Updated Player of the Year Rankings for College Basketball in 2015-16

Oklahoma's Buddy Hield is still the obvious No. 1 in our latest ranking of college basketball's Player of the Year candidates, but the only thing clear about Nos. 2-10 is that we're going to need another two months to sort out who is most worthy of being seated in the front row for Hield's Wooden Award acceptance speech.

Veteran leadership has been all the rage during the 2015-16 season, and that's evident in the POY rankings, where LSU's Ben Simmons is the only non-senior in our top eight. Simmons is also the only member of our top seven who isn't playing for a team currently ranked in the Top 15 of the latest AP poll, so he has been special in quite a few ways to currently sit at No. 4 on the list.

Team success isn't heavily factored into our rankings, but we do rank with the knowledge that it's extremely rare for a Wooden Award finalist to come from a team that isn't a serious contender for the national championship.

Essentially, the ranking process boils down to one simple question: If the player was suddenly no longer on the roster, how much of a negative impact would it have on his team's ability to win the title?

With that in mind, we've ranked the 15 players most likely to be named National Player of the Year.

Note: Statistics on the following slides current through the start of play on Monday, January 25.

Honorable Mentions

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Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram, Duke

Two extremely talented players on a painfully underachieving team. It's tough to decide which one is most vital to the team, but it's even harder to argue that either one deserves to be Player of the Year, given the lack of team success.

Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga

See: Duke.

Ben Bentil, Providence

There's no self-imposed rule keeping multiple players from the same team from making the cut. However, there's another Friar in our top five, so it's tough to argue for Bentil if he isn't the best player on his team. It's a lot closer than you might think, though. Providence wouldn't be nearly as good as it is right now without the incredible breakout season Bentil has had.

Monte Morris, Iowa State

Like Bentil, it was tough to rationalize ranking Morris when we already have one of his teammates near the top of the list. But if you're ranking the top five point guards in the country and you don't have Morris on that list, try harder.

Emmett Naar, Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's lost all five of its starters from last season, but this sophomore point guard has been sensational in pacing the Gaels to a 17-2 start. He is averaging 14.3 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 59.7 percent from three-point range.

Pascal Siakam, New Mexico State

I'm a sucker for double-double machines, and Siakam is a scoring and rebounding freight train. He has 18 double-doubles in 21 games and is averaging 22.0 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. If the Aggies were better than 13-8 with so much as a single win against a KenPom Top 100 team, maybe we would take Siakam a little more seriously than this.

Jaysean Paige, West Virginia

It's a shame he only plays 20.9 minutes per game, but Paige is averaging 26.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals per 40 minutes for Press Virginia. He has scored at least 20 in four of seven Big 12 games this season.

Nos. 15-11: Poeltl-Onuaku

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15. Jakob Poeltl, Utah
28.7 MPG, 16.9 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.8 BPG

Can you imagine where Utah would be right now without Poeltl and his drastically improved free-throw shooting? The big man from Austria has been outstanding, and he is a surefire lottery pick in June. However, if you like big men who rack up double-doubles, there are others playing more minutes for more successful teams.

14. Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
33.3 MPG, 17.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.0 APG

Brogdon leads Virginia in scoring, but he hasn't been nearly the efficient-intangibles guy he was in the last couple of seasons. According to Sports-Reference, Brogdon actually ranks dead last in D-rating and effective field-goal percentage among the seven Cavaliers averaging at least 15 minutes per game. Though he's the heart and soul of this team, it might be time to start considering London Perrantes or Anthony Gill for Virginia's seemingly mandatory representation in the POY rankings.

13. Melo Trimble, Maryland
31.5 MPG, 14.5 PPG, 5.6 APG, 2.7 RPG, 1.3 SPG

Trimble outside the top 10 won't be a popular stance, but he hasn't been all that and a bag of chips as of late. In his last six games, Trimble is shooting 25.8 percent from beyond the arc and averaging nearly four turnovers per 40 minutes. The Terrapins need more from their leader if they're to continue being taken seriously as a title contender.

12. Josh Hart, Villanova
31.3 MPG, 15.6 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.3 SPG

What's most impressive about Hart is his heart. The 6'5" junior is Villanova's second-best rebounder, arguably its second-best defender, its best interior scorer and one of its best perimeter players. He isn't one of the superstar athletes biding his time until the NBA comes calling, but he plays harder than just about anyone in the country.

