With the college basketball season underway, the first five days have been October Madness! In an era of NIL, with high level players returning year after year for more financial gain, the young freshman have done nothing but impress. Here are three of my favorite performances so far:
- Hook’ Em: Although Texas was given its first loss of the season in their first game to Ohio State, they bounced back against the Houston Christian Huskies winning 90-59. The standout of these two games, Tre Johnson. Tre, the number 6 recruit in the class of 2024 via 247 sports, scored a spectacular 29 points in his debut against Ohio State, shooting 50% from the field. To follow that up, Tre scored 28 against the Houston Christian Huskies shooting an even better 61.1%.
- Rowdy at Rutgers: Following in his brother’s footsteps, Dylan Harper showed out in his first game as a Scarlet Knight. The young freshman scored 20 points while grabbing 8 rebounds while his sidekick Ace Bailey was out due to injury. Once Ace returns, could this young duo bring Rutgers to the promised land?
- The next RJ and Zion? Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. This freshman duo should be on everyone’s watch list. While Cooper Flagg, who has been committed to Duke since October 2023, is the known #1 recruit in the country, he has quickly had to share the spotlight with fellow Blue Devil Kon Knueppel. Knueppel, the #18 recruit in the 2024 class, has averaged 18.5 per game through two games, scoring 22 and 15. On the other hand, Flagg has scored 15.5 ppg through 2 games scoring 18 and 13, while also averaging 9 RPG. Together, they just may be the next RJ and Zion. We’ll see.
In my upcoming posts, I will discuss some of the more exciting games of the season, while also highlighting more of the freshman phenoms who continue to make names.