Instant Grades for Top College Basketball Freshmen Through 1 Week

What kind of week did the freshmen have?

With Jahlil Okafor dominating veterans and Kentucky starting something like 725 McDonald's All-Americans (and where's the NCAA when you need them?), all eyes are on the new guys here in college basketball's opening stretch. 

But when you look at the nation's best, there has been some inconsistency. Probably to be expected, given the newness. Here are grades for the nation's 10 top freshmen after their first games on a bigger stage. 

For structure's sake, we'll use the top-10 list of the country's most dynamic freshmen, set forth a couple weeks ago by my Bleacher Report contemporary Kerry Miller. The goal today is not to set up a new ranking, but to evaluate what the top guys did in their first week.

Also, national team rankings are courtesy of ESPN.

Got it? That's great. Here we go, then.

10. Malik Pope, San Diego State

Position: Small forward
Games in the past week: 3-0 (Wins over Cal State Bakersfield, Utah and Cal State Northridge)
Key stats: Two leg breaks
Grade: I

All right! Let's start this off with a whimper.

It's not Malik Pope's fault he broke the same leg twice and hadn't played since the 11th grade. Luckily for the No. 16 Aztecs, it didn't slow them out of the gate of a very promising season.

Pope is the centerpiece, but far from the only piece, of a big freshman class coming in under coach Steve Fisher. Trey Kell and Kevin Zabo are on the floor now; a fourth player, Zylan Cheatham, was also benched with injury. 

(UPDATE: Pope made his debut Thursday night in the Aztecs' win over Cal State Bakersfield, playing 14 minutes off the bench and scoring four points on 1-of-6 shooting. Given the rust involved, we'll keep the Incomplete grade as is.)

9. Cliff Alexander, Kansas

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Position: Power forward
Games in the past week: 1-1 (Win over UC Santa Barbara, loss to Kentucky)
Key stats: 8.5 PPG, 6 RPG
Grade: B-

The good news: Cliff Alexander has exactly as many points and rebounds per game thus far as junior Perry Ellis, and is doing so while averaging 10 fewer minutes.

The bad news: That Kentucky game was pretty disappointing for anyone in a Jayhawk uni. It doesn't matter how good the other guys are; when you can only muster 40 points, you didn't do something right. Though Alexander was second on the team that night with eight points, he needed seven shots from the floor (two made) and eight free throws (four made) to get there.

Overall, though, the high-flying, hard-dunking Alexander has more or less met expectations, and he'll have plenty more opportunities to shine this season.

8. Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall

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Position: Shooting guard
Game in the past week: 2-0 (Wins over Mercer, Nevada)
Key stat: 22.2 percent FG
Grade: D

There's not a missing zero. The starting 2-guard for the Seton Hall Pirates—your very own Isaiah Whitehead—only managed to hit one of his 10 shot attempts in the Pirates' season opener. Three of those attempts were good for nothing but air. 

You want to give the kid a pass; it was his first college game, after all, and it came in his own backyard. (Whitehead hails from Brooklyn.) But the facts are still the facts, and two games in, it's not a pretty picture for the elite recruit.

7. Myles Turner, Texas

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Position: Center
Games in the past week: 4-0 (Wins over North Dakota State, Alcorn State, Iowa, California)
Key stat: 8.8 PPG
Grade: A-

Texas basketball's biggest draw since Kevin Durant has been plenty solid in a busy opening week for the Longhorns.

Myles Turner is making a lot of contributions in a crowded frontcourt for No. 10 Texas, showcasing a buttery shooting stroke that has helped him twice score in double figures off the bench. His defense has been strong, too, as evidenced by the six shots he rejected in a drubbing of Alcorn State in Austin. That's what you call protecting your house.

He hasn't played against a ton of elite competition yet. But as of this moment, so far, so good for the young buck.

6. Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky

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Position: Power forward
Games in the past week: 4-0 (Wins over Grand Canyon, Buffalo, Kansas, Boston University)
Key stat: 3.0 BPG 
Grade: A

If Kentucky didn't scare you before that pasting of Kansas, you were probably pretty pasty post-pasting.

The length, the athleticism, the team style of play. Karl-Anthony Towns is in the thick of it all, doing a good bit of everything as the top-ranked 'Cats' starting power forward.

Kentucky drew rave reviews for its defense against Kansas, and that's been a hallmark throughout the Wildcats' young campaign. Towns is a key spoke in that phase, leading the team in blocks.

