous player of the year. That says it all.

 

[OULad]

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.

I was just about to post that. Chris Jackson and Shaq and no title. Chris Jackson was a disappointment to an extent as a pro, but the dude was a GREAT college player. And ditto on Wayman, i still cannot believe hes gone.

 

[bgrch1350]

Barnes being on this list makes this article a joke. He might not even be the best freshman this year. K. Irving, J. Sullinger, B. Knight, T. Jones, P. Jones...are playing better than him.

 

[stoops4pres]

No doubt Barnes was highly touted coming in, but I don't think people would be lauding him as much (i.e. only freshman ever named Preseason AA, getting a mention in this particular SI article) if he wasn't at a school with the stature of UNC.

And though its early, I think its safe to say those talks of him being this world-class freshman are premature; he was 0 for 12 shooting vs. Minnesota, and wasn't much better his last game vs. Vandy (4 for 12).