Early Report Card Grades for 2025-26 Top Freshmen in Men's College Basketball

Billed as one of the best, most top-heavy recruiting classes ever, this year's batch of top freshmen in men's college basketball has predominantly lived up to the hype.

Excluding Alijah Arenas—who is recovering from a car crash and a torn meniscus and might not play at all this season at USC—there are 14 players who were rated as 5-star recruits in this year's freshman class by both 247 Sports and ESPN.

One month into what will be just a four- or five-month college career for most of them, how are things going?

For the most part, they have been pretty doggone good. But we've assigned an early report card grade to each of those 14 diaper dandies.

For the record, grades have nothing to do with NBA draft potential. (We have NBA draft guru Jonathan Wasserman for that.) For our grading purposes, it's more a question of "Has he wowed us?" and "Could we see him anchoring a championship run?"

Players are presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas

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Season Stats: 17.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, 2.4 RPG, 45.0% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A

Pretty hard to pick nits in what Darius Acuff Jr. has shown thus far.

Efficiency as a perimeter shooter and questions of whether he could be the lead guard without being a ball hog were two of the biggest concerns most scouts had with Acuff's game heading into the season.

But at 45 percent with multiple triples in each of his first seven games, that perimeter stroke has been A-OK. Meanwhile, in the two games of any consequence against quality competition, he went for a combined 11 assists with just two turnovers against Duke and Michigan State.

Arkansas lost both of those games, though, and did become arguably too perimeter-oriented in each, settling instead of attacking. While that's not all on Acuff, he does set the tone for this offense and probably could do a better job of getting the big men involved in the scoring.

Nate Ament, Tennessee

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Season Stats: 17.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.8 SPG, 31.0% 3PT

Report Card Grade: C-plus

In Tennessee's first six games against no-name competition (sorry, Rutgers), Nate Ament looked great on both ends of the floor. He scored at least 15 points in each game while setting early career highs of 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Against actual competition, though, it has been a different story.

Ament's overall numbers in the loss to Kansas (20 points, nine rebounds) were impressive, but he also missed all eight of his field-goal attempts in the second half as the Volunteers blew what was a 12-point lead.

He got pushed around a bit in the win over Houston, though that was to be expected, given that team's pedigree of toughness and his slender build.

But going 2-for-10 from the field with seven turnovers against a Syracuse team that has been playing without its star big man Donnie Freeman? That was a big yikes, as Ament is now shooting 24.2 percent over his last three games.

Cameron Boozer, Duke

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Season Stats: 23.6 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.7 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 37.5% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A-plus

In every broadcast of a Duke game, there's inevitably a comment about how nice it must be to go from Cooper Flagg to Cameron Boozer in back-to-back years.

However, if we're going to constantly link the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft and what may well be the No. 1 pick next summer, let's also be sure to note that Boozer has been much better, much faster than Flagg was.

Nine games into his college career, Flagg was averaging 17.0 points and 2.4 turnovers, shooting 24.2 percent from three and getting a pretty harsh reputation as someone who chokes when the game is on the line.

But thus far, Boozer always delivers.

Though it was Isaiah Evans hitting the game-winner against Florida, it was Boozer who scored 13 of Duke's final 19 points and Boozer who delivered the game-winning assist after the Gators doubled him on a pick and pop five feet beyond the arc.

Boozer has scored at least 25 points in five of his first nine games. Flagg hit that mark once in his first 15 games.

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville

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Season Stats: 17.0 PPG, 6.0 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 30.6% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A-minus

Some players pad their stats against the weakest competition.

Other players save their best for the biggest games.

Turns out Mikel Brown Jr. is "other players."

Prior to Wednesday night's showdown with Arkansas, Louisville had faced two opponents of any consequence: Kentucky and Cincinnati. In the former, Brown went off for 29 points with five assists. In the latter, he scored 22 with six dimes, five boards and three steals.

Between those two games, he went 22-for-25 at the charity stripe, drawing 14 fouls while committing just one.

Our only semi-legitimate gripe here is that the three-point shooting could be better. It's a volume perimeter attack by Brown, Isaac McKneely and Ryan Conwell, with that trio averaging a combined 24 three-point attempts per game. But while the veterans are each converting at well north of 40 percent, Brown is barely at 30 percent, already missing seven attempts in a game on three separate occasions.

