2025-26 Men's College Basketball Freshman of the Year Rankings
In most men's college basketball seasons, doing National Player of the Year rankings on odd-numbered weeks and National Freshman of the Year rankings on even-numbered weeks allows us to highlight two relatively divergent groups of players.
This year, though, there's an awful lot of overlap on that Venn diagram, with Cameron Boozer the favorite for each, while AJ Dybantsa, Kingston Flemings and other freshmen have played their way into the first-team All-American conversation.
If Boozer slips in the slightest, though, who are the top candidates to usurp his throne as top freshman?
Contrary to consideration for National Player of the Year trophies like the Wooden Award, one needn't play for a title contender to have a real shot at winning this one. Team success definitely helps, though, even if it's more of a bonus than a prerequisite for consideration.
Statistics are current through the start of play Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Honorable Mentions: Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville), Acaden Lewis (Villanova), Thijs de Ridder (Virginia), Hannes Steinbach (Washington), Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor)
10. Nate Ament, Tennessee
1 of 10
Season Stats: 15.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.4 SPG
MVP Performance: 23 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, two assists vs. Texas A&M (Jan. 13)
Previous Rank: Honorable Mention
It took a couple of months, but Nate Ament might be starting to put it together.
Through his first 15 collegiate games, he generally looked great against overmatched competition, but conversely struggled against actual opponents, raising questions from both college basketball fans and NBA draft enthusiasts about his athleticism and toughness.
Since our last update, however, he averaged 19.0 points against Florida, Texas A&M and Kentucky, with the performance against the Wildcats this past weekend maybe his most impressive yet—though he did vanish late as Kentucky completed its 17-point comeback.
Can he be the savior for a Volunteers team that has fallen out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2020-21 campaign?
He certainly was the hero in the game against the Aggies, scoring 10 of their 16 points between the two overtime periods. That felt like the night where things really started to click; a lite version of AJ Dybantsa's second-half explosion against Clemson last night.
The next step is getting the three-point stroke to click. Ament is averaging four attempts per game, but only making 27.8 percent of them. Will be a game-changer if those start falling with some regularity.
9. Arizona's Dynamic Duo
2 of 10
Brayden Burries
Season Stats: 14.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.7 SPG, 34.2% 3PT
MVP Performance: 28 points, seven rebounds, two assists at Alabama (Dec. 13)
Previous Rank: 7
Koa Peat
Season Stats: 14.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.8 APG
MVP Performance: 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals vs. Florida (Nov. 3)
Previous Rank: Honorable Mention
It was one thing two years ago to go back and forth on whether Kentucky's Reed Sheppard or Rob Dillingham was the best player in maybe the worst freshman class in decades. At some point soon, though, we're going to need to reach a consensus on which of these two freshmen is actually Arizona's biggest star, lest they both fall out of the running for NFOY.
But which one is it?
Burries had 28 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals two weeks ago against Kansas State and proceeded to score 18 in the road win over UCF this past weekend. But while he scored just six in each of the two games in between against TCU and Arizona State, it was Peat to the rescue with a combined 44 points, 17 rebounds and six dimes in those two games—before no-showing the UCF game to the tune of four points and three boards.
The good news is the Wildcats are still undefeated and still the projected No. 1 overall seed. For as long as that remains the case, we'll continue looking for reasons to include players from this roster in the conversations for national awards and honors. (Remember Willie Cauley-Stein being named a consensus first-team All-American in 2014-15?)
Arizona has two games left against BYU, two against Kansas and one each against Houston, Iowa State and Texas Tech. That's plenty of massive opportunity for Burries or Peat to rise above the other.
8. Darryn Peterson, Kansas
3 of 10
Season Stats: 21.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.0 SPG, 42.0% 3PT
MVP Performance: 32 points, six rebounds, one block, one assist vs. TCU (Jan. 6)
Previous Rank: Honorable Mention
Darryn Peterson has barely played in half of Kansas' games and has logged fewer than 30 minutes in more than half of the games that he has played. To put him any higher in this ranking, we'd need to bump some first-year star who has been carrying his team on a nightly basis for the past 11 weeks.
On the flip side of that coin, though, Peterson has averaged an absurd 31.8 points per 40 minutes played—doing so without the benefit of playing in the home games against Princeton, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Davidson and Towson where he probably could've gone off for 40 points at least once, and doing so despite battling a leg injury since before the season began.
It would feel disrespectful to rank Peterson in the top five, but it would be perhaps even more outrageous to leave him out of the top 10 altogether.
So, here we are at No. 8, basically just waiting to slowly but surely move the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft up in this ranking, provided he stays healthy. But because he missed nine games, there might be a glass ceiling at some point where we can't justify bumping him any higher.
Unless, of course, Peterson is indisputably the brightest star in next Saturday's game against BYU and AJ Dybantsa, in which case he maybe enters February as the top challenger to Cameron Boozer. Stay tuned.
7. Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
4 of 10
Season Stats: 19.8 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 40.8% 3PT
MVP Performance: 29 points, four assists, three rebound vs. Tennessee (Jan. 3)
Previous Rank: 5
Prior to shutting down Vanderbilt out of nowhere on Tuesday night, poor defense had become a full-fledged fiasco for Arkansas, allowing at least 90 points in each of its last three losses, as well as at least 80 points in nine of its last 15 games. And among the nine Razorbacks who have played the most minutes, Darius Acuff Jr. ranks dead last in both D Rating and defensive box plus/minus.
He is, however, doing his darndest to make up for it with unrelenting offense.
Acuff has scored at least 17 points in 13 consecutive games, averaging 21 points and seven assists dating back to that Thanksgiving clash with Duke.
He's doing it rather efficiently, too, shooting just a touch under 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from distance while averaging 2.3 turnovers. In fact, he now has two points-assists double-doubles in which he didn't commit any turnovers, going for 23 and 10 against Queens, as well as 18 and 13 in the 108-74 annihilation of South Carolina last week.
Trying to compare what he's doing to what Trae Young did at Oklahoma would be a bit much, but Acuff is surely one of the closest comps we've seen to Young in the past eight years as far as that combination of indispensability on offense and liability on defense is concerned.
6. Caleb Wilson, North Carolina
5 of 10
Season Stats: 19.7 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.6 SPG, 1.4 BPG
MVP Performance: 20 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks, two assists vs. Ohio State (Dec. 20)
Previous Rank: 4
The good news for Caleb Wilson is that "plays for a title contender" isn't historically as much of a prerequisite in the National Freshman of the Year race as it is for the Wooden Award.
Kentucky ended up at No. 20 in the AP poll two years ago when Reed Sheppard won it. Oklahoma was a No. 10 seed when Trae Young won in 2018. And LSU didn't even make the dance when Ben Simmons won in 2016.
With so many star freshmen playing for upper echelon teams, though, it's certainly not helping Wilson's case that North Carolina is 4-4 against top 100 competition and looking like a team that could be playing in an 8/9 game in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Granted, the four losses weren't Wilson's fault. In fact, in last week's pair of West Coast L's against Cal and Stanford, he went for a combined line of 43 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, six steals and three blocks.
Then again, in crunch time, the Tar Heels seemed to forget that Wilson existed. He had two points (on free throws), two fouls and two turnovers in the final five minutes of the collapse at Stanford, and he only took one shot in the final six minutes at Cal, missing a mostly meaningless three-point heave with five seconds remaining in a five-point game.
It was a similar story in the home win over Wake Forest, too. While the Tar Heels nearly squandered what was a 15-point lead with 11 minutes remaining, Wilson had one point, one rebound, one assist and one missed field-goal attempt, despite not coming out of the game at all.
At this point, the late disappearing act has become a trend. And between that and North Carolina's fall from grace, we can no longer deem Wilson a top-five candidate for NFOY.
5. Ebuka Okorie, Stanford
6 of 10
Season Stats: 22.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 32.0% 3PT
MVP Performance: 36 points, nine assists, three rebounds, two steals vs. North Carolina (Jan. 14)
Previous Rank: 8
Saturday's game against Duke was brutal for Stanford and Ebuka Okorie. While the Blue Devils ran away with a 30-point victory behind 30 points from Cameron Boozer, Okorie was held to nine points and four turnovers.
It was the third time in the past five weeks that he has been held below 15 points, which very uncoincidentally came on nights where the Cardinal were held to 55, 50 and 40 points.
In the other five games, though, Okorie averaged 31.4 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 turnovers while leading Stanford to critical wins over Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Colorado.
We previously mentioned Caleb Wilson's ghost impression down the stretch against Stanford. Well, Okorie had seven points, an assist and a steal in the final 5:05, turning a six-point deficit into a five-point victory. He also scored 19 points in the final nine minutes at Virginia Tech, including the game-winning triple with three seconds remaining.
Notably, Stanford is a bubble team, thanks to some brutal home losses to Seattle, UNLV and Notre Dame. But when Okorie posts an O-rating of 107 or better, the Cardinal are a perfect 12-0, and he has been named the KenPom Game MVP in 11 of those 12 games.
He isn't the best freshman on the best team in the country, but he just might be the singularly most important freshman in the nation who might carry this team to the dance.
4. Kingston Flemings, Houston
7 of 10
Season Stats: 15.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, 3.4 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 38.5% 3PT
MVP Performance: 23 points, five assists, three rebounds, one block vs. Texas Tech (Jan. 6)
Previous Rank: 3
Over the past five weeks, Houston's offensive philosophy has basically been: Let Kingston Flemings cook.
And why not?
