Who had the best freshmen season?

[jordville]

Too easy... Melo. Only star and won the chip. Took an unranked team to start the year all the way while averaging 20 and 10.

Some will say AD as he also won a chip, but he had three or four 5-stars along side him. Probably 5 draft picks.

 

[SU in Hershey]

Of that group...? Best season beginning to end, not just "entertainment?"
Melo, AD, KD, TY, JO, ZW

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I seriously don’t remember any of Anthony Davis’ college career.

 

[Trueblue25]

Melo and its not even close.

 

[two3zone]

Too thought to decide between Melo and AD.

 

[Orangezoo]

Too thought to decide between Melo and AD.

Tossup. Both guys had some pretty good support around them despite being two of the best.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Melo and AD are the only ones who belong on the list. Jay tries too hard these days.

 

[walsh2012]

Melo and AD are the only two acceptable takes here but of course it’s Melo to anyone posting here

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

‘Melo.

The next time a frosh leads his team to the title & is their only player drafted that year, let alone altogether (Warrick in ‘05), call me.

 

[TheHaze315]

I think melo is the clear 1 and AD is the clear 2. i saw a lot of people on twitter trying to make the argument for AD and i just don’t see it. kentucky’s whole starting lineup got drafted. including 3 others in the first round besides AD, with MKG at number 2 overall right behind AD.

 

[LaggyJon]

1. Definitely Melo

2. We aren’t exactly the most unbiased group on this topic

 

[rrlbees]

I’ll go with Okafor.

 

[Chip]

The question should be who had the second best freshman season ever.

 

[Alsacs]

Anthony Davis won National Defensive POY, National Freshman of the year, won Wooden POY award, AP player of the year and led his team to the NC and won Final Four MOP.
He is the only player to do this in a single season.

He is clearly number 1.
Melo is clearly number 2 is damn good as well.

 

[Charbroil]

Anthony Davis won National Defensive POY, National Freshman of the year, won Wooden POY award, AP player of the year and led his team to the NC and won Final Four MOP.
He is the only player to do this in a single season.

He is clearly number 1.
Melo is clearly number 2 is damn good as well.

I see what you’re getting at, and that’s a reasonable opinion. But I will argue Melo was at a bit of a disadvantage for some of the awards when he played.

The one and done culture hadn’t truly taken off yet in 2003. So Freshman didn’t win POY then, it was as much a career award as anything else. Even with conference awards it hurt him. The fact he didn’t win BE POY is kind of crazy.

If Carmelo had the exact season he did in 2003 (but did it as a Junior), I think he wins all the POY awards. Obviously no one can know that with certainty, but it’s just one man’s opinion.

 

[Yukon]

I mean I’m still bitter that we handled you each time that year and you still won it all… but yeah, it’s Melo easy. Davis was great all around but he couldn’t take over a game offensively at that point. IMO KD was probably the most comparable offensively, but his team was stacked and they flamed out early in the tourney.

Similar to other debates about who was the most clutch in NCAAs, unless you’ve won it all, you don’t get much love in my book. It’s the same reason I take Kemba over D Rose or Curry (in college). So as much as it pains me to say as a UConn fan, it’s Melo by like a mile.

 

[sutomcat]

I mean I’m still bitter that we handled you each time that year and you still won it all… but yeah, it’s Melo easy. Davis was great all around but he couldn’t take over a game offensively at that point. IMO KD was probably the most comparable offensively, but his team was stacked and they flamed out early in the tourney.

Similar to other debates about who was the most clutch in NCAAs, unless you’ve won it all, you don’t get much love in my book. It’s the same reason I take Kemba over D Rose or Curry (in college). So as much as it pains me to say as a UConn fan, it’s Melo by like a mile.

Melo stats frosh season: 22.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 2.2 apg,
Davis stats frosh season: 14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg.

Melo had 3 HS AAs on his team.

Davis had 6.

Yes, gotta agree with you.

 

[Chip]

Anthony Davis won National Defensive POY, National Freshman of the year, won Wooden POY award, AP player of the year and led his team to the NC and won Final Four MOP.
He is the only player to do this in a single season.

He is clearly number 1.
Melo is clearly number 2 is damn good as well.

That’s a great season for Davis. Clear #2.

The guy that put the team on his back and won his school’s only national title has no peer in this category.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I see what you’re getting at, and that’s a reasonable opinion. But I will argue Melo was at a bit of a disadvantage for some of the awards when he played.

The one and done culture hadn’t truly taken off yet in 2003. So Freshman didn’t win POY then, it was as much a career award as anything else. Even with conference awards it hurt him. The fact he didn’t win BE POY is kind of crazy.

If Carmelo had the exact season he did in 2003 (but did it as a Junior), I think he wins all the POY awards. Obviously no one can know that with certainty, but it’s just one man’s opinion.

If Melo did what he did at Kentucky, he would have won a ton of awards

 

[HoustonCuse]

I seriously don’t remember any of Anthony Davis’ college career.

I remember it being capped off by winning the NC and at the buzzer him running into the crowd to hug... no, not his mom... Phil Knight.

 

[NKR1978]

Anthony Davis won National Defensive POY, National Freshman of the year, won Wooden POY award, AP player of the year and led his team to the NC and won Final Four MOP.
He is the only player to do this in a single season.

He is clearly number 1.
Melo is clearly number 2 is damn good as well.

Carmelo should have been POY but they didn't give it to freshmen then.

 

[chugg21]

Michael Beasley!!!!!

 

[SUskibum]

Carmelo should have been POY but they didn't give it to freshmen then.

Yep, it’s amazing to me how little credit Melo gets for opening the door for freshman all world accolades for all the one and dones that followed his lead