Best Freshman This Decade?

[Orange Nation]

Melo
Durant
Beasley

Sportscenter did a quick bio on each.

You can vote on espn.com

Digger picked beasley.

But...the thing is...Beasley and Durant didnt have half as strong supporting casts. Something tells me Melo could rack up a few more than 22 double-doubles if he was in either of the other two situations.

Beasely is impressive thus far...but supporting cast or not - Melo has a ring.

[nyjunc]

I think what seperates Carmelo is he led his team to a Championship, we'll see how far Beasley can take KSU and KSU does have a pretty good supporting cast. Durant had as much, if not more, talent around him as Carmelo had and he couldn't get to the Sweet 16.

[Callaway]

Durant

[Orange Nation]

based on what?

[Orange Nation]

Durant and Beasley have the athleticism to make it look like their better then Melo. But Melo IMO had the most complete game out of any of the three. He could do it all. Even when he was having trouble scoring, he took over in assists and rebounds

Looking at Texas this year its pretty easy to make the case that Durant actually held that team back a little bit because the relied on him so heavily. Its basically the same team this year minus Durant and they have been top 10 most of the season after doing basically nothing in the post season last season. You might even say Melo could have made that team good enough to at least make the sweet 16 or elite 8 since he could dominate games without dominating the ball.

Augustine and Abrams as the guards and James as another big. They are better without him.

I'd say Durant ranks a distant third behind Melo and Beasley.

Melo & the '03 team have NEVER gotten the credit they truly deserve. As the years go by, Melo becomes the standard of comparision for incoming Frosh. Melo's "supporting cast" were mostly Freshmen (Gmac, Edelin) & Sophs (Hakim, Forth, J. Pace). The only upperclassmen were role-players (Kueth, & a back-up cente- McNeil). So what that team accomplished was incredible. The unquestioned leader was Melo- the heart was Gmac- the stability was Duany! Either way, Melo, as a Freshmen, led the way. IMO- Durant was obviously great, but not the leader ex: making those around him better, that Melo was. Magic & Bird, were ALWAYS great because of how they made their teams better. People forget, but MJ became a true "great player", once he lifted his teammates with him. That's IMO, is Beasley right now. Great individual talent, who has not yet shown if he can make his teammates better. Therefore, IMHO, Melo continues to be the best this decade, until further notice.

[danamal85]

I'm a 'cuse homer so I'll take Melo. He did what neither of the others have yet. If Beasely/KSU wins the championship, I probably should reconsider but I won't.