His shooting percentages (43.1% FG; 23.1% 3PT) haven't been anywhere near as pristine as they were through the first 11 games (60.6% FG; 51.7% 3PT), and yet his per-game numbers (16.9 points, 6.1 assists, 1.3 turnovers) are considerably better than they used to be (14.8 points, 4.9 assists, 2.1 turnovers) because of how much more the ball has been in his hands.
He has been great all season, though.
He went for 22 points and seven assists in the early win at Auburn. He had a season-high 25 in the close loss to Tennessee. He lit up Arkansas for 21 and five with three steals. And in the first three games of Big 12 play, Flemings had a combined line of 52 points, 18 assists and just four turnovers. Those were Houston's six "Tier A" games, per KenPom, and this freshman was huge in each.
Can he possibly overtake the dynamic duo of Dybantsa and Boozer in this race?
Feb. 7 looms large as a marquee opportunity, when Houston plays at BYU. Subsequently facing Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas in the span of eight days in late February will also be massive. Because if Flemings outplays Darryn Peterson on a night when Houston cements itself as a No. 1 seed, things could get mighty interesting.
3. Keaton Wagler, Illinois
8 of 10
Season Stats: 16.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 42.1% 3PT
MVP Performance: 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists at Tennessee (Dec. 6)
Previous Rank: 6
Keaton Wagler was a late arrival on the National Freshman of the Year scene.
Not only did he begin his college career light years behind pretty much everyone else in this conversation as the No. 150 recruit in the class, per 247 Sports, but he also wasn't anything special in the November games against Texas Tech, Alabama and Connecticut, averaging 7.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 1.7 turnovers.
However, if you want to talk about the best players in all of college basketball since the beginning of December. Torvik data suggests it's Wagler at No. 1 and Cameron Boozer at No. 2.
In the 10 games prior to Wednesday night's matchup with Maryland, Wagler was averaging 18.2 points, 5.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds, shooting 48 percent from the field, 46 percent from distance and 86 percent from the free-throw line. The only game in which he didn't score at least 16 points was the 90-55 rout of Southern, in which he instead flirted with a triple-double (11 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds).
Brandon Lee and Mihailo Petrovic were supposed to be the Illini's top freshman guards, but they're both barely seeing the floor because Wagler has become such a force who rarely needs to come out of the game.
Saddle up for the next three weekends, though. Illinois plays at Purdue this Saturday, at Nebraska next Sunday and at Michigan State on Feb. 7. If he continues to thrive in those games, look out.
2. AJ Dybantsa, BYU
9 of 10
Season Stats: 22.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.4 SPG, 30.2% 3PT
MVP Performance: 28 points, nine rebounds, six assists vs. Clemson (Dec. 9)
Previous Rank: 2
For the most part, AJ Dybantsa has been excellent, flirting with leading the nation in scoring during this one-season pit stop before jetting off to the NBA.
But after a fun December of absurd stat lines against the likes of Eastern Washington (33-point triple-double) and Abilene Christian (season-high 35 points), Dybantsa's efficiency has taken a real hit in Big 12 play—this despite getting four of those five games against teams not projected to dance.
He's still putting up good point totals, averaging 21.0 per game. However, it's coming on 44.9 percent shooting, with 2.8 assists against 4.0 turnovers. Comparatively, those marks were 59.1, 3.8 and 2.3, respectively, through 13 nonconference games.
Texas Tech, in particular, had his number this past weekend. He scored just two points on six shots in the second half of that loss, unable to get to the rim or to the free-throw line at anything close to his usual degree of consistency.
Can he turn things back around and star in some marquee wins to cement BYU as a title contender? Or will the games against Arizona and Kansas in the next 10 days be just as problematic as that matchup with the Red Raiders?
Dybantsa is still our No. 2 freshman, but the gap between first and second has widened.
1. Cameron Boozer, Duke
10 of 10
Season Stats: 23.2 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.8 SPG, 37.7% 3PT
MVP Performance: 30 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals at Stanford (Jan. 17)
Previous Rank: 1
Since our last NFOY update, it's been more of the same metronome-like dominance from Cameron Boozer.
North Carolina went out to the West Coast and acquired two questionable losses to Cal and Stanford. But against that same road trip, Boozer led the Blue Devils to a pair of convincing victories, tallying 51 points, 27 rebounds and six assists with no personal fouls.
Ho hum.
Through five January games (four of them on the road), Boozer is shooting 34-for-47 (72.3 percent) from inside the arc, as well as 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) beyond it. Just ridiculous efficiency for a guy who is the entire focus of opposing defenses.
Of course, Boozer has also tallied multiple assists in every game of the season, including nine dimes in the early January win over Florida State. His willingness and ability to find the open man has made for a real "damned if you double him in the post, damned if you don't" nightly predicament in the ACC.
Whether he'll go No. 2, 3 or 4 in the NBA draft in a few months has been a topic of much discussion in recent weeks, but Boozer is becoming a heavier favorite to win the Wooden Award with each passing week.
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