are there really no foreign players in the top 10?

31 minutes ago, Derka said:

 

are there really no foreign players in the top 10?

Like non-NCAA foreign guys? Karim Lopez looks like the highest on boards rn - out of NZ.

I haven't seen Peterson play but Dybansta is fucking awesome. Watched the 2H of that UCONN game. 

I wonder if Boozer is a little overhyped because of his daddy.

• 
• Andy Bailey @AndrewDBailey

Highest freshman box plus/minuses since 2002-03 (as far back as it's tracked:

Zion Williamson and CAMERON BOOZER (20.1)

DARRYN PETERSON (19.0)

Anthony Davis (17.2)

Cooper Flagg (16.3)

Chet Holmgren (15.0)

AJ DYBANTSA (14.9)

Kyrie Irving (14.8)

CALEB WILSON (14.4)

Karl-Anthony

• 6:41 PM · Dec 27, 2025

Peterson has played 4 games. Let’s slow the roll…

Long way to go, but this class looks as good as or better than any in the past decade...

22 hours ago, Fastbreak said:

Peterson has played 4 games. Let’s slow the roll…

Those numbers are meaningless, anyway. There is a ton of playing against dogshit teams baked into that. Let's see what they are after conference play.

• 
• Instagram @

this kind of talk reminds me of kyrie. not in terms of a player for player comparison, just word for word, it reminds me of when kyrie was at duke.

Give me Dybansta. Anyone can play at KU.

yeah i like dybantsa > peterson.

i haven't watched a ton of college hoops yet this year, but i too want to go on record that i prefer AJ Dybantsa to anyone in the draft.

• 
• Francesco Semprucci @fra_sempru

This is the list of freshmen with BPM≥10 since 2008.

It's a basic filter,but it shows well how early dominance at the college level translates well to the NBA. I mean, it's not a 100% hit rate but if you're good at such young age, the odds you're gonna carve out a role are high

• 5:50 PM · Jan 15, 2026

2 hours ago, Derka said:

• 
• Francesco Semprucci @fra_sempru

This is the list of freshmen with BPM≥10 since 2008.

It's a basic filter,but it shows well how early dominance at the college level translates well to the NBA. I mean, it's not a 100% hit rate but if you're good at such young age, the odds you're gonna carve out a role are high

• 5:50 PM · Jan 15, 2026

Am I supposed to look at this list and be amazed? It's basically Anthony Davis James Harden and Joel Embiid plus a whole lot of nothing "ooh such basket much ball"

Edited January 16Jan 16 by Michael Knight

I mean it does show what Zion did(and he's good when healthy) and we're already seeing how good Cooper Flagg is. So might not be able to ignore the entire list.

• 
• Kazeem Famuyide 🇳🇬 🍎 @Kazeem

The shot making is nuts. The efficiency is not human. What am i watching?

• 3:11 AM · Jan 17, 2026

• 
• Frankie Vision @Frankie_Vision · Jan 17, 2026

Darryn Peterson vs Baylor tonight..

26 PTS (11-13 FG, 2-4 3PT, 2-4 FTs)

3 AST

2 REBS

1 STL

23 MINS

Who is better than him RN in the country? Why did he only play 23 Mins?

watched some of that first half last night and might need to think about walking back my Dybantsa > Peterson take. both guys look to be incredibly exciting prospects.

yeah peterson is unreal. and he’s doing all of this on a minutes restriction. he looks like the most polished offensive freshman in a long time.

Peterson is probably a bit more skilled but Dybansta is a better athlete and just so physical and strong with the ball. And he's a lot bigger.

This kid has to be on some draft boards. He already has two triple doubles on the season (one of them was with steals) and he just dropped this on the road at Wake Forest.

• 
• Instagram @

If aj dybantsa ends up on the Jazz somehow it will confirm the draft is rigged

2 hours ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

If aj dybantsa ends up on the Jazz somehow it will confirm the draft is rigged

10000% chance this happens.

i don't know why Peterson can't play a full game, but man that first half was super impressive today. honestly i'd be a bit scared to take him #1 because he feels like a guy that you never know whether he is going to play or not, but he is fucking electric when he actually plays.

i've also become a big fan of Kingston Flemings over the past couple of weeks. that kid can fucking play.

