Instant Success: Ball's Prompt Production at UCLA Can Make Parent Proud

Fresh men. As in fresh blood or brand spanking new. Comparable to an excess of one thousand male teenagers who attempt each season to survive in the dog-eat-dog world of major-college basketball less than one year after being a top dog at the high school level. For many of the yearlings, it is a risk-filled voyage where "rookies" are thrown in the Division I ocean and asked to sink or swim. Some of the can't-miss prospects become studs such as UCLA's guard Lonzo Ball and forward TJ Leaf this year while others turn into duds. And some are somewhere inbetween such as North Carolina's Harrison Barnes, the first freshman ever named a preseason All-American by the AP.

Complicating the high-expectations transition are misguided rush-to-judgment comments from experts such as Dick Vitale who hype recruits beyond reason during their senior season in high school. According to the effervescent ESPN analyst, Delray Brooks (Indiana/Providence) was going to be the next Oscar Robertson, Tito Horford (Louisiana State/Miami FL) was going to be the next Hakeem Olajuwon, Jeff Lebo (North Carolina) was going to be the next Jerry West, ad nauseam. Brooks, Horford and Lebo went on to become fine college players, but the only historical basketball byproduct they had in common with the Big O, the Dream and Mr. Clutch was they played in the same half century.

Freshmen played varsity college basketball in wartime years during the 1940s and early '50s because of manpower shortages, and at earlier times when eligibility requirements were lax. But for the most part prior to the 1972-73 campaign, colleges fielded freshman teams requiring extra scholarships and operating expenses. Consequently, the introduction of freshman eligibility trimmed costs and, of course, gave eager coaches instant access to high school phenoms who are immediately placed under the glare of the spotlight to help keep elite programs on a pedestal or possibly give struggling teams a chance to climb the ladder of success.

Former Marquette coach Al McGuire coined the phrase: "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores." But a striking number of sudden impact freshmen combined sufficient physical maturity with quick adjustments to the speed and complexity of the college game. Where will Ball and Leaf rank among the all-time best freshmen? It's not as if Ball's father needs more fodder to help his self-esteem, but UCLA improved by 14 games from the previous campaign (15-17 to 31-5) compared to 4 1/2 for North Carolina when Michael Jordan came on board to help UNC capture 1982 NCAA title. Following is a list of freshman phenom seasons improving their school records from the previous year more than Jordan but fewer than Ball and Leaf: