Five Cats included among 25 best freshman seasons in 25 years

As the Cooper Flagg hype train continues to gain steam down the tracks this season — make sure you watch that spin into traffic, folks — national analysts are already penciling in the Duke freshman among the best college basketball has seen in years. It’s justified, too, with the No. 1 recruit and likely No. 1 draft pick next June currently averaging 16.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per contest.

We like that one loss he took a couple of weeks ago, though.

With Flagg’s rise to superstardom comes lists highlighting the best newcomers in recent memory, just as we see with every up-and-coming talent deemed generational coming out of high school. ESPN’s Myron Medcalf — friend of the program, by the way — published one of his own this week, singling out the top 25 freshman seasons of the past 25 years.

Of that group, one-fifth are former Wildcats — all in a seven-year period in Lexington. Pretty good, right?

In fact, one popular name sits atop the list at No. 1 overall, the guy who helped lead the program to its eighth national championship.

Check out where the Kentucky stars rank among the best of the best, along with Medcalf’s analysis for each:

1. Anthony Davis (2011-12)

Davis ended his lone season in college basketball with Kentucky’s first national championship in 14 years and a collection of accolades no freshman in America has matched over the past 25 seasons. That list includes the Wooden Award, Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament and the NABC defensive player of the year award. Davis (14.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 4.7 BPG in 2011-12) also led the nation in blocks.

11. John Wall (2009-10)

The “John Wall dance” was the former Kentucky star’s most viral contribution to college basketball in 2009-10 — also John Calipari’s first in Lexington. Wall was also memorable because few collegiate freshmen have ever played with his explosiveness and aggression. In his lone season in Lexington, Wall averaged 16.6 PPG, 6.5 APG and 1.8 SPG, led his team to the Elite Eight after earning a spot as a Wooden Award finalist, winning SEC player of the year and being named to the AP All-America first team. He also finished third in the country in assists per game.

17. Karl-Anthony Towns (2014-15)

The 2014-15 Kentucky team is one of the greatest that failed to win a national title. And Towns was a key piece for the Wildcats, who went on a 38-game winning streak before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four. While the raw numbers don’t seem significant, it’s important to note Towns (10.2 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 2.3 BPG) played just 21 minutes per game on a squad with nine future NBA players before he became a second team AP All-American and the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

20. DeMarcus Cousins (2009-10)

Cousins was the first superstar big man at Kentucky under John Calipari. With John Wall anchoring the action on the perimeter, Cousins was a dominant force, averaging 15.1 PPG, 9.8 RPG and 1.8 BPG. He finished second in offensive rebounding percentage that year, per KenPom, and helped Kentucky end its season with a 35-3 record and an Elite Eight appearance. He earned a first team AP All-America spot, and remains one of most dominant post players on this list.

23. Malik Monk (2016-17)

Kentucky’s 2016-17 season featured a trio of freshmen — De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo, Malik Monk — who would all go on to have varying levels of success in the NBA. While Monk hasn’t quite reached the all-star status of the other two, he had the best collegiate season. The team lost to North Carolina in the Elite Eight, but Monk won SEC player of the year after averaging 19.8 PPG that season for the Wildcats.

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What do you think, BBN? Are any Cats too high or too low? Anybody missing from the group?

Read the entire list right here.