By: Jay Yeomans

Published: March 31, 2025

The NCAA basketball Tournament is nearing its conclusion and we have learned so much about what the transfer portal and NIL have done to the college game. Everyone seems to be talking about how it has damaged the chances for Cinderella to advance, but I have noticed another glaring situation taking place that needs to be addressed.

As I watched game after game, I noticed a trend when starting lineups were posted on the screen. There were nearly no freshman starters. And as guys got shuttled in and out of the lineup that trend continued. So I did a little digging and found some alarming statistics.

Of the 68 teams that made it to March Madness, only 31 teams have a freshman in their top 7 in minutes per game. And of those 31 teams, there are only 39 freshmen in the rotation. That works out to be 0.57 freshmen per NCAA Tournament team who get real minutes. That’s an astoundingly low number. On top of that, there were only 7 freshmen in the rotation of the teams in the elite eight.

And that trend isn’t limited to teams that made the Big Dance either. Of the top 100 players in the 2024 Recruiting Services Consensus Index – a site that aggregates all of the top rankings across high school basketball – only 14 were full-time starters. Just 30 started at least 10 games. That’s a crazy number. These were the kids that had big NIL numbers thrown at them to help save programs and only 30 percent started at least 10 games!

There are some other crazy numbers attached to that other than starts. Only 1 in 5 players in the top 100 averaged in double figures. Less than half even averaged 5 points a night. And those guys are consensus top players.

There are a handful of reasons for these shocking statistics. One is the transfer portal.

Why recruit and play a freshman, especially one ranked outside the top 20, when you can just dive into the portal and procure a player who has already shown he can produce at the college level?

Why take the chance on an 18 or 19 year-old when you can land a 23 or 24 year old senior – thanks Covid – who has already dressed 100-plus games?

The portal wasn’t such a big deal until they made it possible for people to transfer more than once without penalty. That basically made it yearly free agency with the top players going to the highest bidders. And speaking of bidders, that is where NIL comes into play. With very few rules and regulations to govern the buying of top players, the best players go to the top payers. And that has turned one of my all-time favorite events into a case study of what is wrong with high level college sports.

So you don’t have to search for the numbers like I did here is a breakdown of each team in the dance with the amount of freshmen in the top 7 in minutes and how they each produced this season.

16. Alabama State (0)

16. Mount St. Mary’s (0)

16. SIU Edwardsville (0)

16. Norfolk State (0)

16. St. Francis Pa.  (2)

• Juan Cranford recorded 9.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 27.7 minutes

• Jeremy Clayville averaged 7.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 19 minutes.

16. American (0)

15. Wofford (1)

• Luke Flynn managed 4.1 Points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 20.1 minutes.

15. Omaha (0)

15. Bryant (0)

15. Robert Morris (0)

14. Lipscomb (0)

14. Montana (0)

14. Troy (1)

• Cooper Campbell registered 5.2 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 16.5 minutes.

14. UNC Wilmington (0)

13. Grand Canyon (0)

13. High Point (0)

13. Yale (1)

• Isaac Celiscar averaged 7.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 20.7 minutes.

13. Akron (1)

• Sharron Young recorded 7.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 16 minutes.

12. Liberty (0)

12. UC San Diego (0)

12. Colorado State (0)

12. McNeese State (0)

11. North Carolina (2)

• Ian Jackson (6^th ranked) averaged 11.9 points, and 2.7 rebounds in 23.8 minutes.

• Drake Powell (11^th ranked) put up 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 25.6 minutes.

11. VCU (1)

• Luke Bamgboye totaled 3.8 points, and 3.3 rebounds a game in 16.8 minutes.

11. Drake (1)

• Isaia Howard contributed 4.5 points, and 2.5 rebounds in 15.2 minutes.

11. Xavier (0)

11. San Diego State (1)

• Taj DeGourville managed 5.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 18.9 minutes.

11. Texas (1)

• Tre Johnson (5^th ranked) recorded 19.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in 34.7 minutes.

10. Arkansas (2)

• Boogie Fland (17^th ranked) averaged 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 31.8 minutes.

• Karter Knox (22^nd ranked) put up 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 24 minutes.

10. Utah State (0)

10. New Mexico (1)

• Jovan Milicevic recorded 3.8 points, and 2.0 rebounds in 11.8 minutes.

10. Vanderbilt (1)

• Tyler Tanner contributed 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 20.4 minutes.

9. Creighton (1)

• Jackson McAndrew (34^th ranked) registered 7.8 points, and 4.4 rebounds in 21.9 minutes.

9. Baylor (2)

• V.J Edgecombe (4^th ranked) averaged 15 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 32.7 minutes.
• Robert Wright (25^th ranked) recorded 11.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 29.4 minutes.

9. Oklahoma (1)

• Jeremiah Fears managed 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 30.2 minutes.

9. Georgia (1)

• Asa Newell (11^th ranked) put up 15.4 points, and 6.9 rebounds in 29 minutes.

8. Gonzaga (0)

8. UConn (1)

• Liam McNeeley (10^th ranked) averaged 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 32.1 minutes.

8. Louisville (0)

8. Miss St. (0)

7. Marquette (1)

• Royce Parham (92^nd ranked) averaged 5.1 points, and 2.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes.

7. Saint Mary’s (1)

• Mikey Lewis registered 8.2 points, and 1.7 rebounds in 16 minutes.

7. Kansas (1)

• Flory Bidunga (18^th ranked) recorded 5.9 points, and 5.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes.

7. UCLA (0)

6. Illinois (3)

• Kasparas Jakucionis averaged 15 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 31.8 minutes.

• Will Riley managed 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 25.7 minutes.

• Morez Johnson Jr. (26^th ranked) recorded 7.0 points, and 6.7 rebounds in 17.6 minutes.

6. Missouri (0)

6. Ole Miss (0)

6. BYU (2)

• Egor Demin averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 27.5 minutes.

• Kanon Catchings (37^th ranked) managed 7.2 points, and 2.2 rebounds in 17.4 minutes.

5. Oregon (0)

5. Michigan (0)

5. Memphis (0)

5. Clemson (0)

4. Maryland (1)

• Derik Queen (14^th ranked) produced 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 30.4 minutes.

4. Purdue (1)

• C.J. Cox 6.0 points, 2.8 rebounds

4. Texas A&M (0)

4. Arizona (1)

• Carter Bryant (20^th ranked) averaged 6.5 points, and 4.1 rebounds in 19.3 minutes.

3. Iowa State (0)

3. Wisconsin (0)

3. Texas Tech (1)

• Christian Anderson registered 10.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 30.6 minutes.

3. Kentucky (0)

2. St. John’s (0)

2. Tennessee (0)

2. Michigan State (1)

• Jase Richardson (31^st ranked) recorded 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 25.3 minutes.

2. Alabama (1)

• Labaron Philon (32^nd ranked) totaled 10.6 points, 3,3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 24.7 minutes.

1.Auburn (1)

• Tahaad Pettiford (28^th ranked) averaged 11.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 22.9 minutes.

1. Florida (0)

1. Duke (3)

• Cooper Flagg (1^st ranked) managed 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1,4 steals in 30.5 minutes.

• Kon Knueppel (14^th ranked) put up 14.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 30.3 minutes.

• Khaman Maluach (51^st ranked) averaged 8.7 points, and 6.8 rebounds in 21.2 minutes.

1.Houston (0)