We here at CBS Sports have once again teamed up with the United States Basketball Writers Association and its Integris Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award, meaning our weekly feature on the best freshman in the country will work hand in hand with the Tisdale committee and the USBWA. The winner of the award will be announced in March, while a ceremony for all USBWA honors will take place in early April. Each week we will provide a look at the best freshman for the previous week, followed by our top 10 overall freshman rankings as we see them at this point in the season.
Freshman of Week: Malik Monk, Kentucky
We'll call this the easiest Freshman of the Week decision in the five-year history of doing Freshman of the Week.
Monk's masterpiece on Saturday (click here to see every basket he scored) not only established his name nationally, it also vaulted him up the Frosh Watch standings (see below).
The 18-year-old from Lepanto, Ark., hit what proved to be the winning shot with 17 seconds remaining to lift Kentucky past UNC, 103-100. In the best game in college basketball so far this season, Monk was the best player on the floor. That alone will cement what he did Saturday on the short list of the best performances from now until the end of the season.
Monk set a Kentucky freshman scoring record and also had the highest-scoring game for any player coached by John Calipari. In fact, no player under Cal had has ever cracked 40, which seems hard to believe. But it's true. Monk wasn't chucking, either. He went 18 for 28 from the floor and hit on 8 of 12 3-point attempts.
Fun fact: The last time an SEC freshman put up at least 47 in a game game was all the way back in 1989, when Chris Jackson went for 55 for LSU. (In retrospect, Jackson is on the short list of the most underrated college basketball players ever.) Monk's 47 was also the most points by a freshman in a Division I game since 2002.
The question you've got to wonder: Will Monk flirt with 40 again, and if so, more than once?
Let's take a look at the latest top 10 candidates in the race for Freshman of the Year.
One last reminder going forward, in the event this is the first time you're reading up on the top frosh: team success is only a minor factor; it doesn't have nearly as much importance as it does in a Player of the Year race, which is linked to team success. (Remember, LSU was mediocre last year and Ben Simmons still ran away with the FOY award, while he wasn't even close to winning national POY.)
Here are the top 10 freshmen performers in college basketball through the first five weeks of the season.
10. Miles Bridges, Michigan State
Last week: No. 8
16.6 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 blocks, 52.9 2-pt%, 38.5 3-pt%, 94.4 ORtg
Michigan State's struggles have me thinking Bridges' value should remain on this list, and so he will. He's showing his value purely by not being on the floor; MSU's home loss to Northeastern, which has their tourney hopes in real danger, almost definitely doesn't happen if he's in that game. But this will almost certainly be the last week Bridges is ranked until he comes back, and by then he's going to have a lot of competition to crack through the top 10.
9. Jonathan Isaac, Florida State
Last week: No. 10
12.9 PPG 7.0 RPG, 1.1 blocks, 68.1 2-pt%, 38.2 3-pt %, 120.9 ORtg
Isaac didn't have a great week (7.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.0 assists in two wins), but the six-or-so players who were right behind him also didn't have breakout performances. I'm talking guys like Creighton's Justin Patton, Kentucky's Bam Adebayo, USC's De'Anthony Melton, Duke's Jayson Tatum, UNC's Tony Bradley, Texas A&M's Robert Williams, Gonzaga's Zach Collins and Butler's Kamar Baldwin. All those dudes are top-20 candidates as of now. Isaac doesn't play again until Dec. 28, in FSU's ACC opener vs. Wake Forest.
Last week: No. 6
16.3 PPG. 7.2 RPG, 51.4 2-pt%, 46.3 3-pt%, 83.9 FT%, 134.8 ORtg
This is not a hit on Markkanen; the guys who leapfrogged him this week have clearly had a better overall season at this point, and are coming off really nice weeks. The way Markkanen is playing right now would've had him in the top three of the Frosh Watch at this point a year ago. That's how strong this crop is (and how weak it was last season). Markkanen averaged 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in Arizona's wins over Grand Canyon and Texas A&M. The Wildcats were a suspect team entering the season, but Sean Miller's group is now 10-2 and in fine shape.
7. Dennis Smith, Jr., NC State
Last week: No. 7
18.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.8 steals, 47.0 2-pt%, 110.0 ORtg
Smith was the best freshman in the ACC last week, averaging 19.5 points, 7.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals. He was 11 for 19 from the field (6 for 9 from 3) in NC State's wins over Appalachian State and Fairfield adn has lifted the Wolfpack to a 9-2 record.
Smith is in the top five in the ACC in scoring, assists and swipes so far. He's having a good year, but NC State hasn't had a must-see schedule, so the best of him is yet to come. I do believe he has a chance to be good enough to truly threaten for national Freshman of the Year, it's just going to take some ridiculously consistent play and maybe a few big-time road wins against the best of the ACC.