11. Chinanu Onuaku, Louisville
23.6 MPG, 10.6 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.0 BPG, 1.1 APG

I love guys who put up great numbers in relatively limited minutes and continue to produce at a similar rate when given a bigger piece of the pie, and Onuaku fits that bill. Louisville's sophomore power forward has recorded a double-double in every ACC game thus far and has really developed into a reliable scorer and defender. There's no way the Cardinals have one of the best defenses in the country without him.

No. 10 (tie): Kay Felder (Oakland) and Jameel Warney (Stony Brook)

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Per Game (Felder): 25.7 points, 8.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals

MVP Performance (Felder): 23 points, 13 assists, eight steals, five rebounds vs. Chicago State (Dec. 28) 

Per Game (Warney): 18.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.1 blocks, 1.7 assists

MVP Performance (Warney): 26 points, 15 rebounds, eight blocks, five assists vs. Princeton (Dec. 5)

AP voters will often use the No. 25 spot in their ballot to show some love to a slightly under-the-radar team that they think is worthy of a spot in the "others receiving votes" portion of the poll, so why can't I do the same with the No. 10 spot in my POY rankings?

Will Kay Felder or Jameel Warney actually win the POY? Not a chance. Felder plays for a minor conference team that already has eight losses, and Warney plays in one of the worst conferences in the country.

But that doesn't change the fact that these guys have been incredible as the anchors of their respective rosters.

Felder at least got a fair amount of national recognition in the overtime loss to Michigan State, but did you know that he has scored at least 20 points in every single game this season? Or that he currently ranks second in the nation in points per game and first in assists per game? He opened the season with five straight games of at least 20 points and 10 assists, and he has barely slowed down since.

Meanwhile, Warney is fifth in the nation in blocks per game and tied for seventh in double-doubles with 12 of them. The senior forward is on pace to finish his career with at least 2,100 points, 1,200 rebounds and 250 blocks. Those aren't quite Tim Duncan numbers, but he has been one of the most consistently solid big men in each of the past four years. He deserves at least a little bit of recognition for an outstanding career.

No. 9: Tyler Ulis, Kentucky

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Per Game: 15.3 points, 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 16.9 points, 6.6 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals

MVP Performance: 20 points, 10 assists, six steals, three rebounds vs. Ole Miss (Jan. 2)

Kentucky has had its problems this season, but certainly not because of anything Tyler Ulis has done. Rather, he's about the only reason the Wildcats haven't completely fallen to pieces.

Over the last eight games, Ulis has averaged 38.0 minutes, 19.4 points and 6.9 assists against just 1.9 turnovers per contest. He has at least five assists in each of those games and has scored at least 17 in all but one.

His three-point stroke (30.5 percent on the season) isn't anywhere near as lethal as it was last year (42.9 percent), but he is slowly improving and has been much deadlier both inside the arc and at the free-throw line this season.

"He's really got everything," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings told Jon Hale of the Courier-Journal on Saturday after Ulis led the Wildcat assault against his team. "He actually utilizes his size to his advantage. He creates advantages with his stature. That's a unique skill."

If Kentucky can get back on the right track and climb back into the Top 10 of the AP poll, Ulis will almost certainly become a finalist for the Wooden Award.

No. 8: Gary Payton II, Oregon State

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Per Game: 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.4 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 20.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.8 steals

MVP Performance: 22 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, four steals, one block vs. USC (Jan. 24)

Two things are keeping Gary Payton II from getting more respect in the national media's POY rankings:

1. His teammates have been inconsistent at best with their support, and he's not nearly as selfish as he should be on this roster. Payton had 26 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals earlier this month against Colorado, but the Beavers lost the game by a 17-point margin because the rest of the team shot 10-of-41 from the field and 6-of-13 from the free-throw line while corralling a combined total of 18 rebounds.
2. Providence's Kris Dunn is playing the same game as Payton, and doing it a bit better for a team that has had much more success.
3. (He plays on the West Coast, and you're delusional if you think there isn't an East Coast bias in college basketball.)

But Payton is playing exceptionally well and is a phenomenal dunker for a 6'3" dude who is renowned for his ability to force turnovers. If he was a bit more efficient with his shooting stroke (65.4 percent from free-throw line, 30.3 percent from beyond the arc), he would probably crack our top five.

