Ranking the 10 Best NCAA Basketball Freshmen So Far in the 2014-15 Season

The 2013-14 college basketball season was billed as the "Year of the Freshman" by many pundits, but it's pretty hard to argue with the bevy of outstanding first-year players we've watched through the first month of the 2014-15 season.

Trying to rank the top 10 freshmen was such a challenge that we ended up with more honorable mentions than players ranked. In the end, though, we came up with what we feel are the 10 freshmen who have made the biggest positive impact this season.

Aside from perhaps the big man from Austria at No. 10, you won't find any surprises here. Each player in the top nine was a 5-star recruit, according to 247Sports.com, so props to Jerry Meyer and everyone involved in those scouting rankings for knocking it out of the park, as usual.

One minor surprise, however: It isn't Jahlil Okafor at No. 1 and just a bunch of guys fighting for silver. Yes, we have him at No. 1, but we had to at least pause and consider putting each of the top five guys ahead of him.

The race for the 2014-15 Freshman of the Year is going to be a much closer one than we were led to believe.

Honorable Dozen

USA TODAY Sports

A lot of freshmen are doing remarkable things this season. So many, in fact, that this could have been a ranking of the top 20 freshmen, and it still would have had a handful of snubs.

In addition to our top 10, however, here are another 12 that we're keeping a close eye on.

Melo Trimble, Maryland; Rashad Vaughn, UNLV; Trevon Bluiett, Xavier

It's tough to separate these three shooting guards who are averaging roughly 30 minutes, 15 points and two assists per game for teams that will likely spend large chunks of the season on the tournament bubble. Bluiett is probably the early favorite to eventually earn a spot in the top 10, but each of these three players has a bright future ahead of him.

Angel Delgado and Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall

Delgado is nearly averaging a double-double, and Whitehead is just starting to heat up. This is the best Seton Hall has been in a long time, and the Pirates can thank their freshmen for that.

Isaac Haas and Vince Edwards, Purdue

These two are hands down the best freshmen duo in the nation that no one is talking about. Edwards is averaging 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Haas is putting up 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds while spelling A.J. Hammons at center. Extrapolate Haas' scoring to per 40 minutes, and it's an outrageous 26.7.

Justise Winslow, Duke

The no-show against Wisconsin scared us away, but don't be surprised if he joins Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor in the top 10 next time around.

Cliff Alexander, Kansas

Once he starts playing more minutes (18.7 minutes per game thus far), Alexander is going to be putting up some ridiculous numbers.

Devin Booker, Kentucky

His last three games have been rough, but heaven have mercy when he's hitting his three-pointers.

Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut

He's the second-leading scorer and top rebounder for the reigning national champions. If and when Connecticut starts looking like a tournament-worthy team, that'll go a long way.

Emmett Naar, Saint Mary's

The underdog!

Naar is just the latest in the pipeline from Australia/New Zealand to Saint Mary's that includes such NBA guards as Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.

Averaging 37.0 minutes and 6.3 assists per game, Naar is currently leading all freshmen in both categories. If Saint Mary's earns a tournament bid, he'll inevitably earn some Freshman of the Year votes.

Maybe by then, we'll have a picture of him in our database.

10. Jakob Poeltl, Utah

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 24.3 MPG, 12.0 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 3.0 BPG, 0.7 SPG

It's high time you start paying attention to Utah if your first thought is "Who's that?"

Jakob Poeltl is a 7'0" import from Austria, and he has been something special for the Utes.

In the win over Wichita State, he had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. In Utah's lone loss of the season at San Diego State, the Aztecs doubled him in the post all night long to hold him to four points, but he still made an impact with 12 rebounds and seven blocks.

Rebounding—particularly the offensive kind—was a huge issue last year for the Utes. They ranked 278th in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom.com. As a team that went 1-8 in games decided by four points or less, it's not hard to argue that poor offensive rebounding kept the Utes out of the NCAA tournament.

This year, though? Poeltl is No. 1 in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom.com.

Poeltl may not be on the national radar yet, but he will be if he plays as well as he should against Kansas on Saturday.

9. Myles Turner, Texas

Chris Covatta/Getty Images

By the Numbers: 19.9 MPG, 11.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.9 BPG

Myles Turner has solid numbers, but he has been disappointing in the games that matter.

Texas has played four games against teams in any rational person's top 100 and four games against teams nowhere near that ranking.

Against the four bad teams, Turner played 87 minutes with 68 points, 33 rebounds and 16 blocks.

Against the four good teams, Turner played 72 minutes with 23 points, 22 rebounds and seven blocks.

To an extent, you expect a player to be less effective when facing quality opponents, but Turner has been night and day.