Brayden Burries, Arizona

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Season Stats: 10.6 PPG, 2.6 APG, 2.6 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 33.3% 3PT

Report Card Grade: D-plus

When this recruiting class was set, it was anyone's guess whether Brayden Burries or Koa Peat would be Arizona's most scintillating freshman, each 5-star player ranking somewhere between No. 9 and No. 12 on both ESPN and 247 Sports.

Peat has left Burries in the dust, though.

Circling back to that "some players" and "other players" point we made about Mikel Brown Jr., Burries has thus far very much fallen into the camp of padding his stats against overmatched competition.

Against Utah Tech, Denver and Norfolk State, Burries averaged 17.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.0 steals. Against Florida, UCLA, and Connecticut, however, those averages freefall to 4.0, 0.7, 1.7 and 1.0, respectively. And certainly not for lack of opportunity, as he logged 35 minutes against the Bruins and would've played more than 17 against Florida if he hadn't fouled out first.

Plenty of time to turn things around. If Burries doesn't show signs of life in these next two Saturdays against Auburn and Alabama, though, he might start losing some of that playing time to fellow frosh Dwayne Aristode.

Chris Cenac Jr., Houston

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Season Stats: 9.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 38.9% 3PT

Report Card Grade: B

At 6'11" with fluidity and athleticism for days, legitimate three-point range (7-for-18) and a nose for rebounds (12.8 per 40 minutes), Chris Cenac Jr. clearly has the potential to be special at the next level.

But can he get to the point where he's replacing what J'Wan Roberts brought to the table for Houston last season?

It's a slightly ridiculous ask, because Roberts was a sixth-year senior with a "40-year-old who's not exactly trying to make any friends at the YMCA" type of grown-man game. But it's the type of centerpiece the Cougars need in order to remain the force we've come to know them as.

To that end, Cenac has been tougher thus far than the reputation that preceded him, but there's still a lot of room for improvement on the defensive end of the floor. And though he has been a force on the glass with 62 rebounds already, he has been a black hole on offense with just three assists.

AJ Dybantsa, BYU

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Season Stats: 19.0 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, 37.5% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A-minus

BYU put together quite the rigorous November for its freshman phenom, facing Connecticut, Wisconsin, Villanova, Miami and Dayton all away from home within the first seven games of his college career.

AJ Dybantsa has not disappointed in the slightest, scoring at least 16 points in every game to date.

The game against UConn, in particular, showcased both his highs and lows.

Dybantsa started slow in that one, scoring just four points in the first 25 minutes. He also ended that night without an assist, though has recorded multiple dimes in every other game. But right when it looked like the Cougars were dead and buried, he took over, scoring 21 of their final 43 points as they clawed from a 19-point deficit back to within just one bucket in the end.

He's only 6-for-16 from three-point range, but, hey, Cooper Flagg started out 8-for-36 before finding his stroke last season. And until opponents show an ability to actually stay in front of him on drives, why settle for threes when you can get them the old-fashioned way instead?

Nikolas Khamenia, Duke

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Season Stats: 6.2 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 38.5% 3PT

Report Card Grade: D

If you compare this year's Duke team to last year's, Cameron Boozer is Cooper Flagg, Isaiah Evans is Tyrese Proctor, Patrick Ngongba is Khaman Maluach, Caleb Foster is Sion James...but where's Kon Knueppel?

Rather than one player, it seems the plan is a combo of Nikolas Khamenia and Dame Sarr, each playing 20 minutes per night while essentially sharing the small forward/wing job.

Neither highly touted freshman is making all that much of an impact, though. In fact, they were both held scoreless in a combined 29 minutes played in Tuesday's win over Florida, in which Khamenia was making his first start of the season.

Combine that goose egg with his four-point performances against each of Texas, Kansas and Arkansas and Khamenia's average line in games decided by fewer than 35 points is: 17.5 minutes, 3.0 points, 3.25 rebounds, 0.75 assists.

Not great. Probably going to need more out of him in order to survive that trip to Michigan State this weekend.

Braylon Mullins, Connecticut

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Season Stats: 9.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.5 SPG, 25.0% 3PT

Report Card Grade: Incomplete

We've got two incompletes on this list for the two marquee freshmen who have thus far appeared in just two games.

At least with Braylon Mullins, it was the two most recent games after missing the first three weeks with an ankle injury.

