NCAA Basketball: 25 best recruiting classes since 2000

13) 2002 Syracuse Orange

Another small recruiting class, Syracuse only brought in three players in the 2002 class – a five-star forward named Carmelo Anthony, four-star guard Gerry McNamara and three-star forward Billy Edelin. And, like Villanova’s 2015 class, they made a significant impact on the college basketball landscape. However, the biggest difference is that their impact was immediate.

Led by Anthony, Syracuse won a share of the Big East regular-season title in 2002-03 and went into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-5 record. A consensus All-American, Anthony averaged a whopping 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game as a freshman – and still found a way to take his game to another level in the Big Dance.

He led Syracuse in scoring in five of the six tournament games (Edelin led the way with 20 in the other). Anthony was dynamite in the Final Four, posting a 33-point, 14-rebound performance against Texas followed by a 20-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist showing in the title game against Kansas. Those performances helped Anthony earn Most Outstanding Player honors.

Anthony left after one season and, while Edelin was mostly a role player, McNamara proved to be an invaluable piece for Syracuse throughout his four-year career. He started every game during that stretch and led Syracuse to two more Big East Tournament titles and another Sweet 16 appearance.

The national championship spearheaded by this group is still the only one in program history and the way they did it – led by star freshmen – set the tone for the start of the one-and-done era a few years later by proving you could win big with freshmen as your star players.