John Wall #11

The names come tumbling out of his mouth steady and true, as if John Wall wants you to know exactly how much thought he has put into what he's about to say. First come the all-timers: Magic, Isiah, Pistol Pete, Jason Kidd. Then Wall lists today's gold standard: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Derrick Rose. "There are so many great point guards," says Wall, the Kentucky freshman who bestrides college basketball, circa 2010. "I know it's not going to be easy, and it's going to take so much work in the gym and studying the game, but my goal is to be the greatest point guard ever." It's the sort of statement that, voiced by any other 19-year-old on the planet, would draw eye-rolls and maybe even laughter. But halfway into what will almost surely be his only college season, Johnathan Hildred Wall of Raleigh, N.C., is persuading people who know the game that those aspirations shouldn't be dismissed as mere youthful bravado. "I've been around him, and I watch how he works," says Kentucky assistant coach Rod Strickland, who played point guard in the NBA for 17 years. "He wants to be great. When he tells you that, I believe that's seriously on his mind."

Also not laughing is North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose Tar Heels fell to Wall's Wildcats 68--66 on Dec. 5. "A lot of guys say things, but I believe he has the hunger to do that," says Williams, who calls the 6'4", 197-pound Wall the finest point guard he has seen emerge from high school since Kidd, nearly 20 years ago. "He has great size and speed for a point guard, tremendous lateral quickness and an ability to defend, make big plays at crunch time and make other players better. I think the sky's the limit for him." In the fourth season since the NBA's age-minimum rule forced most players with pro aspirations to spend at least a year in college basketball, Wall is the clearest example of a must-see freshman talent (for both college and NBA fans) since Texas's Kevin Durant, who in 2006--07 became the first freshman to be named national player of the year. Wall is on track to be the second, not least because his 17.2 points and 7.3 assists a game had led No. 3 Kentucky to a 15--0 record at week's end. But unlike Durant, who was famously taken behind Greg Oden in the '07 NBA draft, Wall isn't the subject of any debate.