Every season in men's college basketball, a bunch of breakout stars alter both the national landscape and the NBA draft pool.

While not everyone on this list will be a first-round pick in 2025, they've made colossal leaps in production through the first few weeks of the current campaign.

Every player in our top 10 is averaging at least twice as many points as last season—most of them are more than tripling their average output from 2023-24—and every team represented currently ranks in the top 70 on KenPom, which is unofficially "NCAA tournament consideration" range.

In other words, each of these players could be a major factor in March after making little to no impact on the national radar one year ago.

Statistics are current through the start of play on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Players are presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Jaylen Blakes, Stanford

2023-24 Stats (at Duke): 1.8 PPG

2024-25 Stats: 14.3 PPG, 5.3 APG, 3.2 RPG, 2.3 SPG

Over the past three years, Jaylen Blakes appeared in 84 games with the Duke Blue Devils, but the former 3-star recruit was never going to be a featured part of that superhighway to the NBA.

Even when he did play, he barely got the ball in the offensive half of the court, primarily in the game for the tenacity he could bring on defense.

But at Stanford, he's maybe the most talented player on the roster, tasked with both running the offense and spearheading the defense.

Blakes had scored in double figures just four times in his time with Duke, but he did so in each of his first five games at Stanford.

In the narrow road win over Santa Clara this past Saturday, Blakes racked up 10 assists before hitting the tie-breaking, game-winning bucket with two seconds remaining. And that came in the first game this season in which he failed to score at least a dozen points.

The jury is still out on whether the Cardinal is a legitimate threat to reach the NCAA tournament for what would be the first time since 2014, but Blakes has played a massive role in getting this team out to a rare 6-0 start.

It's all reminiscent of a few years back when Semi Ojeleye left Duke after two years of barely seeing the floor, before breaking out in a huge way for what ended up being a 30-win SMU team.

Zuby Ejiofor, St. John's

2023-24 Stats: 4.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.1 BPG

2024-25 Stats: 12.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.6 BPG, 1.1 SPG

Two years ago, Zuby Ejiofor was a top 50 recruit who just could not find his way into Kansas' regular rotation.

So, he transferred to St. John's, where he did play more in 2023-24, but only about 11 minutes per game as the backup to primary big man Joel Soriano.

Now that Soriano is out of the picture, though, it's Ejiofor's time to feast.

He always had good rebounding and block rates, but you never quite know if that's going to hold up through a substantial uptick in playing time.

It has for Ejiofor, though.

He had scored in double figures just once between his first two seasons, but he already has two double-doubles this season, as well as two games in which he scored 22 points each.

We're not talking garbage-time contributions against weak opponents, either. Rather, Ejiofor went for 22 and 10 with five blocks in the double-OT loss to Baylor, 22 and eight with three steals in the recent loss to Georgia and had a 13-point double-double in the win over New Mexico.

Just in the past four games, Ejiofor has accounted for 23 offensive rebounds, asserting his authority in the paint. He also has committed 19 turnovers in his last five games, though, and getting that under control will be key moving forward.

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue

2023-24 Stats: 6.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.9 APG

2024-25 Stats: 17.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.7 APG

It is in no way surprising that Trey Kaufman-Renn has taken on a bigger role in Purdue's offense now that Zach Edey is out of the picture. That's nearly 1,000 points and 500 rebounds just from last season that the Boilermakers had to figure out how to replace—not to mention Lance Jones running out of eligibility, Mason Gillis transferring to Duke and, unfortunately after just one game, losing freshman big man Daniel Jacobsen to a season-ending injury.

It is remarkable how much of that slack has been picked up by TKR, though, as it's not like he was Edey's backup last season.

Kaufman-Renn started all 39 games at power forward for Purdue in 2023-24, but was essentially one half of a glue-guy tandem, along with Gillis. The other four starters each averaged at least 10 points per game, but TKR's job was mostly to stay out of Edey's way while grabbing a good number of rebounds.

Now, he's the frontcourt star.

Kaufman-Renn has scored at least 14 points in each of Purdue's six games, including going off for 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the marquee win over Alabama.

And he's pretty much a one-man show in the paint for the Boilermakers, between losing Jacobsen and not getting the type of bump in production from Will Berg or Caleb Furst that we expected to see.

Nick Martinelli, Northwestern

2023-24 Stats: 8.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 0.5 SPG, 27.1 3P% on 1.4 attempts per game

2024-25 Stats: 23.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.3 SPG, 66.7 3P% on 2.0 attempts per game

For Northwestern to have a realistic shot at getting back to the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive year, we knew that Nick Martinelli would need to make a considerable leap—beyond the modest step-up in production he made last season after replacing the injured Ty Berry in the starting lineup in early February.

That's because the Wildcats needed to adjust to life without their do-it-all leader Boo Buie, as well as key three-point weapon Ryan Langborg. And while Berry did use his COVID year to return for one more season, there was no telling how well he would play in his return from a torn meniscus. (Thus far: Not great.)

Fortunately for Northwestern, Martinelli has answered the call with a Jaedon Ledee-like explosion from "key sixth man" to "might lead the nation in scoring."

Though Northwestern collapsed in a huge way in the second half and lost the game, Martinelli went for 32 points and 14 rebounds in the early loss at Dayton, with that gem coming a few days after he put up 26 and 10 in the opener against Lehigh. He has scored at least 20 points in five of six games, and will be pivotal in Northwestern's attempt to win the Arizona Tip-Off later this week against Butler and probably Mississippi State.

Ben Middlebrooks, North Carolina State

2023-24 Stats: 5.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 0.8 SPG

2024-25 Stats: 11.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 1.6 SPG

At the beginning of last year's miracle run to the Final Four, Ben Middlebrooks put on a show with 21 points off the bench against Texas Tech.

It came seemingly out of nowhere, though, and it wasn't exactly a sign of things to come from him in that month. During their next four games, Middlebrooks had a combined total of 15 points (and 13 fouls) while DJ Burns Jr. became the star that everyone knew by the time the Wolfpack lost to Purdue in the national semifinals.

Burns is gone now, though. So are DJ Horne, Casey Morsell and Mohamed Diarra, all four of whom started in all five games of that Final Four run, leaving quite the void to be filled by both incoming transfers and an uptick in Middlebrooks' production.

He's still coming off the bench behind Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, but playing a big role on both ends of the floor.

On a per 40 minutes basis, Middlebrooks' rebounding rate is almost unchanged, but his scoring, assists and steals rates have all roughly doubled and his block rate has nearly quadrupled.

Take it with the obligatory grain of salt that NC State has played a whole bunch of nobodies thus far, making light work of USC Upstate, Presbyterian, Coastal Carolina, Colgate and William & Mary. But there were plenty of no-name foes in the first two months of last year's schedule, and Middlebrooks never looked like this against them.

Big opportunities on tap for him. NC State with face Purdue and either BYU or Ole Miss in the Rady Children's Invitational, followed by a home game against Texas.

Paulius Murauskas, Saint Mary's

2023-24 Stats (at Arizona): 2.7 PPG

2024-25 Stats: 14.3 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 2.0 APG

Though Paulius Murauskas was almost the highest-rated recruit in Arizona's 2023 class, it quickly became apparent that he wasn't going to be a factor for the Wildcats. He didn't play in either of the November wins over Duke and Michigan State, and ended up not playing more than seven minutes in any game thereafter.

He did average 21.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per 40 minutes, but precisely zero of those stats were accumulated in a game decided by fewer than 18 points.

Was it a legitimate glimpse of things to come? Or just a guy playing with maximum effort while everyone else on the floor had already accepted the game was over?

Considering he is averaging a double-double in his new home in Moraga, seems pretty legit.

Murauskas went for 13 and 13 in the season-opening win over Towson, 23 and 11 a few days later against Chattanooga and then 17 and 15 (plus six assists and three steals) against Akron in the third game of the Gaels portion of his career.

You might think from those numbers that we're talking about a 7'1", true back-to-the-basket center, but Murauskas is a 6'9" wing-forward who takes a fair number of shots from three-point range while also having an impeccable nose for rebounds. And he is thriving alongside fellow Lithuanian Augustas Marciulionis.

Chase Ross, Marquette

2023-24 Stats: 6.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.3 SPG, 0.7 APG, 36.2% 3PT on 2.2 attempts per game

2024-25 Stats: 13.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.5 SPG, 3.2 APG, 50.0% 3PT on 3.3 attempts per game

Kam Jones is the Golden Eagle who has ascended to Marquette's superstar throne previously held by Tyler Kolek, but Jones was already a better than 17 PPG scorer who has blossomed into more of a total package.

Chase Ross evolving into perhaps an even better version of what Jones was for Marquette in 2023-24 has been arguably the bigger development in this team's quest to make its first Final Four since 2003.

Prior to this season, Ross was much more of a scrapper than a budding star, making most of his impact on the defensive end. He could shoot, but at a meager 8.8 field goal attempts per 40 minutes—good for 62nd among the 73 Big East players who logged at least 500 minutes, as well as dead last among Golden Eagles with that much playing time—let's just say that getting touches for Ross was pretty low on Marquette's to-do list.

So far this year, though, he's up to 11.1 FGA/40, and converting at a much better clip on those shots.

Ross has also made massive strides as a passer. Even with Kolek missing six games late last year, Ross had a grand total of four assists in the team's final 10 games. He's practically averaging four now, as well as nearly four steals per game.

Jones had Marquette's first triple-double since Dwyane Wade in 2003, but Ross is probably going to have a few 15-5-5-5 lines by the end of the year.

Devin Royal, Ohio State

2023-24 Stats: 4.7 PPG, 2.4 RPG

2024-25 Stats: 11.5 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.0 APG

To put it lightly, Ohio State had opportunities for advancement this offseason.

Second-leading scorer Jamison Battle and sixth-leading scorer Dale Bonner each exhausted their college eligibility, while Nos. 3-5 on the Buckeyes' 2023-24 scoring list—Roddy Gayle, Zed Key and Felix Okpara—all went elsewhere via the transfer portal.

They did retain top scorer Bruce Thornton, but Devin Royal was the next-most prominent member of the returning cast at a modest 4.7 points in 11.2 minutes per game as a freshman.

Royal's role in Ohio State's 2024-25 offense was far from a sure thing, though, as Jake Diebler hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in all of Aaron Bradshaw, Sean Stewart, Meechie Johnson, Micah Parrish and Ques Glover—not to mention highly touted freshman John Mobley.

In fact, Royal didn't enter the starting lineup until a week ago, and only because Bradshaw is now being held out of all team activities amid an ongoing investigation into a domestic incident.

Starter or sixth man, though, Royal has been impressive thus far, scoring 16 in the season-opening win over Texas and averaging 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds over his last three games. He even hit a pair of triples against the Longhorns after shooting just 3-for-20 from deep in the entire 2023-24 campaign.

Royal is leading the team in rebounds by a considerable margin and ranks third in scoring. And he's doing so for a team that sure looks a lot better than it was a year ago.

Adou Thiero, Arkansas

2023-24 Stats (at Kentucky): 7.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.7 SPG

2024-25 Stats: 18.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 3.2 SPG

Though Adou Thiero averaged better than 20 minutes per game last season at Kentucky, he was never one of John Calipari's go-to guys on offense. In fact, on a per-minute basis, Rob Dillingham averaged nearly twice as many field-goal attempts as Thiero, who was mostly on the court to give the team at least some give-a-darn on defense.

In Fayetteville, though, Thiero has become the star of the show, scoring almost as many points (108) as Johnell Davis and D.J. Wagner combined (109) and leading the team in each of points, rebounds and steals.

To some extent, Thiero was forced into a much bigger role than expected, as both 6'10" Trevon Brazile and 6'11" Jonas Aidoo have barely been able to play or make any real impact due to injury. As a result, Thiero—who was listed a 6'5", 180 lbs. combo guard when he committed to Kentucky—has been deployed as a 6'8", 220 lbs. center on a fairly regular basis this season.

Even once those veteran big men get healthy, there's no putting this toothpaste back in the tube, right?

Thiero has shown he needs to be a major piece of the puzzle from here on out, and it may well be Johnell Davis and/or D.J. Wagner who lose minutes if and when Brazile and Aidoo return to regular availability.

Seth Trimble, North Carolina

2023-24 Stats: 5.2 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.4 SPG, 41.9% 3PT on 0.9 attempts per game

2024-25 Stats: 17.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 53.3% 3PT on 3.0 attempts per game

In Armando Bacot, Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan, North Carolina needed to replace a trio of double-digit scorers from last season.

Jalen Washington and Jae'lyn Withers stepping into a bigger role in the Bacot-less frontcourt was a given, but Seth Trimble's meteoric rise to a major contributor has been a pleasant surprise, considering the Tar Heels added two likely one-and-done freshmen in Ian Jackson and Drake Powell, at least one of whom figured to edge out Trimble for a starting gig.

Lo and behold, Trimble—whose career high coming into the season was just 12 points—put up at least 13 points in each of North Carolina first five games.

That includes what was a career-high 19 in the come-from-behind near victory in the marquee showdown at Kansas, as well as the new career-high 27 in the successful come-from-behind victory over Dayton in the Maui Invitational quarters.

The 6'3" guard hit a pair of corner threes early against the Flyers before doing the rest of his work in the paint, going 8-for-9 on two-point attempts—including three and-one conversions—and corralling 10 rebounds. Fifteen of his 27 points came in the final 12 minutes of UNC's frantic comeback from what was at one point a 21-point deficit.