FILE – BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives to the basket against Dayton during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
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For more than a year, recruiting analysts and NBA draft experts have mentioned the 2025-26 college freshman class as among the best in recent memory. They noted several should be first round picks, and it looks like they will be proven correct. On Tuesday, freshmen are expected to dominate the early part of the draft’s first round, just like in 2025.
ESPN’s Jeremy Woo and The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie each have all freshmen in the top 10 of their latest mock drafts. If that were to happen, it would be the first time no one besides a freshman was a top 10 pick, surpassing last year when a record nine freshmen were top 10 picks.
Woo and Vecenie have the same five players going in the top five: BYU forward AJ Dybantsa to the Washington Wizards at No. 1, followed by Kansas guard Darryn Peterson to the Utah Jazz, Duke forward Cam Boozer to the Memphis Grizzlies, North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson to the Chicago Bulls and Illinois guard Keaton Wagler to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The first three names are no surprise. Dybantsa, Peterson and Boozer were predicted to go in the top three this time a year ago and were considered the best recruits in the high school class of 2025, per the 247Sports Composite. While Peterson had an inconsistent year, played in only 24 gams and sat out multiple games or left early with injuries, he led the Jayhawks with 20.2 points per game and made second team All-Big 12.
Despite his up and down season, Peterson should be the Jayhawks’ highest draft pick since 2014 when Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid were chosen first and third, respectively. Surprisingly, KU has had only three other players ever selected in the top three of the draft: Wilt Chamberlain (No. 2 in 1959), Danny Manning (No. 1 in 1988) and Raef LaFrentz (No. 3 in 1998).
Boozer and Dybantsa, meanwhile, were first team All-Americans and dominated in their lone college seasons. Boozer, the consensus national player of the year, averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game and made 55.6% of his field goals. Boozer’s 2.951 rating, according to analyst Ken Pomeroy, was the best since Pomeroy began tracking the data in the 2010-11 season. Boozer should be Duke’s 11th top-three pick since 2011 and could join Kyrie Irving (2011), Zion Williamson (2019), Paolo Banchero (2022) and Cooper Flagg (2025) as Blue Devils picked first overall in the past 15 years.
Dybantsa led Division I in scoring at 25.5 points per game and shot 51% from the floor. He had at least 20 points in 28 of 35 games and displayed a versatile offensive game, driving past players in the halfcourt and pulling up from the 3-point line or mid-range. He played in a loaded Big 12 and averaged 25.9 points in conference games, including a career-high 43 points against Utah and 40 against Kansas State in the conference opener. Dybantsa could be the first BYU player selected first overall. The Cougars have had two No. 2 selections in Mel Hutchins (1951) and Shawn Bradley (1993) and only three other top 10 picks in Rafael Araujo (No. 8 in 2004), Jimmer Fredette (No. 10 in 2011) and Egor Demin (No. 8 last year).
Wilson, meanwhile, was considered a top 10 pick entering the season and didn’t disappoint, averaging 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Even though he didn’t play after Feb. 10 due to two hand injuries, he is still widely seen as the No. 4 pick in the draft. Wagner is a different story, as he was the No. 261 player in the 247Sports Composite in his high school class and didn’t gain much attention entering college. That changed this past season when the 6-foot-5 guard made second team Associated Press All-American, led Illinois in scoring at 17.9 points per game and helped the Illini advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2005.
Besides Wagler, four other freshman guards are considered top 10 prospects: Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. (No. 6 in Vecenie’s mock draft and No. 7 in Woo’s draft), Arkansas’s Darius Acuff Jr. (No. 7 and No. 6, respectively), Houston’s Kingston Flemings (No. 8 in both drafts) and Brayden Burries (No. 9 in both drafts).
Acuff Jr. was the most productive of those four players in college, earning first team AP All-American honors and averaging 23.5 points and 6.4 assists per game. He became the only player besides former LSU great Pete Maravich to lead the Southeastern Conference in scoring and assists in the same season.
Burries and Flemings had strong seasons, as well, with each earning first team All-Big 12, a league that sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament. Burries (16.1 points per game) and Flemings (16.1 points per game) led their teams in scoring. Arizona and Houston finished first and second in the Big 12, as well.
As for Brown, he only played in 21 games and missed Louisville’s last six games. But when he was health, he had some impressive performances, most notably scoring 45 points and making 10 of 16 3-pointers in a 118-77 victory over North Carolina State on Feb. 9. Brown was second on the team in scoring (18.2 points per game) and first with 4.7 assists per game, although he averaged 3.1 turnovers per game.
Nate Ament, a forward from Tennessee, is the final player in the top 10 for both Woo and Vecenie. Ament, who was seen as a potential top five pick a year ago, averaged 16.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for a Volunteers team that made the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. But he made just 39.9% of his shots, including 33.3% of his 3’s, and struggled in the postseason. He made just 1 of 13 shots in an SEC tournament loss to Vanderbilt and went 12 of 36 (33.3%) in four NCAA tournament games, averaging 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and having more turnovers (eight) than assists (six).
Outside of those 10 freshmen, several other freshmen should be first round picks, including Washington forward Hannes Steinbach (No. 14 in Vecenie’s mock draft and No. 15 in Woo’s draft), Arizona forward Koa Peat (No. 22 and No. 26, respectively), Houston center Chris Cenac Jr. (No. 23 and No. 19, respectively) and Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie (No. 28 in both mocks).