No. 7: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State

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Per Game: 18.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.1 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 23.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.3 steals

MVP Performance: 29 points, 12 assists, 12 rebounds vs. Kansas (Nov. 17)

By far the biggest dilemma in these rankings was deciding what to do with Denzel Valentine.

He was clearly the favorite for the Wooden Award before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee, but he struggled a bit against Florida and Northeastern before the procedure, missed four games while recovering from it and needed a couple of lackluster games against Penn State and Iowa to get back up to speed.

Valentine looked great in Saturday night's win over Maryland, and his stat line—19 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists—was very much in line with what he was doing early in the season.

However, even if Michigan State makes it all the way to the national championship and plays 40 games, that eight-game stretch represents 20 percent of the season where he either wasn't playing or wasn't playing very well. Would an NBA or MLB player be able to win the MVP after throwing away an entire month of the season?

It's certainly not impossible, but it does seem like he has more to prove than the guys on the remaining slides.

If Valentine puts up one or two more triple-doubles, he'll almost certainly be right back at the top of the list. For now, though, 13 good-to-great games isn't quite enough for a spot in our top five.

No. 6: Georges Niang, Iowa State

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Per Game: 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists

Per 40 Minutes: 23.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.1 steals

MVP Performance: 31 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, one steal vs. Buffalo (Dec. 7)

When Iowa State lost to UAB in the 2015 NCAA tournament and Georges Niang wasted little time in confirming that he would be coming back for his senior year, Iowa State instantly became one of the favorites to reach the 2016 Final Four.

"I think they measure his vertical leap in sheets of paper, but so what? He knows how to play," said ESPN's Jay Bilas of Niang during Monday night's win over Kansas.

He is one of the most versatile and unstoppable offensive weapons in the country. There are plenty of big men who can shoot the three, some who can consistently make their free throws and a couple who are just as good at setting up teammates as they are at creating their own buckets, but no one has the total package quite like Niang.

Best of all, he's having by far the most efficient season of his career.

Basically, pick any statistic on Sports-Reference.com, and he has been better than ever. True shooting percentage, effective field-goal percentage, O-rating, D-rating, win shares per 40 minutes, rebounding percentage, turnover percentage, player efficiency rating and box plus/minus are all significantly better than any of his first three seasons. He is even doing a better job on the defensive end with career highs in steal percentage and block percentage—though the bars certainly weren't set too high there.

Defensive effort has always been the biggest issue with Niang (and Iowa State in general), but he has elevated his game to a whole new level on both ends of the court. As long as he keeps playing like this, Iowa State should still be one of the top Final Four candidates this March.

No. 5: Kris Dunn, Providence

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Per Game: 17.0 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds, 2.9 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 21.1 points, 8.8 assists, 7.6 rebounds, 3.6 steals

MVP Performance: 22 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, seven steals vs. NJIT (Nov. 23)

Once a mortal lock for a spot in the top three, Kris Dunn hasn't been playing all that well as of late—by his standards, at any rate.

Early on in the season, it seemed he had nipped his career-long turnover bug in the bud, but he has turned the ball over at least four times in all six games in January. He entered Sunday's overtime win over Villanova with 25 assists against 25 turnovers in his previous five games.

On the bright side, his three-point stroke has been unexpectedly excellent over the past month, as he is 18-of-35 (51.4 percent) from beyond the arc since returning from a two-game absence caused by a stomach virus.

But the turnovers have to go, because with Dunn coughing up the ball like this, it's becoming difficult to argue that he's the most valuable player on his own team, let alone in the country. One or two more games with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio and it might be Ben Bentil representing Providence in the world of POY debates.

No. 4: Ben Simmons, LSU

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Per Game: 19.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.0 blocks

Per 40 Minutes: 23.1 points, 14.8 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.1 steals, 1.2 blocks

MVP Performance: 36 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, one block, one steal at Vanderbilt (Jan. 2)

LSU has made some progress in winning eight of its last 11 games, but Ben Simmons' Player of the Year campaign has been damaged by the Tigers' lack of team success. He certainly belongs somewhere in the middle of the top 10, but it's impossible to put him any higher than this, because the top three teams in the country are represented in the top three spots.

Having said that, there's no denying how remarkable this freshman has been.