And at least Mullins looked fantastic in the latter of those games, going for 17 points off the bench (may well be the last time that's the case) in a road win over Kansas on Tuesday night.

The ankle looked good as he made his cuts along the perimeter. And perhaps most impressive of all was that he sank the first two free throw attempts of his college career, with nine seconds remaining in a three-point game in a mighty hostile environment.

Much like Liam McNeeley last year, you already get the sense that UConn could ride this freshman to a deep run in the dance. And he's just now getting his toes wet.

Koa Peat, Arizona

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Season Stats: 15.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.9 BPG

Report Card Grade: A-minus

Nobody made a louder first impression than Koa Peat, exploding for 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals—not to mention a few rim-rattling dunks—in his season debut against Florida.

The game against UCLA two weeks later was a bit of a disaster (seven points, six turnovers, four fouls), but Peat was right back in the spotlight in the subsequent win at Connecticut, going for 16 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

The only thing this stat-sheet stuffer doesn't do is hit threes, sitting at 0-for-4 from distance in the early going.

That's a problem for the draft scouts to worry about, though. We're perfectly happy to watch him flash his footwork in the paint in between racking up dimes and boards as the brightest star of what is probably the best frontcourt in the nation.

Darryn Peterson, Kansas

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Season Stats: 21.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.5 BPG, 50.0% 3PT

Report Card Grade: Incomplete

When we talked about Darryn Peterson being a sure-fire one-and-done freshman, we did rather assume it would be one season, not one week.

Peterson has missed Kansas' last seven games with a hamstring injury, leading to ungrounded speculation that he might just shut it down and start preparing for the draft instead of rehabbing for a comeback. Bill Self has said all along, though, that Peterson is day-to-day, and we expect he'll return soon.

In the meantime, though, he gets an incomplete grade with just two games played.

Granted, one of those games was on the road against North Carolina, and he went for 22 points on a night where his supporting cast provided virtually no support in a loss. It was a fantastic data point, but we need more of them, please.

Meleek Thomas, Arkansas

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Season Stats: 17.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.6 SPG, 34.5% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A

John Calipari has had some seriously talented guards in his decades as a head coach, but Meleek Thomas is right up there with the likes of Malik Monk, Jamal Murray, Rob Dillingham and Tyreke Evans in the conversation for most insatiable shooter/scorer of them all.

This guy hasn't been shy to let it fly, already attempting at least 10 three-pointers in a game on three occasions.

We were forewarned to expect that volume scorer's mentality with Thomas, but the willingness to share the rock has been a fun development to the tune of 27 assists against just seven turnovers.

He and fellow freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. have become quite the dual-combo guard backcourt, combining for 35 points and better than eight assists per game.

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina

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Season Stats: 19.3 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.3 BPG

Report Card Grade: A-plus

Caleb Wilson went for 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in an early home win over Kansas.

On Tuesday, he put up 15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two steals in a road win over Kentucky.

Yeah, that'll do.

Armando Bacot averaged a double-double in each of his final three seasons with the Tar Heels. Luke Maye did the same for two years. Brice Johnson and John Henson each had one such season.

But Wilson is giving off "peak Sean May" or "peak Tyler Hansbrough" vibes of a dominant post presence who does it all and could carry the Tar Heels to a national championship.

He already has five double-doubles and has made at least five free throws in each of his first eight games, shooting 75 percent from the charity stripe.

The Duke-UNC games always deliver, but this year's battles between Wilson and Boozer could be downright legendary. (For what it's worth, the only time Duke and North Carolina each had a player selected in the top six in the NBA Draft was in 1989. That feels certain to change.)

Tounde Yessoufou, Baylor

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Season Stats: 17.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.3 SPG, 1.4 APG, 26.5% 3PT

Report Card Grade: A-minus

Though his sophomore teammate, Cam Carr, is stealing a lot of the spotlight, Tounde Yessoufou has been putting on quite a stealing show of his own in the early going.

Yessoufou has scored in double figures in each game thus far, and a lot of that starts on the other end of the floor.

Just in Tuesday's win over Sacramento State, Yessoufou had four steals which he converted into fast-break dunks/layups. It was already his fourth game with at least three steals, as he makes an early case for best defensive weapon of this freshman class.

As lethal as he has been both in transition and on the offensive glass, though, he's only 9-for-34 from three-point range. Either the percentage needs to improve or the volume needs to decrease, before it detracts from what has otherwise been a solid start.