CBS: Top 20 SFs

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">1. Kevin Durant (Texas): Early word out of Austin is that the 6-9 freshman is as good as advertised, if not better. Durant has added weight since arriving on campus and showed the ability to maneuver both inside and out. And because the Longhorns lost just about everybody from last season's team, Durant will be the go-to-guy from Day 1. Obviously, with this ranking, I'm guessing he'll handle it all just fine. Don't be surprised if Durant challenges Greg Oden for Freshman of the Year honors and has himself in the conversation for National Player of the Year. His talent, everybody agrees, is simply that remarkable.

2. Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech): Take everything I wrote about Durant, and apply it here. The 6-8 freshman is, like Durant, a top 10 NBA Draft selection waiting to happen, and not even Paul Hewitt believes it'll happen any later than next June. Put another way, Durant and Young are both one-and-done players, just serving time in college until they get past the NBA's age limit restrictions. But don't frown upon them and act like it's a disgrace for kids to use college as nothing more than a launching pad to the NBA. This is the only system we have, and if you get a chance to watch Durant and Young make campus tours for only five months, that's better than the alternative, which would be nothing at all.

3. Alando Tucker (Wisconsin): Finally, a guy who has played a college game. Tucker's actually played in 98 college games and has been nothing short of dominant, averaging 19.0 points and 5.7 rebounds last season while positioning himself as the favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year. As a pro, Tucker doesn't project as well as many, a classic tweener who lacks a true position. But I'll let the NBA scouts worry about that. In college, this 6-6 wing is a guy you want on your side, and that he's on Wisconsin's side makes the Badgers a legitimate Final Four contender.

4. Jared Dudley (Boston College): Dudley was lightly recruited out of high school, but he has developed into a premier college player, one who understands angles and plays bigger than his 6-7 frame should allow. Playing without Craig Smith won't be ideal. But I'm not going to doubt a guy who has consistently proved doubters wrong at every turn. So put me down as somebody who believes Dudley will continue to flourish, and he'll have Boston College in the mix for an ACC title.

5. Morris Almond (Rice): Almond won't get the attention he deserves playing for Rice and in Conference USA. But as I've written before, the 6-6 wing is a true talent, a future pro and somebody who could challenge for a national scoring title considering he went for 21.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game a year ago.

6. Marcus Williams (Arizona): After starting his freshman season somewhat slowly, Williams emerged pretty quickly and finished strong. He got 17 or more points in four of his final six games, including 24 in a NCAA Tournament loss to Villanova. Expect more of that this season, as Williams makes a run at Pac-10 Player of the Year honors.

7. Nick Young (USC): Young reached double figures in 29 of 30 games last season, and dropped a career-high 33 points on Oregon State in late February. He's a junior now. But if he hangs around for his senior year to team with Gabe Pruitt and, possibly, a freshman named O.J. Mayo, then USC will have the type of talent to challenge UCLA and Arizona for a Pac-10 title, and those days of losing in Chicago and New Orleans will be distant memories for Tim Floyd.

8. Corey Brewer (Florida): That a potential top 20 NBA Draft pick and standout on a national title team is eighth on this list should demonstrate how small forward is the most stacked position in college. Brewer hit double figures in five of six NCAA Tournament games last season, including a 19-point effort in the Final Four against George Mason. Even better, his 6-9 frame allows him to be a defensive presence few opposing wings can deal with, which in turn makes Florida tough to deal with.

9. Curtis Sumpter (Villanova): If Sumpter is even close to where he was before that torn ACL that cost him all of last season, he'll be better than the ninth small forward in the country. Hell, he'll be one of the top 10 players in the country. But for now, I'll take the cautious approach, wait and see if those 2004-05 numbers of 15.3 points and 7.2 rebounds can be approached again.

10. Brandon Rush (Kansas): After being great in January and most of February, Rush faltered down the stretch, averaging just 8.0 points in his final four games, including a nine-point effort in that season-ending loss to Bradley. For now, I'll write it off as nothing more than a freshman hitting that proverbial wall and predict the 6-6 wing will rebound nicely to lead Kansas to a Big 12 title, and then some. </div>

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This thing is absolutely horrible IMO Durant #1 over Dudley, Brewer, and Rush? Wow, he's really high on freshman, 2 Wildcats in this, makes up for no Radenovic I guess

 

The two freshman will make you eat your words, trust me.

