ESPN lists Tennessee's Nate Ament as college basketball's best freshman ... with an asterisk

ESPN listed Nate Ament under an asterisk. While detailing the best and worst moves of the college basketball offseason, Myron Medcalf had Ament as the top freshman … after the top-three recruits in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer. 

“Since 2019, Rick Barnes has coached 11 players who were drafted by NBA teams,” Medcalf wrote. “He knows talent. And he called five-star freshman Ament, a 6-foot-11 small forward, the ‘No. 1 player in the class’ this past April.”

But Ament finished at No. 4 in the Rivals Industry Ranking in the class of 2025, behind Dybantsa at No. 1, Peterson at No. 2 and Boozer at No. 3.

‘Ament’s ceiling is high in a scheme that has produced elite players’

Dybantsa signed with BYU while Peterson is at Kansas and Boozer is at Duke. Ament and Boozer will matchup when No. 18 Tennessee hosts No. 6 Duke in a sold-out exhibition game at Food City Center on October 26 (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2).

“Ament is not as physically ready as the three players ahead of him — Peterson, Dybantsa and Boozer — in ESPN’s latest 2026 NBA mock draft,” Medcalf wrote. “But Ament’s ceiling is high in a scheme that has produced elite players such as Dalton Knecht, Chaz Lanier and Grant Williams in recent years. 

“Ament is big, can play and guard multiple positions, and will continue to grow throughout the season as he begins to understand this level of basketball. His coach will help him get there.”

Ament, alongside Maryland transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, headlined Tennessee’s offseason additions.

The Vols have nine new players on roster in total, after having to move on from seniors Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, Chaz Lanier, Jordan Gainey and Igor Milicic. 

While Gillespie replaces Zeigler, Ament will be tasked with helping replace the production lost from Lanier’s 18.0 points per game during his one-and-done season at Tennessee.

Lanier picked up where Knecht left off in 2023-24, when he averaged 21.7 points per game during his All-American season with the Vols. 

“Barnes has shown a willingness to adapt by allowing his elite players to get the shots they want when they are on the floor,” Medcalf wrote, “rather than being married to a system. 

“That’s how Knecht earned SEC Player of the Year honors two years ago before he was selected 17th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 draft. Ament could follow the same path.”