The SEC is far from the best conference in the country, but in case you thought he was doing well against a dreadful nonconference schedule, Simmons has averaged 20.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game through seven conference tilts. It seems likely that Michael Beasley's NCAA record of 28 double-doubles as a freshman will live to see another year, but Simmons does have 13 in just 19 games.

One of the few games in which he didn't have a double-double, though, was this past weekend in one of his best games of the season. Simmons had 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in a crucial road win over Alabama.

"They stepped back a little bit, but once I started hitting the jump shot, they had to respect me and come out," Simmons told reporters after the game, per Michael Casagrande of AL.com. "There's only so much they can really do once I started attacking."

Isn't that the story of the year, though? How much can anybody do once Simmons starts attacking?

No. 3: Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa

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Per Game: 18.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.0 blocks, 1.3 assists

Per 40 Minutes: 25.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 1.7 assists, 1.1 steals

MVP Performance: 32 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, one assist, one steal at Iowa State (Dec. 10)

If you haven't been watching Iowa play this season and you're thoroughly confused by Jarrod Uthoff ranking this high on the list, try to imagine a version of Kyle Wiltjer who shoots better from three-point range, almost never commits turnovers and averages three blocks per game.

Better yet, picture 2015 Wooden Award winner Frank Kaminsky with more of a commitment to defense.

Georges Niang might be the best total offensive package among power forwards, but no big man in the country has a better all-around game than Uthoff.

In 205 minutes of action in January, Uthoff has committed a grand total of one turnover while averaging 21.7 points per contest and shooting 53.3 percent from three-point range. A lot of Hawkeyes have played well during their nine-game winning streak, but this guy has been plowing through the Big Ten like a wrecking ball.

"He's really an amazing player," head coach Fran McCaffery told USA Today's Nicole Auerbach. "He can do it inside. He can do it on the perimeter. He can do it in transition. We can run sets for him, and nothing seems to rattle him. We feel like, if he's open, everything's going in."

No. 2: Brice Johnson, North Carolina

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Per Game: 16.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.3 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 25.6 points, 15.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.0 blocks, 1.9 steals

MVP Performance: 39 points, 23 rebounds, three blocks, three steals, one assists at Florida State (Jan. 4)

If you don't like Brice Johnson in this spot, you likely haven't realized how little his supporting cast has done during North Carolina's 11-game winning streak.

Marcus Paige is 1-of-22 from three-point range in the last four games. Outside of a 13-point performance against Clemson, Theo Pinson has been an absolute ghost since Paige returned from a broken hand. Kennedy Meeks missed the first seven games of the winning streak and only played well in the win over NC State. Justin Jackson is shooting 38 percent from the field in ACC play.

Then there's Johnson.

The senior forward has averaged 19.5 points and 11.0 rebounds during the current winning streak. In those 11 wins, he has been named the MVP seven times by KenPom.com—and there arguably should have been an eighth, as it was Johnson's eight assists against Syracuse that kept putting Isaiah Hicks in position to score an MVP-worthy 21 points.

The Tar Heels could have struggled with Meeks sidelined for nearly a month, but Johnson simply refused to let that happen. He has unquestionably been the most important player on arguably the best roster in the country. If that isn't enough for serious POY consideration, what is?

No. 1: Buddy Hield, Oklahoma

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Per Game: 25.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals

Per 40 Minutes: 30.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals

MVP Performance: 46 points, eight rebounds, seven assists at Kansas (Jan. 4)

Last year, the Player of the Year debate was a spirited one for almost the entire season as Jahlil Okafor and Frank Kaminsky one-upped each other over and over again all the way to the national championship.

This year, however, it certainly feels like everyone but Buddy Hield is fighting for silver.

Of course, that's also how it felt in mid-December before Denzel Valentine's knee surgery, so I suppose there's still plenty of season left for this race to tighten up.

But if you watched Hield in Oklahoma's win over Baylor on Saturday, it's clear he is showing no signs of slowing down. He sat out much of the first half because of early foul trouble, but he exploded after the intermission with a plethora of beautiful catch-and-shoot three-pointers.

The NBA has Stephen Curry, and we have Buddy Hield—each of whom makes at least a couple of shots per game to which the opposing fanbase can merely throw its hands in the air and mutter, "Of course he makes that."

Turnovers have been his weakness in Big 12 play—a total of 31 in just seven games—but Hield has more than made up for it by averaging 26.9 points per game and shooting better than 50 percent from three-point range while playing against the best conference in the country.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.