I followed those teams. AC is pretty different from Deron IMO, despite both being excellent facilitators and floor generals. Deron did the freshman things you'd expect, some bad passes from decision-making, poor execution, misreads, or adjusting to the college game. Deron was solid right out of the gate, and had an exceptional feel for the flow of the game. He didn't look out of control like AC does. Deron was downright chubby as a freshman and could drive using his body more than AC has (I'd argue the game allowed more physicality as you go back in time). Deron was also better at creating space both from his physicality and his outside shot. Statistically, Deron was more efficient, but in AC's defense, the competition and schedule are really rough.
All that said, AC is special. In the world of coaching, there are mistakes [good], and then there are mistakes [stupid or lazy]. AC makes plenty of the former, and very few of the latter. He has moments he looks worse than he is, because he attempts things that most guys can't pull off. This is cherry-picking a bit, but AC's first 5 games he had 13 Assists on 16 TOs, which is miserable for a PG* where the benchmark is probably 2. Since then, he's had 70 assists and 33 TO.
I'm really glad he's been given the leash to develop. It's already paying off and will only snowball. I think BU has gotten some criticism at times on this message board because there's some that don't think he lets guys play. But the fact is he's played lots of freshman, so that's complete crap. If you can play smart and contribute, you play, end of story.
*less for a scoring guard like Ayo.