Three College Seniors on the Verge of Breakout Campaigns

Every college basketball season, we see numerous seniors make significant jumps from their previous seasons, including John Tonje, Walter Clayton Jr, Chaz Lanier, and Oscar Cluff this past season. While Cluff can continue his breakout season as a graduate senior at Purdue this upcoming season, the other three players were selected in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Below we take a look at three rising seniors who can continue to build on strong junior seasons. All three players played less than 30% of their team's minutes this past season as well, making them slightly more under-the-radar than other juniors who may be poised for a breakout.

Maliq Brown, Duke

Apr 5, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) and forward Maliq Brown (6) react after a play against the Houston Cougars during the second half in the semifinals of the men's Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Brown was on his way to a breakout junior season before dislocating his left shoulder twice last season, once in mid-February and once again during the ACC Tournament. He's a 6-foot-8, 215-pound big man who was a standout player at Syracuse before transferring to Duke last season.

While he appeared in only 15.8 minutes per game last season, Brown was impactful as a rebounder and defensive event creator -- recording a 12.5 offensive rebound percentage, 4.8 steal percentage, and 2.4 block percentage. On the other hand, Brown will likely look to clean up his turnover issues from last season, as he recorded a 33.1 turnover percentage.

Overall, Brown recorded a 10.1 Box Plus-Minus and appeared in only 26.3% of Duke's minutes last season, the latter being due to both limited playing time and his shoulder injury. Expect Brown to be a key part of Duke's projected nine-man rotation.

Jorge Diaz Graham, Oregon State

Feb 11, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers forward Guillermo Diaz Graham (25) talks with forward Jorge Diaz Graham (31) during the second half at Moody Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Jorge Diaz Graham played alongside his twin brother, Guillermo Diaz Graham for the past three seasons at Pittsburgh, but they will split ways this upcoming season as Jorge will transfer to Oregon State and Guillermo will transfer to San Francisco.

Jorge Diaz Graham is a 6-foot-11, 190-pound big man who only played limited minutes for Pittsburgh last season but was impactful when on the court. His Per 40 minutes statistics are impressive -- 17 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.8 blocks, and 0.6 turnovers.

In addition to being impactful when on the court, Diaz Graham made 47.6% of his threes last season (42 attempts) and is a career 77.2% free throw shooter--a unique skillset for a 6-foot-11 big man.

Jorge Diaz Graham recorded a 9.2 Box Plus-Minus last season, but appeared in only 16.2% of Pittsburgh's minutes. He has the potential to break out with more minutes on Oregon State.

Justin Abson, Georgia

Georgia Bulldogs forward Justin Abson (25) is pressured by Oklahoma Sooners forward Mohamed Wague (5) during their first round game of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday, March 12, 2025. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Abson played two years at Appalachian State before transferring to Georgia last season. The 6-foot-9 big man only played in 20.1% of Georgia's minutes last season, but was very impactful in those limited minutes. Overall, he recorded a 7.4 Box Plus-Minus and was impactful as an offensive rebounder, passer, and rim protector -- recording a 10.5 offensive rebound percentage, 14.2 assist percentage, and 9.4 block percentage.

Abson will have an opportunity to build on a strong junior campaign this upcoming season.

Note: Box Plus-Minus is a publicly available all-in-one metric meant to measure a player's impact when on the court. While it's best to use it on a higher minute sample, in this context, it is being used to help identify potential breakout players who may not have appeared in a significant percentage of their team's minutes last season. Data is just one avenue of evaluating talent, and it works best when used in conjunction with film and intel-gathering.