KANSAS CITY — Last season might always be remembered for what a freshman did at Duke, specifically the way Cooper Flagg produced a historically unprecedented one-and-only season of college basketball while becoming the youngest-ever Wooden Award winner. But, broadly speaking, it wasn’t a great freshman class filled with elite prospects accomplishing much.
Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey both missed the NCAA Tournament at Rutgers. VJ Edgecombe played for a Baylor team that spent most of the season unranked. Tre Johnson played for a Texas team that was never ranked again after a season-opening loss to Ohio State. Jalil Bathea was whatever on a bad team at Miami. Ian Jackson and Drake Powell played for an underachieving team at North Carolina. Jayden Quaintance played for an Arizona State team that finished 13-20.
You get the point.
In the end, Flagg was the only freshman who emerged as a consensus All-American. Rest assured, that will not be the case this season.
Because this freshman class is loaded.
As evidence, I present Kyle Boone’s latest 2026 NBA Mock Draft, where the first eight picks are all freshmen college basketball players, each of whom is on a team expected to make the 2026 NCAA Tournament. And, according to a poll conducted among CBS Sports writers and analysts, the best of the bunch will be Darryn Peterson, the 6-foot-6 guard at Kansas who has been voted the CBS Sports Preseason National Freshman of the Year.
I sat down with him Wednesday inside the T-Mobile Center at Big 12 Media Day. Among other things, I asked Peterson what it’s like to hear his coach, Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Bill Self, describe him as the most-talented and most-ready freshman he’s ever coached, even though Self once coached the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Andrew Wiggins, and the 2023 NBA MVP, Joel Embiid.
“It’s another one of those things that I kind of just gotta embrace now,” Peterson told me in an interview we did for the Eye On College Basketball Podcast. “It’s already said and set in stone. So, now, all I can do is just answer the call and fulfill everything that he said.”
People are believers.
2025-26 CBS Sports preseason individual awards: Purdue’s Braden Smith earns Player of the Year honors
Matt Norlander
Talk to anybody who has spent real time around Peterson, and they’ll tell you he’s on a path to be the face of an NBA franchise. He has all of the physical tools and gifts, which are easy to see on tape. But, everybody around him also says, he checks the box as an undeniable alpha, a real leader, a great teammate, a hard worker, everything you want the face of a franchise to be. According to our poll, he’s the best of an incredible freshman class also featuring BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, who also got votes for National Freshman of the Year.
Right now, Purdue senior Braden Smith is the favorite to win the Wooden award. But it should surprise nobody if we look up in February, and the Big 12 Freshman of the Year race has turned into the Big 12 Player of the Year race that’s also doubling as the national player of the year race because the Big 12 is loaded with top-shelf freshmen, and our voters believe Peterson will perform above all.
CBS Sports 2025-26 Preseason All-Freshman Team
Darryn Peterson | Kansas | G | 6-6
Peterson was the only freshman who earned preseason first-team All-American honors by CBS Sports. Peterson should be the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick this summer. He is a fluid scorer who can raise the floor and ceiling for Bill Self’s squad. Don’t be surprised if he averages over 20 points per game. – Cameron Salerno
AJ Dybantsa | BYU | F | 6-9
Dybansta arrives at BYU as the most hyped recruit in program history. He has the prototypical size to be a wing at the NBA level today. Dybansta thrives in the mid-range and gets to his spots at ease. The hype is real with BYU and Dybansta. The last time players from the same conference on different teams went 1-2 in the same NBA Draft, you have to go back to 2017. That could very well be the case this summer with Peterson and Dybantsa. – CS
Cameron Boozer | Duke | F | 6-9
The son of former Duke star and NBA legend Carlos Boozer has big shoes to fill with reigning National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg off to the NBA. However, if anyone can match that hype with his past pedigree and skill, it’s Boozer. He was simply a winner at the high school level. It should translate to the college game. Like Peterson and Dybansta, he is a strong contender to go No. 1 this summer. – CS
Mikel Brown Jr. | Louisville | G | 6-5
Brown is the best true freshman point guard entering college basketball. He had a terrific summer while playing in the FIBA U19 World Cup. Brown is a true floor general. Louisville enters this season with a tremendous amount of hype around the program. In order for the Cardinals to reach their full potential, Brown will have to be at his best. – CS
Nate Ament | Tennessee | F | 6-10
Tennessee has had some serious hits in the transfer portal in recent years under Rick Barnes, but Ament is by far the most talented first-year player the school has ever had. Ament thrives with the ball in his hands and can be a volume scorer at the college level. Ament is the highest-ranked recruit in Tennessee program history and could also become the highest-drafted player from the school. – CS
