Busting Brackets
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Ranking the freshman seasons of former number one high school recruits

By Hans Themistode

SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 23: Former Syracuse Orange player Carmelo Anthony (C) receives his jersey from athletic director Daryl Gross (L) as his number is retired during a ceremony at half time during the game against the Georgetown Hoyas at the Carrier Dome on February 23, 2013 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Nate Shron/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 23: Former Syracuse Orange player Carmelo Anthony (C) receives his jersey from athletic director Daryl Gross (L) as his number is retired during a ceremony at half time during the game against the Georgetown Hoyas at the Carrier Dome on February 23, 2013 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Nate Shron/Getty Images) /
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Nerlens Noel
Nerlens Noel (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /

Ranking the freshman seasons of former number one high school recruits: 17. Nerlens Noel

Freshman stats: 10.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 4.4 bpg

Anthony Davis set the stage for Nerlens Noel. The tall, lanky defensive-minded power forward made a quick pit stop at the University of Kentucky and dominated. Not only did Davis lead the Wild Cats to a National Championship in 2012 but he was the number one overall pick and a player just about everyone drooled over.

Noel was eerily similar. Both players were 6’10, and Noel outweighed Davis by only eight pounds, 220 to 228.

At Everett Tilton high school, Noel’s numbers didn’t exactly jump off the page. He averaged 12.6 points, 7.2 boards, and 3.9 blocks per game as a senior. Still, those numbers were good enough to have him rated as the number one player across multiple platforms.

As you can tell, Noel wasn’t known as an offensive player. Instead, he made his bones on the defensive end. Once Noel landed in Kentucky, he struggled to score in the post but good luck trying to get buckets on him. Noel not only averaged 9.5 boards a night but he was also the best shot-blocker in the nation, averaging 4.4 a game.

Kentucky didn’t gel as well as many were expecting and Noel didn’t get a chance to show everything he could as he tore his ACL just one month before March Madness kicked off. He still managed to bring home a ton of hardware, including the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and made the SEC All-Freshman squad as well.

If we paid no mind to his offensive numbers, then it’s safe to say that Noel had one of the best defensive freshmen seasons of all time.

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