Latest Top-15 Ranking for Men's College Basketball National Player of the Year
Four decades ago, a 7'4" center by the name of Ralph Sampson became the only player in men's college basketball history to win the Wooden Award (national player of the year) multiple times.
This year, a 7'4" center by the name of Zach Edey has been so dominant in the post that it is already just a question of which other four players join him as 2022-23 first-team All-Americans.
As a reminder, team success plays a huge role in NPOY discussions. Not only have all but one Wooden Award winner come from a team that earned a No. 4 seed or better in the NCAA tournament, but the finalists also generally come from AP Top 10 teams.
So, yes, most of these players are from ranked teams. Only one player in our top 10 plays for a team outside the AP Top 15. But a few stat sheet-stuffing machines are loitering with an outside chance at NPOY if their teams can turn a corner.
If you've been following along with our rankings this season, you'll notice we've trimmed the list. It was a top 25 throughout December, went down to a top 20 shortly after New Year's and is now a top 15. We'll pare it down further to a top 10 in early February. (Though realistically, it's already a Top 1 of Edey with a bunch of "if Edey gets injured" honorable mentions.)
Players are ranked on a combination of overall individual production/efficiency and team success.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Johni Broome, Auburn; Antoine Davis, Detroit; Kendric Davis, Memphis; Hunter Dickinson, Michigan; Kyle Filipowski, Duke; Jaelen House, New Mexico; Kris Murray, Iowa; Terquavion Smith, NC State; Jake Stephens, Chattanooga; Isaiah Wong, Miami
Nos. 15-14: Souley Boum and Jalen Pickett
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No. 15: Souley Boum, Xavier (Previous Rank: Honorable Mention)
17.6 PPG, 4.9 APG, 4.4 RPG, 1.3 SPG, 44.4 3P%
All five Xavier starters are averaging at least 10 points per game, but Souley Boum is the biggest reason the Musketeers haven't lost since November.
Well, he's the biggest in the figurative sense. He's actually the smallest member of the starting lineup. But he shoulders the heaviest load, as evidenced late in the Sunday win over Marquette. With the game tied at 68 with a little over three minutes remaining, he scored nine of the Musketeers' final 12 points, including a tiebreaking jumper from the elbow and a perfect 4-of-4 stretch from the free-throw line to ice the lead he gave them.
That came at the end of one of his less productive games, compared to going for 26 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the previous win over Creighton, or the 22-10-6 line at Villanova in the game before that.
Boum had another rough outing in Wednesday night's loss to DePaul, which really just goes to show how pivotal he is to the success of this team.
No. 14: Jalen Pickett, Penn State (Previous Rank: 9)
17.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 7.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 36.2 3P%
Jalen Pickett slips a few spots, not because his play has gotten any worse, but because his team is on the bubble, at best.
As an individual, Pickett has remained sensational. He opened January with three consecutive 26-point performances against Iowa, Michigan and Purdue. He also averaged 8.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists during that three-game stretch. Then he had a lighter-but-still-impressive day of work in last week's win over Indiana, finishing with 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds and just one turnover.
Pickett was, once again, in his bag Tuesday, finishing with a 19-12-6 stat line at Wisconsin. But it wasn't enough to get the W, which is becoming a too-common trend for Penn State in Big Ten play.
Pickett remains on track to join Michigan State's Denzel Valentine (2015-16) as the only players in the past three decades to average at least 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game. He legitimately might be the most valuable player not named Zach Edey.
Nos. 13-12: Trayce Jackson-Davis and Markquis Nowell
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No. 13: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana (Previous Rank: 10)
17.4 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 3.4 APG, 2.9 BPG
Indiana hasn't been able to buy a quality win since the end of November and would be smack dab on the bubble if today was Selection Sunday.
But don't blame Trayce Jackson-Davis. He has scored in double figures in every game he has played and has season-high marks of 30 points, 24 rebounds, 10 assists and nine blocks (in separate games, but still).
During the three-game losing streak against Iowa, Northwestern and Penn State to start 2023, the big Hoosier averaged 20.7 points, 14.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.0 blocks, followed by an 18-12-4-5 line in the win over Wisconsin on Saturday.
Still waiting to see how he fares against Zach Edey and/or Hunter Dickinson, though, while also waiting for Indiana to look like a tournament team.
