We here at CBS Sports have once again teamed up with the United States Basketball Writers Association and its Integris Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award, meaning our weekly feature on the best freshman in the country will work hand in hand with the Tisdale committee and the USBWA. The winner of the award will be announced in March, while a ceremony for all USBWA honors will take place in early April. Each week we will provide a look at the best freshman for the previous week, followed by our top 10 overall freshman rankings as we see them at this point in the season.

Freshman of Week: Shamorie Ponds, St. John's

The slowest week of the season has come and gone, and with that, we have a clear-cut winner for the latest winner of Freshman of the Week.

St. John's went to Syracuse and delivered one of the most shocking final scores the sport has seen in the past 10 years. Maybe longer. In fact, in terms of gambling lines, it's been nearly 17 years since an underdog won by a bigger margin than SJU's 93-60 walloping of the Orange on Wednesday.

A big part of that outcome was Shamorie Ponds, who's been good all year but toiling in Queens while his team has been medicore. Against Cuse he had his biggest game of the season: 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds, four steals, one block and no turnovers.

Ponds earned Big East Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season because of the performance. Ponds is top-10 in Big East scoring and his 17.2 points average is top-six among all freshmen in college hoops.

Because of this outing combined with a really strong statistical season, Ponds has also entered our Frosh Watch rankings. It's pretty hard to deny him at this point, even if his team is below .500. Remember, Freshman of the Year doesn't correlate to team success (or lack thereof). With that in mind, let's see the shakeup in the rankings.

shamoriepondsfroshoftheweek.jpg
Ponds and the Johnnies stunned Syracuse last week. USATSI

Here are the top 10 freshmen performers in college basketball through the first six weeks of the season.

10. Justin Patton, Creighton

Last week: Unranked

12.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.6 blocks, 76.9 2-pt%, 137.1 ORtg

Patton cracks the list, and in the process boots Michigan State's Miles Bridges, who has been good (16.6 points, 8.8 rebounds), but he's also missed enough time to warrant others breaking into the top 10. Patton is certainly worthy. This isn't a prerequisite for the Frosh Watch, but you'll notice almost all the candidates on this list are on teams with extremely good records. That's a very good sign for college hoops. Creighton's still undefeated (12-0), and Patton has been awesome. A 137 offensive rating for a 7-footer is bonkers. You haven't seen him much yet (if you have at all), but I assure you he's been playing like one of the 30 best players in America -- and that's while sharing the floor with Marcus Foster and Mo Watson Jr., who are also in that top-30 company.

Here's Patton going to work against Wisconsin earlier this season. Tempting stuff!

9. Shamorie Ponds, St. John's

Last week: Unranked

17.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.8 steals, 47.9 2-pt%, 42.7 3-pt %, 121.5 ORtg

St. John's is 6-7, but the expectation coming into this season was that Ponds would be a stat sheet stuffer. He's proving to be just that. He's gone for 20-plus in five games, and he's averaging 33.1 minutes per. He's also not turning the ball over (1.9 per game) at an unreasonable rate. Who knows if St. John's can do any damage in the Big East, but Ponds is making the team entertaining at the very least. If he keeps up his play from the past five games, no one will be able to bump him from the top 10. But the consistency is the question, and will he get enough help around him?

8. Lauri Markkanen, Arizona

Last week: No. 8

16.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 52.0 2-pt%, 43.5 3-pt%, 83.3 FT%, 132.8 ORtg

Arizona, No. 18 in the AP poll, is somewhat quietly an 11-2 team, and a lot of that is owed to Markkanen, who continues to be a matchup issue for a lot of teams. He's a lithe 7-footer with some muscle to his game who can step out and sink two or three treys per contest. Arizona rolled to a 77-46 win over New Mexico (the Lobos have some big problems, it seems), and Markkanen went for 13 points, nine rebounds and a pair of dimes and blocks. Be on the lookout this week, as Markkanen will play on the road against Ivan Rabb of Cal and Reid Travis of Stanford. Two different players, but both in the mix to be First Team All-Pac-12.

7. Malik Monk, Kentucky

Last week: No. 6

21.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, 58.8 2-pt% 39.4 3-pt%, 121.6 ORtg

Monk scored 16 points but did not have a good game in the loss to Louisville. He was 6 of 17 from the field and went 1 for 9 from deep. Everybody went rightfully nuts over Monk's 47-point performance against UNC, but the reality is he's been an inconsistent shooter ever since he hit the big recruiting scene. Monk also had four fouls and three turnovers in 29 minutes vs. Louisville. He's still unquestionably in the top 10, but a step back this week is deserved when you look at his performance vs. other freshman through more than a third of the regular season

6. Dennis Smith, Jr., NC State

Last week: No. 7

18.9 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.7 RPG, 1.8 steals, 48.6 2-pt%, 38.5 3-pt%, 114.3 ORtg

Smith had 23 points, six assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks in NC State's 89-57 win over McNeese State last week. I've been saying it for a few weeks now: Smith is having the best season that nobody's paying attention to. With ACC games on tap, that is sure to change in the next two weeks. Right now, he's right on Josh Jackson's heels for top-five status. Smith is a two-way player; if he can get his turnover rate down from 2.8 per game to about 2.0, the Wolfpack will become even more well-rounded.

5. Josh Jackson, Kansas

Last week: No. 5

15.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.6 steals, 1.5 blocks, 58.8 2-pt%, 111.6 ORtg

Jackson shares a trait with another top-five player in that he's far from automatic from 3-point range. But otherwise, he's been very good. He ranks in the top 10 of the kPOY formula (Frank Mason III is ahead of him) and has managed to continue being productive while KU's feasted on opponents more likely to play in the NIT than NCAAs. In the Jayhawks' 71-53 win at UNLV on Thursday, Jackson had 21 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes. It was also his first zero-assist game of the season. Had he been able to dish up five or six dimes (he's a good passer), I think I'd have him No. 4 on the list.

4. T.J. Leaf, UCLA

Last week: No. 4
17.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.2 blocks, 69.5 2-pt%, 50.0 3-pt%, 133.4 ORtg

Leaf is the only freshman in America averaging more than 17 points and nine rebounds per game. He's sharing space with Lonzo Ball for Player of the Year talk, too. Leaf has a legitimate case to the top 12 of that discussion, When you reduce the pool to just freshman, he's a no-brainer pick to be in anyone's top five. Things get interesting this week, as UCLA plays at Oregon (what a game!) on Wednesday night, then follows it up at Oregon State on Friday. The Bruins will almost definitely win over the Beavers, but that first game against the Ducks sets up something that could help decide the Pac-12. Yes, on the first night of Pac-12 play, if UCLA is able to win at Oregon, many will think the league's title will be decided then and there.

3. De'Aaron Fox, Kentucky

Last week: No. 3

16.3 PPG, 6.8 APG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 steals, 49.6 2-pt %, 33.0 assist rate, 112.3 ORtg

I want to move Fox back up to the No. 2 spot, but one thing is stopping me: He cannot make 3-pointers. It's strange. Fox has taken 26 treys through 12 games and has made only four of them. It's seriously hurting his offensive rating at KenPom. He's still Kentucky's most valuable player. He's the Cats' best player. He went for 21 points (and had four turnovers) in the loss at Louisville. He'll stay at No. 3 for now. If the 3-point shooting comes, look out.

2. Lonzo Ball, UCLA

Last week: No. 2

13.7 PPG, 8.3 APG, 5.8 RPG, 1.5 steals, 67.3 2-pt%, 43.3 3-pt%, 131.9 ORtg

UCLA had just one game since last week's Frosh Watch. Ball went for seven points, five rebounds, four assists, three blocks, a steal, three fouls and a turnover in UCLA's non-conference wrapup game, an 82-68 home win over Western Michigan. It was one of the poorer offensive outings for UCLA this season, and I don't know if Ball will have many more "underwhelming" efforts this season, either. He played 37 minutes, surprisingly enough, which tells you how much Alford thought he needed Ball's D. Ball is averaging 35 minutes per game, among the highest for any freshman this season.

1. Markelle Fultz, Washington

Last week: No. 1.

22.o PPG, 6.2 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.8 steals, 51.7 2-pt%, 46.8 3-pt%, 121.2 ORtg

Fultz's numbers dropped across the board in the past week after he averaged 16.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steals in Washington's wins over Cal Poly and Seattle. But the numbers are still good enough on the whole to keep Fultz in the top spot. He's been our No. 1 overall freshman producer since the start of the Frosh Watch three weeks ago. He's not guarantee to hold on to it, but barring injury, Fultz's numbers and necessity to Washington's offense make him a lock to be a top-five finisher in the Watch this season.

Previous FOTW winners:

Dec. 6: T.J. Leaf
Dec. 13: Jayson Tatum
Dec. 20: Malik Monk