Grading the Top 10 College Basketball Recruiting Classes of 2013

Grading the Top 10 College Hoops Recruiting Classes

Now that the 2013-14 college basketball season has actually started, we have seen all of the talented freshmen in action. However, let’s take a look at not just individual players for this article. Let’s take a look at the top 10 recruiting classes of 2013 and grade all of them on how they have performed so far.

For the purposes of this article, we will use ESPN’s rankings of the 2013 recruiting classes.

As you have probably already heard a million times, maybe even more, Kentucky brought in arguably the most talented recruiting classes of all time. However, Kansas did land the No. 1 player in the 2013 recruiting class. Not sure if you have heard of him, but he goes by the name of Andrew Wiggins.

Well, Wiggins has been great so far and the same thing can be said about Jabari Parker and Julius Randle--the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked players in the class.

Arizona’s Aaron Gordon has been pretty impressive as well.

This season has been all about the freshmen so far. That is kind of hard to deny considering that this could be one of the top recruiting classes. Not just in a long time, but ever. The top players in this class are freakishly talented and it would not be a surprise if all of the one-and-done players stole the show in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Whether the case, let’s grade the top 10 college hoops recruiting classes of 2013 and how they are doing so far.

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10. Florida Gators

Florida only had two freshmen joining the team this season, but both of them were five-star recruits, according to ESPN. Unfortunately, Chris Walker was ruled ineligible. He will hopefully join the team in December.

Kasey Hill was great early on, averaging 10.3 points per game and 4.3 assists per game. Hill went down with an injury, though, and will be out for a little while. His return to the Gators will be huge.

With all of that said, we got a really good look at Hill and he looks great. He has some work to do, but has not disappointed whatsoever. So, Florida’s class ranking is basically being based off of on one player, who is currently injured. The ranking may seem a bit harsh, but Walker hasn’t even touched the court yet.

Grade: C

9. LSU Tigers

Jarell Martin was supposed to carry this talented recruiting class, but he only played one minute before the Tigers' last game thanks to an injury in the first game of the season.

However, Jordan Mickey has been great. He is averaging 14.8 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game and 4.8 blocks per game. He is not getting as much hype as Andrew Wiggins, but he has still been solid early on.

Mickey is the only freshman on the team who has had a major impact.

LSU gets a lower ranking than Florida for the simple fact that it has more freshmen.

Grade: C-

8. Louisville Cardinals

Chris Jones has easily been the most impressive freshman on Louisville so far. He is averaging 13 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, 4.3 assists per game and 2.8 steals per game.

However, players like Terry Rozier have provided a spark off of the bench. I wasn’t really expecting this class to do a whole lot this year for the simple fact that the Cardinals are coming off of a national championship and returned a bunch of talent.

Therefore, the expectations for Louisville’s freshmen to succeed in year one were probably not that high.

Grade: C

7. Duke Blue Devils

As you can tell by now, I apparently like to give out a bunch of C’s. You can bet that Duke will get a much higher grade, though.

Jabari Parker. That is really all I have to say. He has been amazing so far and could be the best player in the country. The season still has to play out quite a bit before we can actually deem him or anyone else the best, but Parker has met expectations to say the least.

Semi Ojeleye and Matt Jones have not seen the court all that much and bring down this recruiting class a little bit.

Grade: A-

6. Syracuse Orange

Syracuse’s freshmen seem to be a bunch of role players at best--so far. Tyler Ennis is the exception, though. Ennis hasn’t been amazing, but I am sure he will improve throughout the season.

He is currently averaging 7.8 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game, 3.8 assists per game and two steals per game. Ennis is not expected to carry the offensive load or anything like that. He just needs to be a reliable point guard and set up this offense, which he has basically done so far.

Grade: C-

5. Arizona Wildcats

Arizona has two freshmen who are off to great starts in the 2013-14 college basketball season. Aaron Gordon is one of them. He is averaging 13 points per game, nine rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks per game.

Gordon is easily one of the best freshman in the country and that will likely be the case for the rest of the season.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is putting up 10 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Grade: B+

4. Indiana Hoosiers

As expected, Noah Vonleh has been very impressive early on. He is averaging 12.8 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game.

Troy Williams is not getting as much hype, but he is still putting up 10.7 points per game and six rebounds per game.

Indiana has a bunch of new faces on its team, but none of them have been anywhere near as good as Vonleh and Williams.

Grade: B+

3. Memphis Tigers

Memphis has only played two games, so it is tougher trying to rank its 2013 class. Still, Nick King is currently the leading scorer on this team. He is averaging 18 points per game and he is also averaging 6.5 rebounds per game.

Austin Nichols was the prize of this draft class and I am sure he will get better and better as the season progresses. He is currently averaging 6.5 points per game and four rebounds per game.

Grade: B

2. Kansas Jayhawks

Three freshmen on Kansas have been great so far. Joel Embiid, Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins are all averaging eight or more points per game.

We all expected great things out of Wiggins and he has not disappointed so far. Wiggins is putting up 16.8 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. He even came up big against the Duke Blue Devils, which resulted in a win for the Jayhawks.

Grade: A

1. Kentucky Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats’ 2013 class is arguably the most talented of all time and it has looked very good early on. Kentucky may have one loss on the season, but it did come against an experienced Michigan State Spartans team.

Julius Randle is the best player on Kentucky and he may also be the best player in college hoops. He is averaging 20.8 points per game and 13.4 rebounds per game. The most impressive thing is the fact that Randle has played five game and he has recorded a double-double in every single one of them.

Three other freshmen on the Wildcats are averaging 11 or more points per game.

Grade: A+