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NCAA Basketball: Top 25 most impactful freshmen for 2019-20 season

By Brian Rauf

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 20: Boogie Ellis #23 passes during the Jordan Brand Classic boys high school all-star basketball game at T-Mobile Arena on April 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 20: Boogie Ellis #23 passes during the Jordan Brand Classic boys high school all-star basketball game at T-Mobile Arena on April 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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FORT MYERS, FL – DECEMBER 21: Cole Anthony #3 of Oak Hill Academy drives to the basket against Imhotep Charter High School during the City Of Palms Classic at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 21, 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
FORT MYERS, FL – DECEMBER 21: Cole Anthony #3 of Oak Hill Academy drives to the basket against Imhotep Charter High School during the City Of Palms Classic at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 21, 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

The highest-rated recruits aren’t always the best freshmen. These 25 newcomers will make the biggest impact during the 2019-20 NCAA Basketball season.

Much of the focus in the NCAA Basketball recruiting landscape is on landing the highest-rated recruits a school possibly can.

Duke made history last season by landing each of the top three prospects in the 2018 class but, as we saw, that didn’t result in a Final Four trip, let alone a national championship.

All coaches want to bring in as much talent as possible, but finding that talent and the players that best fit a program’s style is more than just looking at recruiting rankings.

Related Story. Mount Rushmores of top-25 programs all-time. light

Trae Young was named National Freshman of the Year after his lone season at Oklahoma despite not being ranked in the top 20 nationally. De’Andre Hunter, who just led Virginia to a national championship, was ranked outside the top 90. Jarrett Culver, who led Texas Tech to their first appearance in the title game, was ranked outside the top 300.

Now, Young was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and both Hunter and Culver are projected to be top-five selections in the 2019 draft.

The moral of the story: a recruit’s ranking is not necessarily indicative of the kind of impact they’ll have at the college level.

Which members of the 2019 recruiting class will have the biggest impacts on the upcoming college basketball season? Some of them are highly ranked players (the top players are top players for a reason – they have the potential to become stars), but only four on this list are ranked in the top 25 of the 247sports Composite Rankings.

These are the 25 incoming freshmen that may not be the most talented players in the class but will have the biggest on-court impacts in 2019-20.

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