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

1) Boogie Ellis, PG, Memphis

The excitement at Memphis is palpable. They’re projected to be ranked in the top five of the AP preseason poll thanks to the stellar job head coach Penny Hardaway has done with the nation’s top recruiting class, which includes the likes of five-star prospects James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa.

However, Ellis figures to be the most important and impactful player in that class.

Much like Tre Jones at Duke last year, Ellis is tasked with distributing the ball to all these new stars and orchestrating Memphis’ attack. He’s a quarterback with a multitude of quality options, and he’ll have to get the ball to the right guy at the right time, all while trying to keep everyone happy.

Like Jones, Ellis is also a lockdown defender that figures to serve as the head of Memphis’ full court attack. He’ll make opposing ball-handlers work all 94 feet, creating turnovers and forcing opposing offenses out of rhythm along the way.

However, unlike Jones, Ellis is also a knockdown shooter. Memphis won’t have many long-range threats on the roster so having someone like Ellis to space the floor is huge.

Hardaway has assembled enough talent that the Tigers will be good no matter what. Ellis is in charge of making sure they operate as a well-oiled machine on the court and has the all-around skill set – from his ball-handling to passing to shooting to defense – to help Memphis reach their full potential. And that may put the Tigers in the Final Four.

The players on this list aren’t necessarily the 25 best incoming recruits, but all of them will have a major impact on the college basketball landscape in 2019-20 due to the combination of their skill sets and the situations they’re going into.