Which NCAA basketball players will make the leap and become some of the sport’s biggest stars in 2019-20? Projecting the eight biggest breakout players.
New stars emerge every NCAA basketball season as rosters turn over, a fresh class of freshmen (pun intended) enter the fold, and players are thrust into new roles.
That’s the nature of college sports and the eligibility restrictions that come with it. However, the one-and-done era has forced fans to adjust to the new normal of learning new faces every year more than ever before. The identity and expectations of a program change constantly based on how talented their incoming recruiting class is.
Top incoming freshmen are almost always the top prospects for the upcoming NBA Draft, making them the de facto stars for a given college basketball season. But, more often than not, the biggest stars end up being returning players who had breakout years.
Michigan State’s Cassius Winston and Marquette’s Markus Howard took major leaps to become household names in 2018-19 and return for their senior seasons as National Player of the Year frontrunners.
Ja Morant used his stellar sophomore campaign to become the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. De’Andre Hunter, Jarrett Culver, and Rui Hachimura were also selected in the top 10 after their breakouts.
Chuma Okeke helped take Auburn to the Final Four and Carsen Edwards got Purdue within seconds of getting there as well.
These leaps are made by players around the country every year. Which players are primed to be the breakout stars of 2019-20? Here are eight poised to make the biggest leaps: