This  year’s college basketball season is headlined by the freshman class. With potential lottery picks Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, and others receiving much of the college spotlight, many have forgotten about Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart.

As a freshman last year, Smart was a consensus All-American. He averaged 15.4 points and 4.2 assists while also grabbing 5.8 rebound a game; very impressive numbers from a freshman. Smart could have easily entered the draft and been a top five pick, but unlike many young players in today’s game, Smart elected to stay at college another year to improve his game.

Despite Smart’s success last year, he has been flying a bit under the radar this season. His Oklahoma State team started out the season ranked number eight, but everyone was engulfed with the opening night match ups featuring four of the top five teams, and the top three recruits in the nation. Most people had probably forgotten about Smart until last week.

Smart absolutely exploded against the then 11^th ranked Memphis Tigers. Smart dropped an astounding 26 points in the first half. He finished the game with a very impressive 39 points, breaking his career record of 28 set last year. This caught the attention of a lot of college basketball fans, and Smart kept their attention by scoring 25 against South Florida six days later. It would be no surprise to see this trend continue for Smart.

Smart has not been quiet about being overlooked either. When asked about Andrew Wiggins before the season began, he responded, “They are saying he is the best college player there is and he has not even played a game yet,” Smart told USA TODAY Sports. “Of course that hypes me up. It is all talk. He still has to put his shorts on one leg at a time like I do. It is all potential. I am not saying he can’t do it. But he has not done it yet.”

Smart’s Cowboys take on Wiggins’ Kansas Jayhawks on January 18^th and March 1^st. Many people are very excited to see these two show down and to see if Smart can back up his talk.

Obviously one cannot blame Smart for being unhappy about being overlooked after all he accomplished last season. I for one am extremely excited to see Smart go nose to nose against Wiggins and the other top recruits and show them that they’re not the kings of college basketball quite yet.