Ranking the Best Freshman Seasons from College Basketball in the 2000s

The NBA's one-and-done rule, if nothing else, has given college basketball some of the greatest freshman performances over the last 10 years or so.

We've seen any number of NBA talents take the college detour and leave an indelible impression on the landscape. 

Some, like Carmelo Anthony, graced college basketball for 35 games and cut down the nets. Others, like Greg Oden, put his team on his back all the way to the Finals. 

There are Crock Pot players that stew for several seasons in college hoops, while others, namely the freshmen, combust on the scene like alcohol in a skillet, giving us one flash of brilliance before moving on.

Read on to see some of the more iconic freshman seasons of the 2000s.

10. Tyler Hansbrough, UNC

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Tyler Hansbrough played his 142 career games at North Carolina like they were his last. They most certainly were the last games where he was the man. 

Of those 142 games, the 31 he played during his freshman year were some of his finest—this a year after North Carolina won the title.

Hansbrough scored 18.9 points per game while tallying 7.8 rebounds. He spent four long years being a trident in the side of the Duke Blue Devils and wasted little time asserting himself as the sultan of Tobacco Road.

9. Stephen Curry, Davidson

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Staying in the state of North Carolina—and thus proving that if you’re an NBA talent it truly doesn’t matter where you go to college—is Stephen Curry.

Curry attended little Davidson College and made a name for himself sniping threes in the NCAA tournament as a sophomore. Before that? He scored 21.5 points per game and set a freshman record by sinking 122 three-pointers in a season.

It wasn’t a fluke, either. He was a sharpshooter from all over the court for the rest of his college career and then carried it over to the NBA. It all started in that fateful freshman season.

8. John Wall, Kentucky

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John Wall was John Calipari’s first big recruit at Kentucky. Calipari had just come off a run through the Finals with Derrick Rose and parlayed that momentum by reeling in Wall.

Wall helped lead the Wildcats to a 35-3 record by scoring 16.6 points, 6.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. It was one of the most well-rounded rookie campaigns around.

DeMarcus Cousins, his freshman teammate from that 2009-2010 season, won the SEC Freshman of the Year honors. Wall still managed to rack up National Freshman of the Year and the Associated Press and coaches’ selection for SEC Player of the Year.

7. Jared Sullinger, Ohio State

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Jared Sullinger was about as dynamic a forward as any the Big 10 has seen in the past 10 years. He scored 17.2 points and had 10.2 rebounds per game.

On top of that Sullinger became the first Big Ten freshman since Chris Webber in 1992 to be named National Freshman of the Year. 

Sullinger’s father, Satch, developed his son from an early age, once saying: “If you’re going to cry, don’t play. If you’re going to play, don’t cry.”

And with that, Sullinger helped lead his team to the Sweet 16. He even stayed an extra year at Ohio State, but we’re still left with the memory of his excellent freshman season.

6. Kevin Love, UCLA

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Kevin Love was a surprising talent. He was more of a big man in college, similar to UNC’s Hansbrough. His game has changed dramatically over the years, but something never changed: He’s a double-double machine.

During his one year at UCLA, where he helped head his team to a berth in the Final Four, Love notched 23 (second only to Michael Beasley).

John Branch of The New York Times wrote: "Nothing builds credibility for a basketball player more than a litany of all-American accolades, favored status as a national championship contender, and the likelihood of being selected near the top of June’s N.B.A. draft, should he decide to turn professional.”

And he did, but not before scoring 17.5 points and pulling down 10.6 rebounds per game.

5. Anthony Davis, Kentucky

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Why have two eyebrows when one will suffice?

Anthony Davis may be the best freshman to ever play for John Calipari, the man who manufactures freshman talent the way Willy Wonka churns out chocolate.

Davis is the rare freshman talent that had the skills and moxie on both ends of the floor to lead his team to a national championship, which he did in 2012.

Davis led the country in blocks with 4.7 a game. Throw in 14.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and it’s a wonder this team didn’t go unbeaten in 2012. Davis was second on his team in minutes while anchoring that frontcourt, meaning this young man stayed on the court and stayed healthy.

4. Greg Oden, Ohio State

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Big bodies often breed big injuries. Oden hadn't been completely bitten by the 2006-07 season.

He did have an issue with his wrist while at Ohio State, but he overcame that to lead the Buckeyes to the National Championship game. 

Seven feet tall looks great on paper. Heck, it looks great in a team photo, and in college, a 7-footer creates a matchup problem not unlike coffee and soy milk.

Oden, despite his injuries, averaged 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Any time a freshman can load a team on his freight train to the Final Four is deserved of a high ranking, though his stats don’t measure up with some of the monsters ahead.

3. Kevin Durant, Texas

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Like the Peyton Manning-Ryan Leaf debate or the Drew Bledsoe-Rick Mirer argument before it, basketball pundits opined about Kevin Durant or Greg Oden.

One's feet crumbled out from under him while the other became KEVIN DURANT.

It wasn’t always obvious. It almost never is, yet Durant averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He was the first freshman to ever win both the Naismith and Wooden Awards.

David Fox of Athalon Sports.com wrote, "In the first season impacted by the NBA’s rule to require draftees to be a year removed from high school, Durant showed what a new breed of precocious freshmen could do in college."

But, as we’ll find out with the following player on this list, it takes more than just one player with freakish ability to win in the tournament.

2. Michael Beasley, Kansas State

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Michael Beasley may as well have been called “Beastly.” Durant had set the standard for an incoming Big-12 freshman and Beasley one-upped the Texas star.

Beasley recorded 28 double-doubles (a freshman record), scored 13 30-point games and averaged 26.2 points per game. 

Like Durant before him, Beasley proved that a one-man team can’t win it all. Beasley and his Wildcats didn’t make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, but his freshman season was undeniably great, but not the greatest.

That honor goes to...

1. Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse

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Anthony took his talents to Syracuse, where he carried the Orangemen to a national championship. He was what you’d call a won-and-done player.

While being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, he had a season where he averaged 22.2 points per game and 10 rebounds a game.

Mike Waters of Syracuse.com wrote, "The 2003 NCAA championship remains the high point in the history of Syracuse basketball. Jim Boeheim had guided two teams to the Final Four prior to 2003, but the 1987 and 1996 teams both lost in the championship game."

He put up 33 in the Final Four against Texas, then 20, 10 and seven in the finals against Kansas. By any standard, that's an historic run up the Werner ladder.

Anthony’s impact on Syracuse and the college landscape in 2003 was the best season we’ve seen by a freshman in 14 years.

I hang around Twitter sometimes. Feel free to say hello: @BrendanOMeara.