6. Malik Monk, Kentucky
Last week: No. 9
21.9 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 58.4 2-pt% 42.2 3-pt%, 125.4 ORtg
It's a big jump for Monk. Almost no player ever moves three spots week over week in the Frosh Watch, but we haven't had a freshman drop 47 in a game in almost 15 years, so there you go. Remember, this ranking is a tally of what every freshman has done for the entire season and with a considerable look at all of their stats and their contributions around them. The five guys listed ahead of Monk have done more on the whole, though Monk is clearly threatening to crack the top five.
He's leading Kentucky in scoring and has eclipsed the 20-point mark in seven of UK's 11 games. He's yet to have a game without a 3-pointer and he's on pace to set Kentucky's single-season 3-point record. His 21.9 points average is better than the highest mark ever for a Calipari-coached player -- let alone from a freshman. Dajuan Wagner, way back in the day at Memphis, averaged 21.2 in 2001-02.
5. Josh Jackson, Kansas
Last week: No. 5
15.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.7 steals, 59.0 2-pt%, 112.6 ORtg
Josh Jackson is quietly beginning to be really good. Just because 10-1 Kansas hasn't had any close games or faced any big-time opponents doesn't mean Jackson isn't among the best freshmen in America. That's still the case, it's just that he's doing it without highlight-material dunks or Lonzo Ball-esque passing (though his passing game is definitely underrated).
Jackson went for 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and no turnovers in Kansas' 89-71 win over Davidson. That game was close for a good while, then Jackson and Co. just flipped a switch and it was done.
4. T.J. Leaf, UCLA
Last week: No. 4
17.8 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.2 blocks, 70.6 2-pt%, 50.0 3-pt%, 134.2 ORtg
The margins between 2-4 on this list are as narrow as can be. Leaf won Pac-12 Player of the Week this past week -- the second time he's done that this season. Leaf averaged 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists for the Bruins last week. He almost had a triple-double against UC Santa Barbara (25/10/8). If Monk didn't go Monk, he'd have won Freshman of the Week again, I think.
Leaf's 66.4 percent field goal rate is the best in the Pac-12. It's been a decade since UCLA started 12-0, and while Lonzo Ball gets plenty of love, Leaf is the guy teams are becoming more focused on in terms of scouting reports.
UCLA plays Western Michigan on Wednesday, its final non-conference game. Pac-12 play starts Dec. 28 at Oregon.
3. De'Aaron Fox, Kentucky
Last week: No. 3
15.9 PPG, 7.2 APG, 5.3 RPG, 1.7 steals, 49.6 2-pt %, 33.7 assist rate, 114.5 ORtg
I wrote here how Monk overshadowed what Fox did in that UNC game.
But let's be clear: Fox has been the better, more consistent and more important player for Kentucky so far. He's rightfully placed here at No. 3 on the Frosh Watch list. He has a team-high four double-doubles this season. He went for 24 points, 10 assists, four rebounds and two steals in the UNC game. He was tremendous.
Love this note from Kentucky communications: "With 10 assists against the Tar Heels, Fox has amassed 79 for the season. That's ahead of single-season record-holder Tyler Ulis' pace of 53 through the same number of games a season ago. Prior to Ulis' record-breaking year, John Wall (2009-10) held the record and he had 70 assists through the first 11 outings. It should be noted that both Ulis and Wall missed a game during the first 11 contests."
Even still! Fox has been better than expected -- and the expectations were lofty.
2. Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Last week: No. 2
14.3 PPG, 8.7 APG, 5.9 RPG, 1.6 steals, 66.7 2-pt%, 45.3 3-pt%, 133.5 ORtg
Ball averaged 10.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists in UCLA's wins over UC Santa Barbara and Ohio State last week. In many ways it was just a casual week for the wunderkind at point guard, which says something special about his ability. For many players, having a near-triple-double week in average would amount to one of the best two-game showings of their season.
For Ball, it's workmanlike.
1. Markelle Fultz, Washington
Last week: No. 1.
23.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.5 APG, 1.9 steals, 50.0 2-pt%, 50.0 3-pt%, 121.2 ORtg
Fultz's points, rebounds, assists and 3-point numbers are all up from this point last week. He's No. 1 with a bullet right now. The bump in stats is impressive considering Fultz had just one game since our previous update. Washington only beat Western Michigan by six (92-86) Sunday night. Fultz went for 27 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and was 10 of 19 from the field. The Huskies are playing in some obscurity right now, but Fultz is a statistical monster.
Previous FOTW winners:
Dec. 6: T.J. Leaf
Dec. 13: Jayson Tatum
