Carmelo remains the greatest freshman in college basketball history

[MikeSU02]

UK team had way more talent, especially bc the nba lockout made a lot of iffy guys stay (Lamb, Jones).

That UK team had a nice balance of players, a lot of which had at least some time in the nba.

I know we all love GMac and Hak, but Melo didn’t have the firepower AD had with him.

Counter argument is defense is half the game and AD was a beast.

This is all moot if freshmen could play when Alcindor was a first year at UCLA.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I don’t even think it’s a conversation if AD doesn’t play on such a loaded team. I don’t think he was head and shoulders better than those guys either just a solid big who fit in and played a role sure he was the best player on the team but he didn’t carry it. I’d put Zion next to Durant for #2 with AD behind them.

 

[EastCoast2]

Carmelo averaged 22.2 ppg and 10.0 rpb in the Big East as a freshman... while winning a title... nobody has come close to that.

 

[Funk Doc]

Lots of good names being brought up here. Melo really might be the best of the bunch. I still say that Melo at Cuse and even his years in Denver, was the best offensive basketball player on the planet. Unfortunately his defense was on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Not Harden bad, but very close.

 

[UnknownOrange]

Carmelo averaged 22.2 ppg and 10.0 rpb in the Big East as a freshman... while winning a title... nobody has come close to that.

Can very easily argue Melo and AD. To say nobody has come close to that is silly. Both had incredible, incredible seasons. Kentucky in 2012 was obviously a more talented team than 03 Syracuse, but AD on defense was other worldly

 

[SWC75]

Source: the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia, which came out in 2009. It lists a first and second team of “consensus All-Americans, meaning they combined the listings form all recognized sources to create the two teams. For years after 2009 I looked up each season on Wikipedia. Freshmen were eligible during the World War II through Korean War Era and again from 1973 onward.

1944 Arnie Ferrin, Utah 12.5ppg (his team won the national championship)
1946 Tony Lavelli, Yale 21.3ppg
1983 Wayman Tisdale, Oklahoma 24.5ppg 10.3rpg 0.8a
1988 Mark Macon, Temple 20.6p 5.6r 2.9a
1989 Chris Jackson, Louisiana State 30.2p 3.4r 4.1a
2003 Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse 22.2p 10.0r 2.2a (his team won the national championship)
2006 Tyler Hansbrough North Carolina 18.9p 7.8r 1.3a
2007 Kevin Durant, Texas 25.6p 11.1r 1.3a
2007 Greg Oden, Ohio State 15.7p 9.6t 3.3b
2008 Michael Beasley, Kansas State 26.2p 12.4r 1.2a
2008 Kevin Love, UCLA 17.5p 10.6r 1.9a
2010 DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky 15.1p 9.8r 1.8b
2010 John Wall, Kentucky 16.6p 4.3r 6.5a
2011 Jared Sullinger, Ohio State 17.2p 10.2r 1.2a
2012 Anthony Davis, Kentucky 14.2p 10.4r 4.7b (his team won the national championship)
2012 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky 11.9p 4.9r 7.4a (his team won the national championship)
2013 Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State 15.4p 5.8r 4.2a
2014 Jabari Parker, Duke 19.1p 8.7r 1.2a
2014 Andrew Wiggins, Kansas 17.1p 5.9r 1.5a
2015 Jahlil Okafor, Duke 17.3p 8.5r 1.4b (his team won the national championship)
2015 D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State 19.3p 5.7r 5.0a
2015 Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky 10.3p 6.7r 2.3b
2016 Ben Simmons, Louisiana State 19.2p 11.8r 4.8a
2017 Lonzo Ball, UCLA 14.6p 6.0r 7.6a
2017 Malik Monk, Kentucky 19.8p 2.5r 2.3a
2018 Deandre Ayton, Arizona 20.1p 11.6r 1.9b
2018 Marvin Bagley III, Duke 21.0p 11.1r 1.5a
2018 Trae Young, Oklahoma 27.4p 3.9r 8.7a
2019 R. J. Barrett, Duke 22.7p 7.6r 4.3a
2019 Zion Williamson, Duke 22.6p 8.7r 2.1a

 

[jordville]

 

[OrangeDW]

Freshmen never won POY awards prior to Carmelo. They just didn’t.

Yup. Melo didn’t even win Big East player of the year, which was a joke.

I think people realized how stupid that all was after Cuse won it. Amazing it took that long...the Fab Five should’ve blown all that dumb stuff away a decade earlier even if they came up short in the title games.

Melo broke down the walls, making it easier for KD and AD to walk through and get what they deserved.

 

[Eric15]

Yup. Melo didn’t even win Big East player of the year, which was a joke.

I never would have guessed that Troy Bell wouldn't last more than a season in the NBA. He averaged 25 per game as a senior in the Big East.

 

[Cowtown]

Caveat: Abdul-Jabbar wasn't allowed to play or it would probably be him.

 

[Brian Orange]

I posted this back in May of '12 for no reason at all. Not sure what is still true but gives you a good picture of how great Melo was at the Final Four.

Was kind of surprised to run across these stats from all of the Final Four MOP's since Carmelo in 2003...

Of everyone who has won the award since 2003, Melo's 26.5 PPG over the 2 games is still the highest. His 19 FG made is still tied for the most. 24 rebounds (still the most), 8 assists (still the most) and 4 steals (2nd most).

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Caveat: Abdul-Jabbar wasn't allowed to play or it would probably be him. View attachment 158290

Or Walton, Wilt or Maravich

 

[OrangeDW]

How about Magic Johnson? Averaged 17,8, and 7. Didn’t win any awards though. Lol. So stupid.

 

[qdawgg]

He was amazing to watch in college and then was the Jay Cutler of the NBA. Incredible talent but never made any team better with him on it.