Maybe he's just coincidentally having off nights when Texas is playing better teams, but we'll find out soon enough whether he can put up respectable numbers against good players and teams. With TCU and Texas Tech looking somewhat respectable through the first month of the season, there might not be any nights off once Big 12 play begins.

How Turner fares against the likes of Cliff Alexander, Ryan Spangler, Rico Gathers and Jonathan Holton should have a significant impact on where he ends up in projected draft boards.

8. Tyus Jones, Duke

Associated Press

By the Numbers: 28.3 MPG, 10.5 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 1.0 TOPG

Tyus Jones has been incredible for Duke. His court vision, selflessness and ability to hit the occasional back-breaking shot make him look like anything other than a freshman.

Aside from his lack of turnovers, though, Jones doesn't really have the type of "smack you in the face" numbers that you would expect to see from a top-five guy.

Jones does have an impressive number of assists, but is it the chicken or the egg?

Duke is one of the highest scoring and most talented teams in the country, averaging 89.1 points on 31.9 made field-goals per game. But against the best competition (Michigan State, Stanford and Wisconsin), Jones has had his three lowest assist outputs of the season.

He is also an outrageously inconsistent shooter/scorer. Jones has four games with at least 15 points in which he has shot a combined 65.6 percent from the field. In the other four games, he shot 3-of-20 and averaged 3.5 points per game.

Once he shows a little more consistency and an ability to distribute against high-caliber teams, we'll consider moving him up a few spots.

7. Stanley Johnson, Arizona

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 28.5 MPG, 13.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 1.3 APG

One of the best things about Stanley Johnson is also hurting his stock the most in these rankings: He doesn't push the issue.

Johnson isn't scoring quite as much as the guys at the top of the list, but he isn't taking as many shots either.

D'Angelo Russell is averaging 18.0 points per game, but it's taking him 14.9 field-goal attempts to get there. James Blackmon Jr. and Jahlil Okafor have each attempted 12.0 shots per game.

But Johnson—despite being arguably the most talented first-year player in the country—is averaging just 9.0 field-goal attempts per game on an equal opportunity-scoring roster at Arizona.

He does a little bit of everything and is leading the Wildcats in scoring, but the hopes and dreams of the team aren't being heaped upon his shoulders like they are for other top freshmen. Johnson has been allowed to play within himself and take what the defense gives him.

In the long run, being the most efficient freshman in the country will be better than being the one who scores the most points.

6. Chris McCullough, Syracuse

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 34.5 MPG, 14.4 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 1.9 SPG, 1.4 APG

No doubt Syracuse has struggled this season. I'm one of the few people keeping the faith that Jim Boeheim and the Orange will turn things around and safely secure a tournament bid, but even I'm beginning to see the writing on the wall.

However, blame the guards, not the forwards. Among players who have attempted at least two three-pointers for Syracuse, Trevor Cooney has the highest percentage at 28.3. The Orange are shooting 20.9 percent from beyond the arc as a team, which would be worst in the nation if Florida State wasn't just a little less accurate.

Throw in Boston College at 24.1 percent and North Carolina's shooting woes, and they might as well just erase the three-point line for ACC games.

But I digress, because Chris McCullough has been an animal in the paint.

Faced with the impossible task of replacing C.J. Fair, McCullough has done exactly that. Like Perry Ellis at Kansas, you could basically just put 16 points and six rebounds down for Fair before every game and you'd be pretty close.

McCullough has scored between 10 and 20 points in all eight games this season and has only once recorded fewer than seven rebounds.

He has been quite active on defense as well, having already tallied 19 blocks and 15 steals.

Not only is McCullough one of the best scoring and rebounding freshmen, but he's on pace for at least 60 blocks and 60 steals—a combination that hasn't been achieved by any D-I player in the past two years.

5. James Blackmon Jr., Indiana

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 30.6 MPG, 19.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.0 APG

Owner of one of the prettiest strokes in the nation, James Blackmon Jr. is a treat that not nearly enough of the nation has yet started watching.

Indiana's shooting guard is hitting 54.2 percent of his three-point attempts and leading all freshmen in scoring with 19.5 points per game.

(Technically, Fordham's Eric Paschall is the top-scoring freshman at 19.6 points per game, but we're electing to ignore him because his average drops to 16.8 if you only count D-I opponents.)

Blackmon scored a career-high 26 points against SMU in what currently stands as Indiana's most impressive win of the season.

In addition to his lethal three-point stroke, Blackmon has also connected on 28 of 32 free-throw attempts. Between Blackmon and Yogi Ferrell (44.8 percent from three-point range, 88.6 percent from free-throw line), Indiana is well-equipped to both make late comebacks and salt away late leads.

4. Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

By the Numbers: 18.8 MPG, 9.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.8 BPG, 1.4 APG

Even with a platoon system that is practically designed to keep any individual Kentucky player from putting up outstanding numbers, it has been impossible to overlook Karl-Anthony Towns.

He has scored at least 10 points in four consecutive games, including Sunday evening's career-high 19 in a predictable rout of Eastern Kentucky.

After the win, Towns told reporters, "I did come out with a different mentality today. I've been just trying to work on all facets of my game, especially defensively."

He has blocked at least three shots in six different contests despite not yet playing more than 23 minutes in a game. His block percentage ranks fourth in the nation, according to KenPom.com, while his offensive and defensive rebounding percentages both rank in the top 100.

Unless things change at Kentucky, Towns won't have many opportunities for double-doubles. In terms of efficiency and stats per 40 minutes, though, he's going to be one of the best freshmen in the country and one of the top draft picks in June.

3. Kevon Looney, UCLA

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 30.9 MPG, 14.1 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 1.9 BPG, 1.8 APG

During the Arizona vs. Gonzaga game, ESPN flashed up a graphic of the three freshmen (Stanley Johnson, Chris McCullough and Jahlil Okafor) who were averaging at least 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

Why did it have to be 14.0 PPG?

Why couldn't it have been 13.5 PPG in order to include Kevon Looney—the best rebounding freshman in the country by a mile?

Prior to Sunday's game against San Diego—in other words, his numbers when ESPN decided he wasn't worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with those other three freshmen—Looney was averaging 13.6 PPG and 11.3 RPG. He has scored at least 10 points in all nine games and has recorded a double-double in six of them.

In the Battle 4 Atlantis against Oklahoma—a team that ranks sixth in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com—Looney had his best game of the season, recording 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots.

It's a shame that the Bruins were punted away from the national radar by losing back-to-back games by double digits right after making their debut in the AP poll, because Looney deserves to be a household name. We'll see if he can make some waves in upcoming games against Gonzaga (Dec. 13) and Kentucky (Dec. 20).

2. D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State

Paul Vernon/Associated Press

By the Numbers: 30.1 MPG, 18.0 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.3 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 42.5 3P%

We hope Big Ten fans appreciate what they have in terms of outstanding freshmen this season.

Not only are two of the top five players on this list from the Big Ten, but the conference also has Isaac Haas and Vince Edwards from Purdue, Melo Trimble from Maryland, Robert Johnson from Indiana and Bryant McIntosh from Northwestern.

If the All-Freshman team from each conference played an eight-team bracket at the end of the season, the Big Ten would be the No. 2 seed behind the ACC.

As far as D'Angelo Russell is concerned, the kid is a stone-cold stud.

It's early in the year, and Ohio State has only played one game against a quality team, but Russell is posting numbers that put Tyler Ennis to shame. Syracuse's do-it-all freshman point guard from the 2013-14 season put up 12.9 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.4 RPG and 2.1 SPG while shooting 35.3 percent from three-point range.

Other than blocked shots, whatever you need, Russell has you covered.

In that one game against a quality team (Louisville), he had 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals, darn near leading the Buckeyes back from a 19-point deficit. He either made or assisted on nine of Ohio State's first 10 field goals of the second half.

Thanks to Russell, not only has Ohio State's offense survived the departure of Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and LaQuinton Ross, but this might be the most efficient Buckeyes offense of the past decade.

1. Jahlil Okafor, Duke

USA TODAY Sports

By the Numbers: 27.4 MPG, 17.1 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.5 BPG, 0.9 SPG

Jahlil Okafor has been every bit as good as advertised.

He doesn't quite lead all freshmen in points scored or rebounds, but he is the only one averaging at least 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds.

Okafor has scored in double figures in every game this season despite only once playing more than 30 minutes in a game.

For months on end, we heard about how great Okafor was going to be. Every team that plays Duke knows that he is not only one of the best players in the country but the most important player on the Blue Devils roster.

Yet, no one has come particularly close to figuring out how to slow him down other than to hope he gets into foul trouble.

Eventually, he'll meet his match. Maybe it's in January against Louisville's Montrezl Harrell, Chinanu Onuaku and Mangok Mathiang. Perhaps it's during the three-week stretch at the end of the season when Duke plays North Carolina and Syracuse twice each.

Unless he implodes in those games, though, go ahead and book a reservation for Okafor at No. 1 in these rankings for the rest of the year.

Statistics on the following slides courtesy of ESPN.com, NCAA.com and KenPom.com (subscription required).

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.