Since the NBA instituted its minimum age requirement in 2005, freshman year of college has become mostly an audition for the nation’s elite basketball talents – a chance for players to showcase their talents and parlay them into top-10 selections (and millions of dollars) in the next season’s draft. It began last season with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant and continues this year with what may be an even deeper class, highlighted by Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, USC’s O.J. Mayo, Indiana’s Eric Gordon, Memphis’ Derrick Rose and UCLA’s Kevin Love. Yet, as freshmen continue to make headlines around the country, Georgetown’s standout newcomer, Austin Freeman, has followed a different path, preferring a quieter route than many of his classmates, one defined more as steady than spectacular. Indeed, it is appropriate that Freeman, who usually appears calm, under control, and soft spoken, has thus far fallen below the radar. “He plays above his age,” Hoyas senior guard Jonathan Wallace told reporters on Thursday. “He knows what to do and knows who needs the ball at certain times of the game. He’s not out there trying to force and make plays by himself. He really has an understanding of the concept of how to play the game, and that helps us out.” Three of the nation’s five top scorers from the BCS conferences are freshmen, with Kansas State’s Michael Beasley sitting atop that list at 24.2 points per game. Joining him in the top five are Indiana’s Eric Gordon, second at 23.5 per game, and O.J. Mayo, fifth at 20.6. Each has missed more shots that Freeman has taken. Rose and Love also join the roster of rookie royalty, but with stronger supporting casts, their numbers are not quite as gaudy (which is saying something for a point guard averaging 14.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists and a center with 16.3 points and 9.9 boards a night). Perhaps most astounding is that NBADraft.net projects that the top seven picks in June’s draft will be college freshman – and that doesn’t even include Mayo or Love, who are slotted 10th and 18th, respectively. While those projections should be taken with a grain of salt, the endorsement of the class of 2011 speaks volumes. (Draftexpress.com is more conservative in its predictions, projecting only the first four picks in the draft to be freshmen.) Freeman is different. Known for his efficiency even before donning the blue and gray, he’s drawn comparisons to Jeff Green for his offensive versatility. Freeman averages 9.3 points on just six shots a contest. After coming off of the bench for the first 10 games of the season, Freeman replaced senior Patrick Ewing Jr. in the starting lineup last Monday against Fordham. “I was just coming in and trying to work hard. Everything’s just fit into place,” Freeman said. “I wasn’t thinking about coming in and starting right away. I was just thinking about working hard.” Freeman’s shot selection and decision making are perhaps his strongest attributes. Of Georgetown regulars averaging 18 minutes or more this season, he has the fewest turnovers. He’s shooting 70.3 percent on two-pointers and 44.8 percent on threes, good enough for a 59 percent clip from the field. While the rest of his team has struggled at the line, Freeman shoots 92 percent. Freeman’s concept of team play was honed, he said, in high school at DeMatha Catholic, where he played alongside a number of future college players. Four of his classmates on the three-time league champion Stags signed with Division I programs: Isaiah Tate to George Mason, Jerai Grant to Clemson, Jeff Peterson to Princeton, and Marlin Cribbs to Mount St. Mary’s. Even as the most talented player on his high school team, Freeman learned that sharing the ball can often be more productive than shooting it. “Just playing with a lot of the players at DeMatha helped me out to show me how to help my team win,” he said. Freeman is surrounded by so many capable upperclassmen that he has not needed to be `the man’ from day one, and still he’s led Georgetown in scoring three times this season. His athleticism is not eye-popping, and yet he finished a close second in last spring’s McDonald’s All-American dunk contest. “At times, he wants to be more aggressive on defense as far as rebounding because he has a lot of athleticism, which he hasn’t exemplified that much,” Wallace said. “We know he can shoot, we know he can score, but he’s a guy that can really get out and defend and rebound when he wants to.” With the Big East campaign set to get underway tomorrow against Rutgers (8-6, 0-1), Freeman’s ability to defend and rebound may be even more important than his ability to score. Starting alongside senior center Roy Hibbert and sophomore forward DaJuan Summers, Freeman is essentially playing the small forward position and must contend with bigger defenders if Georgetown is going to improve its performance on the glass now that play is beginning in what may be the nation’s most physical conference. Even as a starter, Freeman’s minutes are not likely to increase dramatically from the 21.1 he currently averages. The Hoyas boast nine players who can stake a claim to regular playing time, and while league play will likely bring about a bit more unevenness in the rotation, Freeman is not going to average the 30+ minutes like some of the nation’s other top freshmen. What’s more, with Georgetown’s offensive system spreading scoring throughout a lineup that is extremely gifted offensively, Freeman’s statistics are not likely to rival those of a Gordon, Mayo or Rose. But, Freeman can standout in other ways. “He’s a player that if you tell him something once and he kind of looks at you and he understands what you’re telling him and why you’re telling him and how to apply it and does not make the same mistake twice,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “It’s uncanny.” Tip-off tomorrow at the Louis Brown Athletic Center, or RAC, in Piscataway, N.J., is set for 2 p.m.