 

Durant maybe 6'11", not the 6'9" they put him as but he's still very raw. Rick Barnes doesn't make players better, he just keeps recruiting these awesome players out of HS, but Dudley is a competitor, Brewer is a competitor with a coach helping him get better, and Rush is a gamer, but like Barnes, his coach doesn't really make his players better but just is a good recruiter. Bad Thad is an okay player, but that GT team is very very young, I think other guys will get spot light on that team.

 

Wow Corey Brewer is #8 on this list? He's probably the best all around player on the Gator team and he gets ranked 8th in his position. I don't like the idea of putting freshman #1 AND #2 without ever playing a game over experienced guys like Tucker, Rush, Brewer, and Dudley. They could be #1 and #2 later on, but come on, others have proven way more to be on the list.

 

durant is gonna get alot of shine with aldridge being gone

 

<div class="quote_poster">antonyo09 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">durant is gonna get alot of shine with aldridge being gone</div>

Durant isn't the only good frosh Texas got...they got D.J. Augustin and Damion James, and they return the streaky shooting Abrams too. I'm not expecting the big stats that everyone else is expecting. People are overrating these frosh because of the new rule the NBA put in.

 

I don't like 2 true freshman at the top, and overall this isn't a strong list, but I do like that the guy is hyping Tucker. Finally, CBS says something great about our guy.

...wait, they just jinxed him, he's going to get hurt again!

 

<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't like 2 true freshman at the top, and overall this isn't a strong list, but I do like that the guy is hyping Tucker. Finally, CBS says something great about our guy.

...wait, they just jinxed him, he's going to get hurt again! </div>

Well, someone agrees with me here Jinxed or not, he'll do good this year hopefully.....

 

<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow Corey Brewer is #8 on this list? He's probably the best all around player on the Gator team and he gets ranked 8th in his position. I don't like the idea of putting freshman #1 AND #2 without ever playing a game over experienced guys like Tucker, Rush, Brewer, and Dudley. They could be #1 and #2 later on, but come on, others have proven way more to be on the list.</div>

You know I'm a Corey Brewer fan, Gators, and I agree that #8 is too low (especially when Noah is the top center ), but Thaddeus Young is going to be a better player than him, probably even this year. We all forget how good some of these freshman can be, because they've been jumping to the NBA lately. While I think that this guy overrated Brandan Wright on his power forward list, Young is a very developed prospect at this point who should be a big contributer on the collegiate level right away. I've had the priviledge of playing against players from pretty much every class from 2001 to the present, and I'd say from that experience that this '06 class is by far the strongest. Add to that the fact that the NBA's forcing them all to go the collegiate route, and you'll see a lot of freshmen making names for themselves this year. I'm not sold on Durant just yet, because he's just plain emaciated.

 

<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow Corey Brewer is #8 on this list? He's probably the best all around player on the Gator team and he gets ranked 8th in his position. I don't like the idea of putting freshman #1 AND #2 without ever playing a game over experienced guys like Tucker, Rush, Brewer, and Dudley. They could be #1 and #2 later on, but come on, others have proven way more to be on the list.</div>

You know I'm a Corey Brewer fan, Gators, and I agree that #8 is too low (especially when Noah is the top center ), but Thaddeus Young is going to be a better player than him, probably even this year. We all forget how good some of these freshman can be, because they've been jumping to the NBA lately. While I think that this guy overrated Brandan Wright on his power forward list, Young is a very developed prospect at this point who should be a big contributer on the collegiate level right away. I've had the priviledge of playing against players from pretty much every class from 2001 to the present, and I'd say from that experience that this '06 class is by far the strongest. Add to that the fact that the NBA's forcing them all to go the collegiate route, and you'll see a lot of freshmen making names for themselves this year. I'm not sold on Durant just yet, because he's just plain emaciated, but the talent is there to at least be one of the best frosh this year. #1 is a stretch, but he'll be up there. This is how I'd rank them personally -

1) Thaddeus Young - Georgia Tech
2) Alando Tucker - Wisconsin
3) Corey Brewer - Florida
4) Kevin Durant - Texas
5) Marcus Williams - Arizona
6) Jared Dudley - Boston College (although he should be more of a low post player this season)
7) Curtis Sumpter - Villanova
8) Brandon Rush - Kansas
9) Adam Haluska - Iowa
10) Morris Almond - Rice
11) Sam Young - Pittsburgh (although he's definitely more of a four)
12) Blake Schilb - Loyola-Chicago
13) Malik Hairston - Oregon
14) Brian Randle - Illinois
15) Nick Young - Southern California
16) Quinton Hosley - Fresno State
17) Reyshawn Terry - North Carolina
18) Juan Palacios - Louisville
19) Tasmin Mitchell - LSU
20) Tyler Smith - Iowa