3 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

i don't know why Peterson can't play a full game, but man that first half was super impressive today. honestly i'd be a bit scared to take him #1 because he feels like a guy that you never know whether he is going to play or not, but he is fucking electric when he actually plays.

i've also become a big fan of Kingston Flemings over the past couple of weeks. that kid can fucking play.

Flemings is sick. Just not sure what his frame translates to at the next level and how elite of an athlete he is.

I don't know what's going on with Peterson. I also have some questions with him when it comes to creating his own stuff and getting his shot off against NBA defenders. Kansas gives him a lot of easy looks. The Kobe comps are absolutely wild. He doesn't profile much better than someone like Tre Johnson let alone Kobe.

Dybansta looked like he didn't give a shit half the time today. I don't know if that's a side effect of giving guys $5M bags ahead of time or if he just lacks a little fire or what.

I would still take AJ first. Can't teach 6'9" and he can shoot and looks completely unaffected by single coverage.

Not sure I love anyone in this class as a no-doubter future all-star. Flagg would go 1st in this class without any discussion.

I don't understand why anyone would take Peterson first at this point. Dybansta is throwing up absurd lines like every other game, is bigger, and actually plays every game.

Do people really think there's that much of a gap between the two to ignore the red flags? I don't get it.

After last night:

It's not about one game. His last three he is putting up 33/6/5 on 67% from the field and 56% from 3. And was dragging them up the floor against Houston.

On 1/16/2026 at 11:04 AM, Michael Knight said:

Am I supposed to look at this list and be amazed? It's basically Anthony Davis James Harden and Joel Embiid plus a whole lot of nothing "ooh such basket much ball"

Looks pretty damn good to me. Just about all of them have made an All-Rookie team. Half of them made an All-Star game. Several VMPs, DPoYs, Rebounding, scoring and blocks champs and major roles on NBA title teams.

Only a couple of complete busts. Way better hit rate than the top-10 draft picks each year. And the ones who under-performed like Beasley, Tyreke Evans, Lonzo Ball were derailed by drugs or injuries.

• Zion Williamson - 2X All Star, 1st Team All-Rookie

• Anthony Davis - NBA Champ, 5X All-NBA, 10X All-Star

• Cooper Flagg - Likely RoY, Future All-NBA

• Michael Beasley - All-Rookie, 238 Game Starter

• Kevin Love - NBA Champ, 2X All-NBA, 5X All-Star

• Chet Holmgren - NBA Champ, #2 RoY, Likely '26 DPoY

• Karl-Anthony Towns - RoY, 3X All-NBA, 5X All-Star

• Evan Mobley - DPoY, 1X All-NBA, 1X All-Star

• James Harden - MVP, 8X All-NBA, 11X All-Star

• Nerlens Noel - All-Rookie, 223 Game Starter

• Lonzo Ball - All-Rookie, 256 Game Starter

• Brandon Miller - Too Early. All-Rookie

• Onyeka Okongwu - 113 Game Starter, Meh

• Cody Zeller - All-Rookie, 275 Game Starter

• Reed Sheppard - Too Early

• Robbie Hummel - Meh

• D'Angelo Russell - All Rookie, 1X All-Star, 539 Game Starter

• Gordon Hayward 1X All-Star, 649 Game Starter

• Donovan Clingan - Too Early. All Rookie

• Tyreke Evans - RoY, 426 Game Starter

• Jaren Jackson - DPoY, 2X All-Star, 3X All-Def

• Joel Embiid - MVP, 5X All-NBA, 7X All-Star

14 hours ago, ztejas said:

I don't understand why anyone would take Peterson first at this point. Dybansta is throwing up absurd lines like every other game, is bigger, and actually plays every game.

Do people really think there's that much of a gap between the two to ignore the red flags? I don't get it.

