Freshmen carry full loads of hope. (Insider: college basketball).

Among the many dangerous side effects of expanded recruiting coverage--successful coaches fired for failing to sign big-name prospects, players gaining an unreasonable opinion of their abilities--is the expectation every significant prospect immediately will achieve extraordinary success.

A year ago, THE SPORTING NEWS published a consensus ranking of the top 50 incoming freshmen. Included were such players as Carlos Hurt (Louisville), Najeeb Echols (Missouri), Pierre Pierce (Iowa) and Dommanic Ingerson (Michigan). None made a dramatic impact on his team.

North Carolina had three of the top 50--Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott--but could not avert a plunge toward an 8-20 finish. Conversely, Michigan State's Alan Anderson and Kelvin Torbert helped avoid a dramatic decline, even though neither became a double-figure scorer.

So as this year's freshmen class unloads into dorm rooms, registers for courses and tries to find the best pizza place near campus, consider that all freshman phenoms will not deliver the same greatness Chris Jackson brought to LSU in 1988. But there will be players who will have a decisive impact on their teams. These guys may not be the best freshmen, but they could be the most important:

Jarrett Jack, 6-3 point guard, Georgia Tech. Having received 37 percent of their points last season as a direct result of Tony Akins' scoring and assists, the Yellow Jackets are papering over a huge hole with a first-year player who has a different style and skill set.

Jack is a power point, most often muscling his man to create opportunities. He is a solid but not spectacular passer. He can make a 3-pointer, but given everything else he'll have to manage as a freshman, he is likely to be marginally productive from long range.

Tech has several dements of a team that could make a major step forward in the ACC. But the Jackets will be delayed for as long as it takes for lack to adapt to running a Division I offense. It could be November. It could be November 2003.