This Year's Freshmen Class Is The Best Since 2016-17

Talented freshmen have been dominating the sport in 2024-25, and the stats back it up

Perhaps the biggest storyline in college basketball coming into the 2024-25 season centered around a freshmen phenom: Duke’s Cooper Flagg. He’s the most hyped freshman prospect in college since Zion Williamson in 2018-19.

Today, Flagg has absolutely delivered on that promise. He’s currently the favorite to win National Player of the Year, and he’s the 2nd most valuable player in college basketball at EvanMiya.com according to Bayesian Performance Rating.

Cooper Flagg’s dominance may not surprise many people, but the stellar play of the rest of this year’s freshman class has caught the attention of many. Matt Norlander wrote a great piece highlighting the many freshmen stars in the sport today and claims that this year’s class is one of the best in the last 20 years.

I’ll take it a step further: The 2024-25 freshman class is the most impactful group we’ve seen in almost a decade. At EvanMiya.com, every player in CBB gets a rating based on their value in the sport. If you look at the top 200 players nationally, there are more freshmen (23) in that elite tier than we’ve seen in any year since the 2016-17 season:

Last year’s freshmen class had the lowest number of players in the top 200 of any year in my database, dating back to the 2012-13 season. Jumping from that uninspiring class to this year’s immense crop of talent is quite impressive, especially when you consider that there are still fifth-year players in the sport. This rule, implemented during COVID, has only made it harder for true freshmen to make a difference in the sport since.

This Year’s Top Freshmen

The table below shows the best freshmen in the sport at EvanMiya.com right now. Cooper Flagg is far and away the top player in the class, but his teammate Kon Kneuppel is right behind him. Kasparas Jakucionis comes in at 3rd, leading an Illinois team that is as fun to watch as any in the country.

Impact By Class

Last season, more than half of the best players in the sport were seniors, as highlighted by the graph below, likely the highest mark ever. This year, the number of seniors in the top 200 has dropped below 50%, but they are still the most dominant class in the sport by far.

I expect the percentage of seniors in the top 200 to drop even more next year, assuming that the rules revert to players having only four years of eligibility for next season.