4 College Basketball Freshmen Who Are Thriving

The college basketball season is one week into February, and the race to see who will be the freshman of the year in college hoops is heating up. Among the best freshmen in the country, which ones have the best chance of leading their team to the national championship? Let’s look at the freshmen having the best seasons in the country:

Jabari Smith, Auburn Tigers

The freshman who will probably go first in the 2022 NBA draft is not Chet Holmgren, despite his brilliance for Gonzaga; it’s Jabari Smith. If you have watched Auburn play, you can see why. Smith might not make the game seem as easy to play as Holmgren does, but Smith makes the high-degree-of-difficulty plays which mark a future elite pro in the making. Smith has a fadeaway 17-foot jump shot which is extremely difficult to block. Smith is able to shoot over the top of defenders and – with his long arms – protect the ball so that defenders cannot get on his shooting hand quickly enough to deter him. That same length for Smith makes him an elite defensive player and a quality rebounder. He adds so many dimensions to this Auburn team and is a core reason the Tigers are going to get a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Smith will be hard to ignore for the team which picks first in the NBA draft.

Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Gonzaga offense is exploding, and Holmgren is at the heart of it. Holmgren’s smooth handles, fluid movements, high basketball IQ, and high-burst quickness all make him a dazzling and devastating player. Though not as physically developed as Jabari Smith (which might be the main reason Smith goes first in the draft), Holmgren’s body is going to fill out more. He is going to get stronger. He is going to get more powerful. When that happens, watch out. He already understands the game extremely well and has steadily become a more consistent player while making his Gonzaga teammates increasingly better. That consistent improvement shows why Holmgren is going to be a can’t-miss prospect, and it’s also why Gonzaga is going to be extremely hard to beat when March Madness rolls around, and that’s just over a month away, with the NCAA Tournament beginning the middle of March.

Paolo Banchero, Duke Blue Devils

The strength of Banchero is his calling card. Banchero and Duke defeated Holmgren and Gonzaga earlier in the season. Banchero was the best player on the floor in that game, a huge reason why NBA scouts are in love with his upside and why he’s still likely to be a top-five pick in the upcoming draft. The only concern for Banchero is that the ACC has not tested him enough this season. Still, he has an extremely bright future ahead of him.

TyTy Washington, Kentucky Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats missed TyTy Washington in multiple losses this season. When Washington is on the floor, UK often looks like the best team in the country. UK lost to Auburn when Washington got hurt. If he had stayed on the floor for that game, Kentucky probably would have won. That expresses how good and how valuable Washington is to Kentucky.