Where Does Ebuka Okorie Rank Amongst the Nation's Top Freshmen?

There is no doubt that one of the biggest storylines of the college basketball season thus far has been the influx of freshmen dominating the sport. During the preseason, the recruiting class was supposed to be solid, with many talents such as Darryn Peterson at Kansas, Cameron Boozer at Duke, and AJ Dybantsa at BYU.

However, there have been other massive success stories in the early going as well, as players well down the preseason recruiting rankings have dominated college basketball.

Ranked 22nd coming into the year, Kingston Flemings has been elite at Houston, along with 32nd Acaden Lewis at Villanova. But there has clearly been one player that has been on another level in college basketball, despite being a name outside the ESPN top 100.

Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie has been on an absolute heater this season. As a true freshman, he has averaged 21.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. Every single night, Okorie walks out on the floor and dominates the opposing team.

In game one of the season, it was easy to see how good Okorie already is. He put up 26 points and 7 rebounds in a win over Portland State. After the game, head coach Kyle Smith stated “the secret is out.”

The next game, against recent tournament team Montana, Okorie had a season-high 29, and then followed that up with 26 against Louisiana, 25 against Minnesota, and has been great overall this year. In his most recent game on Monday, he turned in his worst game of the year, collecting just 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

But how does Okorie rank amongst the nation’s top freshmen? There certainly is a case for the Cardinal to be near the top of the list.

Scoring the basketball, he is one of the best. He is the second leading scorer amongst freshmen in the nation, just behind Boozer from Duke, who is averaging 23.6 compared to Okorie's 21.4. They are the only two high major players to be averaging 20+ points per game as a freshman.

And while some freshmen are just scorers, Okorie’s three rebounds and three assists per game have separated himself from other candidates. Only Okorie, Boozer, and Maleek Thomas from Arkansas, and Mikel Brown Jr. from Louisville are putting up at least 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Only Okorie and Boozer average 20 as well.

It’s important to discuss that Okorie plays on a worse team than some of these elite freshmen, so it definitely takes a toll in the rankings, but it wouldn’t completely alter the list. Okorie is able to put up these numbers while being the focal point of most of what the Cardinal do.

As of earlier this week, Okorie is likely about the fifth best freshman in the nation. And other analysts agree.

Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney recently unveiled his ranking of the top freshmen in the country, and placed Okroie fifth on his list. And while ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf's list didn’t have Okorie in their top-10, he was the first honorable mention, meaning he would have been somewhere between 11-14 with the rest of the honorable mentions.

It’s fair to say that Okorie has had quite the freshman season, and looks like he could be one of the best freshmen in the nation. He's going to be a key to Stanford’s success throughout this season.

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