He also has shown no nerves under the lights. He set season highs in points, blocks and assists and matched his best mark for rebounds in the nationally televised Kansas game. Whatever the Wildcats do this year, Towns will be a cornerstone.

5. Chris McCullough, Syracuse

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Position: Power forward
Games in the past week: 2-1 (Wins over Hampton and Kennesaw State, loss to Cal)
Key stats: 15.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG
Grade: B+

Bigger guys have shorter learning curves, especially when you have two inches on the other team's tallest starter. 

That was the case for the 6'10" Chris McCullough when he and his Syracuse Orange played Hampton earlier this week. McCullough went for 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks in that contest.

Cal isn't as height-challenged as Hampton, but it still had a smaller frontcourt than the Orange. And as is becoming their early custom, the No. 23 Orange were led by their bigs, getting 20 points from McCullough against Iowa. He and team-leading scorer and rebounder Rakeem Christmas combined for 15 boards. 

Too bad they lost that second one by 14, thanks to a hot-shooting Bears team. But McCullough did his part and should continue to put up solid, if not always remarkable, numbers.

4. Rashad Vaughn, UNLV

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Position: Shooting guard
Games in the past week: 2-0 (Wins over Sam Houston and Morehead State)
Key stat: 26 points vs. Morehead State 
Grade: A-

UNLV has been cutting it close this week. First a one-point squeaker against Morehead, then a two-point margin of victory over Sam Houston. But it might have been even worse without Rashad Vaughn.

Vaughn hit a three with about a minute left to clinch the season opener, then scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half against Sam Houston. The guy's got some ice water.

Still, it took him 19 shots to score those 18 points, so that desire to be the top guy may be a double-edged sword. That game against Stanford provided another test for a Rebels team that appears to be—say it with me now—doing some early gambling.

3. Jahlil Okafor

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Position: Center
Games in the past week: 5-0 (Wins over Michigan State, Fairfield, Presbyterian, Temple, Stanford)
Key stat: 64 percent FG
Grade: A

When the notoriously tough Michigan State Spartans are happy to hold you to 17 points, you might just be a monster. 

Okafor's polished post game has been on full display, hence that crazy field-goal clip. He was the best player on the floor when the Devils played the Spartans, chipping in five rebounds, two blocks and two steals to complement his scoring.

Add four fouls to that stat line too. Turnovers have also been a small issue at times, and it would be great to see him get himself more free throws (only two shots against both Michigan State and Presbyterian).

But Duke fans can't be upset. So far, Okafor has been as advertised, and that's good news for the fourth-ranked Blue Devils.

2. Tyler Ulis, Kentucky

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Position: Point guard
Games in the past week: 4-0 (Wins over Grand Canyon, Buffalo, Kansas, Boston University)
Key stat: 2.5 APG 
Grade: C+

When you've got so many guys who can handle the ball and are willing to share the bounty, a traditional point guard becomes less essential.

That's probably why only one Wildcat is averaging more than three assists per contest, with super sophomore Andrew Harrison at 3.3 in that category. 

And with such a loaded squad, no one is going to play remarkably heavy minutes, especially at the outset. Ulis was one of the quietest 'Cats against Kansas, netting four points on 1-of-2 field goals and committing two turnovers to no assists. It'll be tough to break out with the Harrisons in front of him, but so far he has proven a capable, if not amazing, presence in John Calipari's rotation.

1. Stanley Johnson, Arizona

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Position: Forward
Games in the past week: 3-0 (Wins over UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge, Mount Saint Mary's)
Key stats: 10 rebounds vs. UC Irvine, one rebound vs. Northridge
Grade: C

Stanley Johnson has been helping his team take care of business against some lesser competition thus far, and the No. 2 Wildcats are cruising early. While Johnson has shown flashes of the "Wow!" dynamism that made him one of the nation's top recruits, he also has been inconsistent early.

The rebounding stat line above sums it up. Or, take his 2-of-8 FG shooting night in the season opener, followed by a 7-of-10 recovery, followed by a 3-of-8 against Irvine. Though he has attempted multiple threes in each contest, only in one of those games did any of the attempts actually go in. 

Johnson will have plenty of time to hone his game, as the Wildcats take on two more fairly beatable opponents before welcoming Gonzaga on Dec. 6.