Analyst Dick Vitale sees a race for the top college basketball player in the country
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With the college basketball season inching closer and closer, teams are already playing in their first preseason scrimmage matches, and Baylor is no exception. The Bears recently had a scrimmage against the Indiana Hoosiers, where the Bears lost by a mere 2 points. The irony of these teams playing one another: Indiana and Baylor were the only two teams in the country without a single returning player from the season prior. With that being said, one of the names that has the attention of the national media is incoming Baylor freshman, Tounde Yessoufou.
One of the most prominent figures in the sports media world is Dick Vitale. An avid college basketball fan, Vitale recently published an article on ESPN where he highlighted some of the main storylines going into this season of college basketball. While Vitale spent a lot of time in his article talking about the potential title favorites for this season of college basketball, he did highlight incoming Baylor freshman Tounde Yessoufou twice.
The first mention came in Vitale's discussion of the prominence of international players in the collegiate basketball world, where Vitale noted that there are over 70 international players on high-major rosters for the 2025-2026 college basketball season.
Following that, Vitale then went on to discuss one of the main subjects that has the entire media perplexed: which of the many talented incoming freshmen will finish the season as the alpha dog? While some of the common names, like BYU's AJ Dybantsa and Kansas' Darryn Peterson, were discussed in depth, Vitale also mentioned guys like Yessoufou who have all of the skills to be the top freshman in the country come March.
🇧🇯Tounde Yessoufou con Baylor ante Indiana:
— Draft Lab (@DraftLabNBA) October 27, 2025
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◾️2/6 T3
◾️4/6 TL pic.twitter.com/QW0JEwRyHG
As I have mentioned in previous articles, Yessoufou fits the mold of the kind of player that Scott Drew loves on his teams: a tough, downhill guard that can get into the paint and finish through contact. However, one area of Yessoufou's game that has expanded this offseason has been his range and ability to knock down the three's. As evidenced by Baylor's scrimmage, Yessoufou is a lot more comfortable from beyond the arc and has all of the tools in his tool belt to excel as one of the premier freshmen in the country.
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Josh started covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Prior to Baylor Bears on SI, he worked as an intern for TheMichiganInsider at 247Sports. Josh graduated from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, with a bachelor’s degree in economics, where his passion for collegiate athletics continued to grow after attending his first game in The Big House. Combining his analytical background and his affinity for collegiate sports, Josh enjoys providing his unique perspective on the shifting dynamic equilibrium of the collegiate athletics landscape. When not watching sports, Josh enjoys cooking a nice meal, running, and traveling to new places with his friends and family.