I get what you're saying but hasn't Dybansta had issues against better teams, that's a flag too.

But yeah, Peterson will go #1 because of skill and shot. I've heard some experts describe him as ANT with an already developed shot...teams won't pass on that, flags or not. But they should definitely think hard about it.

17 minutes ago, Drew said:

I get what you're saying but hasn't Dybansta had issues against better teams, that's a flag too.

He's mostly been good regardless of competition and he's at least playing in those games unlike Peterson. Here are all of the best teams that he's played:

Nova:

21/6/3, 9/18 shooting (first college game ever)

UCONN:

25/6/0 plus 2 steals, 8/14 shooting

Clemson:

28/9/6, 9/17 shooting

Tech:

13/3/1 and a steal, 6/17

Arizona:

24/4/5 and a steal on 6/24 but hit 11 FTs

Kansas:

17/1/1 on 6/12 shooting

Houston:

28/8/4 on 9/14 shooting

He lit up both of the best defenses he has played.

Peterson's worst games were against Colorado and Utah and he also struggled a bit against Tech. You can't just assume he would have been awesome in all of the games that he didn't play. He didn't play against Duke, Tennessee, UCONN and Arizona.

They're both elite prospects I'm just not sure the perceived gap should completely outweigh the question marks. And AJ is at least 3 inches bigger with a comparable skillset.

yeah it would be very hard for me to get over Peterson's lack of availability if I had to pick between him and Dybansta. maybe if the Pacers win the #1 pick they could justify it since their team is already established and they can afford to take a risk, but I can't really see why any other team wouldn't take the guy you know will actually be available.

• 
• The Field of 68 @TheFieldOf68

John Calipari reveals postgame that Darius Acuff was in a walking boot for two days prior to tonight's 49-point effort 😳

"I said, you think you might have to miss this game? And Darius said, 'Are you nuts?'"

(🎥: @HawgBeat)

• 3:38 AM · Feb 19, 2026

Kid's a fuckin G. Making Peterson look like a bitch.

Maybe a little undersized for the NBA but it's crazy how many good freshmen we are seeing year over year now.

Dybantsa was ridiculous again tonight. I still don't understand how you don't just take him first and forget about it.

I think this draft is going to be really rough for some teams that wind up in the top 10 looking back a few years from now. You could tell me the 8th pick winds up the best player and I wouldn't blink.

Edited February 19Feb 19 by ztejas

Oh my Lord.

• 
• Hater Report @HaterReport

Darryn Peterson hit a 3 and IMMEDIATELY asked his coach to sub him out lmaoo

He not beating the allegations 😭💀

• 3:45 AM · Feb 19, 2026

He played 18 minutes tonight. Dybantsa played 39 out of 40 on the road at Zona.

I can't believe draft experts don't see this as a bigger red flag.

Dybantsa looks like he cares about basketball.

Peterson looks like he doesn’t care at all about basketball.

what’s going to be wild is when this turns out to be a brilliantly pragmatic gambit on the part of peterson, with him showing enough tape to keep him at the top of the draft, but turning off so many teams that he can help pick his exact landing spot, where he then plays 82 games per season for the next decade+.

Edited February 19Feb 19 by Derka

If Acuff is a legitimate 6’3” and can play PG in the NBA, he’s big enough. Dropping 49 on the road against a ranked SEC opponent is some crazy shit.

Steph is the obvious comparison, but maybe Acuff is an easier evaluation because he’s played at the highest level in college.

21 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

If Acuff is a legitimate 6’3” and can play PG in the NBA, he’s big enough. Dropping 49 on the road against a ranked SEC opponent is some crazy shit.

Steph is the obvious comparison, but maybe Acuff is an easier evaluation because he’s played at the highest level in college.

Yeah I didn't phrase that well. I didn't mean he's too small to play in the NBA - but that at 6'3" it may limit how high he goes in this year's draft. Flemings and Mikel Brown Jr. are both a little bigger.

