{"id":625940,"date":"2026-02-26T12:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625940\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:24:30","slug":"the-best-freshman-class-ever-plus-another-big-nil-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625940\/","title":{"rendered":"The best freshman class ever? Plus, another big NIL lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! I\u2019d retire your number. Inside:<\/p>\n

Super Frosh: Yes, maybe the best ever<\/p>\n

Just take a look at the NBA rookie class, and you\u2019ll know how good last year\u2019s men\u2019s college basketball freshmen were. Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, is averaging 20 points a game after winning college player of the year last year. His Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel, is second behind Flagg in Rookie of the Year odds (first on The Athletic\u2019s list<\/a>, though).\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a strong freshman class and a strong NBA Draft class. Many experts thought this year\u2019s class would be a step down. As Jim Root explained<\/a> yesterday, they were quite wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s freshman class is, in fact, one of the best \u2014 and deepest \u2014 we\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jim\u2019s story has loads of mind-melting stats, but two that stood out to me:\u00a0<\/p>\n

In both points per game and Box Plus-Minus (an advanced stat more encompassing of overall play), the depth of this freshman class is startling. Twenty-nine freshmen average over 15.0 points per game this year, the most in at least a decade. In BPM, 47 freshmen posted a 6.0 or higher \u2014 0.0 represents the average college player. That\u2019s up from 26 last year.<\/p>\n

We know the names at the top: AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Cam Boozer (Duke) and Darryn Peterson (Kansas), all candidates to go No. 1 in this year\u2019s draft. But guys below them, including North Carolina\u2019s Caleb Wilson, Arkansas\u2019 Darius Acuff Jr. and Houston\u2019s Kingston Flemings, have surprised. Nine of the top 11 prospects on Sam Vecenie\u2019s top 100 board<\/a> are college freshmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Jim\u2019s full story here<\/a> to see the full breadth of his research. And it\u2019s a nice primer to get ready for tournament season. You can also watch him explain this all by clicking the GIF:<\/p>\n

News to Know\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

USA women\u2019s hockey wants to move on
Players from the U.S. women\u2019s Olympic hockey team said yesterday they\u2019re looking forward to when the ongoing controversy around President Trump\u2019s comments \u201cblows over,\u201d adding that they felt support from the men\u2019s hockey team throughout the Olympics. It caps a weird week of debate, which we chronicled yesterday. See the players\u2019 comments here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Cincy sues Sorsby
The University of Cincinnati is suing former quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech this offseason, for a breach of contract. The school is asking for $1 million in damages for violating a multi-season deal. Through a representative, Sorsby informed the school he won\u2019t pay anything. It\u2019s a mess<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news:<\/p>\n

Hall of Famer Tony Dungy is \u201clikely out\u201d at NBC as the network revamps its NFL coverage, sources told The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand. Read his full report<\/a>.
\nThe Yankees will retire CC Sabathia\u2019s No. 52. He\u2019s the 24th Yankee<\/a> to earn the honor. I feel old.
\nSidney Crosby will miss four weeks of NHL action after his injury in the Olympics. Tough<\/a>.
\nIn women\u2019s hoops, No. 8 Michigan beat No. 13 Ohio State in an OT thriller. It could help the Wolverines earn a No. 1 seed<\/a>.
\nThe Lakers hired former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft adviser. Interesting<\/a>.
\nConnor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor. Read more here<\/a>.
\nUSMNT star Weston McKennie was electric in powering an unlikely Juventus comeback on aggregate in the Champions League yesterday, but the effort fell just short. This game was nuts<\/a>.
\nJontay Porter, the former NBA player banished for gambling, will play in the USBL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf0\u00a0Find more news here 24\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfb5 \ud83e\udd1d \ud83c\udfc0: NBA rap lines, ranked<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My bedrock music fandom will forever be hip-hop. I grew up burning CDs of Limewire songs or mixtapes downloaded off of DatPiff, primarily focused on Dwayne Carter Jr., aka Lil Wayne.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thus, I have been enjoying our NBA and hip-hop series this week. We didn\u2019t get a chance to push it yesterday, but the ranking<\/a> of hip-hop songs with NBA references unlocked my brain in ways I didn\u2019t anticipate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two notes from me:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our panel \u2014 Jason Jones, Shakeia Taylor and Tony Jones \u2014 ranked 24 songs (in honor of the 24-second shot clock) and scored each based on preference for each NBA reference.
\nJay-Z\u2019s \u201cEncore,\u201d in which Jay raps, \u201cWearin\u2019 the 4-5, it ain\u2019t to play games with you\u201d after coming out of retirement, just like Michael Jordan, who wore No. 45 during his initial return, only ranks No. 2. A crime, to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the full rankings here<\/a>. Very fun.<\/p>\n

Watch Guide<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NBA: Rockets at Magic
7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video
Houston, despite pesky alleged leaked group chats<\/a>, remains a top-three team in the West while Orlando is straddling the Play-In line with 25 games to go. Good game, with Timberwolves-Clippers following at 10 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NHL: Oilers at Kings
10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Pacific Division is a little down right now, but these are still good teams battling for playoff positioning after the Olympic break. The Oilers must solve their center problem<\/a> if they want to return to the Stanley Cup Final, though.<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like this here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

UConn is back as a contender again, especially after last night\u2019s beatdown<\/a> of St. John\u2019s. Arriving here following its back-to-back title run two seasons ago meant that head coach Dan Hurley needed to change. A lot<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have a full NHL trade board up and running with about a week to go before the deadline. See the list here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Four of the top NBA minds gathered to come up with the best ideas to stop tanking in the league, which you can read here<\/a>. Maybe we just start over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remember how the NBA\u2019s 65-game rule for awards was supposed to fix load management? It\u2019s backfiring<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family of Tyler Skaggs opened up to Sam Blum about their experience during that awful civil trial against the Angels organization. Worth your time today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kristian Campbell signed a big contract with the Red Sox at just 22 years old. He was the next big thing \u2026 then ended the year in Triple A. I loved this story on Campbell\u2019s offseason of growth<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lesson the NHL can take from the Olympics: Maybe we should switch to a 3-2-1-0 standings format. Sean McIndoe explained why<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Jerry Brewer\u2019s column<\/a> on USA men\u2019s hockey \u201closing the room,\u201d which caused quite a stir.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday: \u261d\ufe0f<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb That\u2019s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com<\/a>, and check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,354,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-625940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-mens-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116136920147064129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}