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The best freshman class ever? Plus, another big NIL lawsuit

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The best freshman class ever? Plus, another big NIL lawsuit

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! I’d retire your number. Inside:

Super Frosh: Yes, maybe the best ever

Just take a look at the NBA rookie class, and you’ll know how good last year’s men’s college basketball freshmen were. Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, is averaging 20 points a game after winning college player of the year last year. His Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel, is second behind Flagg in Rookie of the Year odds (first on The Athletic’s list, though). 

It was a strong freshman class and a strong NBA Draft class. Many experts thought this year’s class would be a step down. As Jim Root explained yesterday, they were quite wrong. 

This year’s freshman class is, in fact, one of the best — and deepest — we’ve ever seen. 

Jim’s story has loads of mind-melting stats, but two that stood out to me: 

  • In both points per game and Box Plus-Minus (an advanced stat more encompassing of overall play), the depth of this freshman class is startling. Twenty-nine freshmen average over 15.0 points per game this year, the most in at least a decade. In BPM, 47 freshmen posted a 6.0 or higher — 0.0 represents the average college player. That’s up from 26 last year.
  • We know the names at the top: AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Cam Boozer (Duke) and Darryn Peterson (Kansas), all candidates to go No. 1 in this year’s draft. But guys below them, including North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. and Houston’s Kingston Flemings, have surprised. Nine of the top 11 prospects on Sam Vecenie’s top 100 board are college freshmen. 

Read Jim’s full story here to see the full breadth of his research. And it’s a nice primer to get ready for tournament season. You can also watch him explain this all by clicking the GIF:

News to Know

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

USA women’s hockey wants to move on
Players from the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team said yesterday they’re looking forward to when the ongoing controversy around President Trump’s comments “blows over,” adding that they felt support from the men’s hockey team throughout the Olympics. It caps a weird week of debate, which we chronicled yesterday. See the players’ comments here.

Cincy sues Sorsby
The University of Cincinnati is suing former quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech this offseason, for a breach of contract. The school is asking for $1 million in damages for violating a multi-season deal. Through a representative, Sorsby informed the school he won’t pay anything. It’s a mess.

More news:

  • Hall of Famer Tony Dungy is “likely out” at NBC as the network revamps its NFL coverage, sources told The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. Read his full report.
  • The Yankees will retire CC Sabathia’s No. 52. He’s the 24th Yankee to earn the honor. I feel old.
  • Sidney Crosby will miss four weeks of NHL action after his injury in the Olympics. Tough.
  • In women’s hoops, No. 8 Michigan beat No. 13 Ohio State in an OT thriller. It could help the Wolverines earn a No. 1 seed.
  • The Lakers hired former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft adviser. Interesting.
  • Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Read more here.
  • USMNT star Weston McKennie was electric in powering an unlikely Juventus comeback on aggregate in the Champions League yesterday, but the effort fell just short. This game was nuts.
  • Jontay Porter, the former NBA player banished for gambling, will play in the USBL.

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

đŸŽ” đŸ€ 🏀: NBA rap lines, ranked

My bedrock music fandom will forever be hip-hop. I grew up burning CDs of Limewire songs or mixtapes downloaded off of DatPiff, primarily focused on Dwayne Carter Jr., aka Lil Wayne. 

Thus, I have been enjoying our NBA and hip-hop series this week. We didn’t get a chance to push it yesterday, but the ranking of hip-hop songs with NBA references unlocked my brain in ways I didn’t anticipate. 

Two notes from me: 

  • Our panel — Jason Jones, Shakeia Taylor and Tony Jones — ranked 24 songs (in honor of the 24-second shot clock) and scored each based on preference for each NBA reference.
  • Jay-Z’s “Encore,” in which Jay raps, “Wearin’ the 4-5, it ain’t to play games with you” after coming out of retirement, just like Michael Jordan, who wore No. 45 during his initial return, only ranks No. 2. A crime, to me. 

Read the full rankings here. Very fun.

Watch Guide

đŸ“ș NBA: Rockets at Magic
7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video
Houston, despite pesky alleged leaked group chats, remains a top-three team in the West while Orlando is straddling the Play-In line with 25 games to go. Good game, with Timberwolves-Clippers following at 10 p.m. ET. 

đŸ“ș NHL: Oilers at Kings
10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Pacific Division is a little down right now, but these are still good teams battling for playoff positioning after the Olympic break. The Oilers must solve their center problem if they want to return to the Stanley Cup Final, though.

Get tickets to games like this here.

Pulse Picks

UConn is back as a contender again, especially after last night’s beatdown of St. John’s. Arriving here following its back-to-back title run two seasons ago meant that head coach Dan Hurley needed to change. A lot. 

We have a full NHL trade board up and running with about a week to go before the deadline. See the list here. 

Four of the top NBA minds gathered to come up with the best ideas to stop tanking in the league, which you can read here. Maybe we just start over. 

Remember how the NBA’s 65-game rule for awards was supposed to fix load management? It’s backfiring. 

The family of Tyler Skaggs opened up to Sam Blum about their experience during that awful civil trial against the Angels organization. Worth your time today. 

Kristian Campbell signed a big contract with the Red Sox at just 22 years old. He was the next big thing 
 then ended the year in Triple A. I loved this story on Campbell’s offseason of growth. 

A lesson the NHL can take from the Olympics: Maybe we should switch to a 3-2-1-0 standings format. Sean McIndoe explained why. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Jerry Brewer’s column on USA men’s hockey “losing the room,” which caused quite a stir. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝

đŸ“« That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.

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