• 
• Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing

"There is no team in hell that should grab Darryn Peterson No. 1. You cannot do it. The first ability is availability…And these games that he’s missing, cramps? Flu…I can’t trust him. You cannot be trusted." – Stephen A. Smith

• 3:49 PM · Feb 19, 2026

Feels like Peterson will drop like Ace Bailey, but for very different reasons.

He’s Exhibit 1A on why G League Ignite should still be around. I guess the kid didn’t want to move to Australia.

I openly wonder how many of the games missed are actual injuries or Self sitting him for not practicing.

13 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Feels like Peterson will drop like Ace Bailey, but for very different reasons.

He’s Exhibit 1A on why G League Ignite should still be around. I guess the kid didn’t want to move to Australia.

I openly wonder how many of the games missed are actual injuries or Self sitting him for not practicing.

You don't get a bag if you go Ignite. Or ABL.

Kid wanted the money, got it, thinks he's the shit and that he's displayed enough to go #1 regardless. He may be right.

He's made himself extremely unlikeable in the process and has given himself a lot to prove from a character standpoint from day 1 in the league.

Serious Ben Simmons vibes.

4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

You don't get a bag if you go Ignite. Or ABL.

Kid wanted the money, got it, thinks he's the shit and that he's displayed enough to go #1 regardless. He may be right.

He's made himself extremely unlikeable in the process and has given himself a lot to prove from a character standpoint from day 1 in the league.

Serious Ben Simmons vibes.

Mostly agree. Kansas probably gave him $2 million+. Probably more. UK allegedly spent north of $20 million on their current roster.

13 hours ago, ztejas said:

You don't get a bag if you go Ignite. Or ABL.

Kid wanted the money, got it, thinks he's the shit and that he's displayed enough to go #1 regardless. He may be right.

He's made himself extremely unlikeable in the process and has given himself a lot to prove from a character standpoint from day 1 in the league.

Serious Ben Simmons vibes.

NIL makes one and done seem outdated. Rip the bandaid off.

• 
• Owen Chapman @_OwenChapman_

Dybantsa on his motor (played all 40 minutes tonight): “If they need me to play 40 minutes, I’ll play 40 minutes.”

• 6:27 AM · Feb 22, 2026

who would you take at this point if you had to choose between the two: boozer or peterson?

Seeing recent buzz for Swain in the lottery. Go get the bag young man.

On 2/22/2026 at 9:16 AM, Derka said:

who would you take at this point if you had to choose between the two: boozer or peterson?

Dybantsa...

But honestly depends on the team. It would be fucking hard to pass on Peterson and his talent, head case/ego and all.

But as a Mavs fan, a front court of Cooper/Boozer would be insane from a basketball IQ standpoint.

On 2/23/2026 at 10:29 AM, Firemans4Horn said:

Seeing recent buzz for Swain in the lottery. Go get the bag young man.

If so Texas needs to start searching the couch cushions for about $15M.

He gone. And he should be. Fantastic player that has really elevated this team and given Sean some breathing room in year 1.

On 2/22/2026 at 9:16 AM, Derka said:

who would you take at this point if you had to choose between the two: boozer or peterson?

Boozer. Easy for me

How Swain’s defense? The only plus perimeter defender I’ve noticed on the current Texas team is Weaver.

On 2/23/2026 at 10:33 AM, Drew said:

Dybantsa...

But honestly depends on the team. It would be fucking hard to pass on Peterson and his talent, head case/ego and all.

But as a Mavs fan, a front court of Cooper/Boozer would be insane from a basketball IQ standpoint.

Can't imagine Peterson's shenanigans going over well with Jason Kidd..

Peterson seems like a perfect kings guy

13 hours ago, ITHorn said:

Can't imagine Peterson's shenanigans going over well with Jason Kidd..

Nope, and I think Dybansta will be the better player unless Peterson all of sudden flips a switch.

STill think Boozer may be the best fit for the Mavs even though they need a PG really bad.

14 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Boozer. Easy for me

Same. He may not reach the heights of Peterson but I think he'll play 15 years and be and All Star/All NBA Calibur player, and next to a guy like Cooper on the Mavs would be insane.