No. 12: Markquis Nowell, Kansas State (Previous Rank: Honorable Mention)
16.4 PPG, 8.4 APG, 3.0 RPG, 2.3 SPG, 36.8 3P%
Markquis Nowell's year-to-date numbers are doggone good. He and Penn State's Jalen Pickett are the only players who average at least 13 points and seven assists per game, and Nowell is comfortably clear of both of those thresholds.
But what's incredible are the Trae Young-ish numbers he put up during Kansas State's 4-0 start in Big 12 play:
- 23 points, 10 assists, seven steals vs. West Virginia
- 36 points, nine assists, three steals at Texas
- 32 points, 14 assists at Baylor
- 20 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals vs. Oklahoma State
All told, he averaged 27.8 points, 10.0 assists and 3.0 steals while shooting 37-of-41 from the free-throw line. And in the Oklahoma State game, Nowell had the audacity to throw an alley-oop lob to Keyontae Johnson with 40 seconds remaining in a three-point game. It worked. And it worked again late in overtime against Kansas on what otherwise was an off night for Nowell.
Vivid examples of how locked in this lead guard has been lately.
Nos. 11-10: Armando Bacot and Marcus Carr
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No. 11: Armando Bacot, North Carolina (Previous Rank: 13)
17.6 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.2 BPG
Armando Bacot's per-game numbers are out of whack since he played just one minute in the loss at Virginia before leaving with a sprained ankle. He would be at 18.6 points and 11.8 rebounds per game if we removed that blip.
But four days later with the bad wheel that left him questionable until tipoff, he went out and did his usual thing, racking up 14 points and 16 rebounds in 25 minutes against Louisville. He added a 20 and 16 performance against Boston College on Tuesday.
Bacot has tallied 11 double-doubles this season, plus four other games in which he fell one rebound shy of reaching that plateau. He was on fire prior to the ankle injury, scoring at least 21 points in five consecutive contests.
No. 10: Marcus Carr, Texas (Previous Rank: 12)
17.1 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.8 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 40.9 3P%
Marcus Carr always seems to come through in the clutch for Texas.
He made huge buckets late in close wins over Creighton, Rice, Oklahoma and TCU, and he just about single-handedly sparked the second-half comeback against Texas Tech last weekend, scoring nine points in under three minutes to turn a 10-point deficit into a one-point game.
Carr also had the 41-point gem with 10 made triples against Texas A&M Commerce and has recorded both multiple assists and multiple steals in eight games this season.
He is the star of a 15-3 team that is making a serious push back into the conversation for a No. 1 seed. If that's not good enough for the top 10 in an NPOY discussion, what is?
Nos. 9-8: Adama Sanogo and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
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No. 9: Adama Sanogo, Connecticut (Previous Rank: 5)
17.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, 37.9% 3PT
Connecticut has lost four of its last five games, and Adama Sanogo hasn't been the force of nature he was earlier in the season.
He did go for 26 points and nine rebounds against Creighton in UConn's lone win in three weeks, but both Providence and Marquette held him in check before he was outplayed by Joel Soriano in the loss to St. John's.
A big part of Connecticut's national championship allure is that it has nine guys capable of taking over a game. But the Huskies need Sanogo to be the one with a killer instinct when the going gets rough. He hasn't done so lately.
No. 8: Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA (Previous Rank: 11)
16.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.7 SPG, 31.4 3P%
We mentioned in our previous batch of NPOY rankings how much Jaime Jaquez Jr. has improved on the defensive end since last season, and Saturday's win over Colorado was the *chef's kiss* on that front.
Jaquez had five blocks and four steals in bringing the Bruins back from a painfully slow start on offense for a convincing-looking 68-54 victory.
The blocks came out of nowhere. It was a career high for Jaquez and just his third time with at least three rejections in a game. But the overall defensive impact was par for the course, as he has anchored a UCLA team that is allowing 57.1 points during its 13-game winning streak.
Oh yeah, Jaquez is also the Bruins' leading scorer and rebounder while ranking second on the team in assists. He has been their omnipresent leader, and he could make a major push into the top five if he comes close to matching his 23-13-5-4-2 effort against Colorado when the Bruins play at Arizona this Saturday.
Nos. 7-6: Azuolas Tubelis and Oscar Tshiebwe
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No. 7: Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona (Previous Rank: 4)
20.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 47.4% 3PT
Much like Trayce Jackson-Davis at Indiana, you can't blame Azuolas Tubelis for his team's recent struggles.
In the awful home loss to Washington State, Tubelis scored 29 of Arizona's 61 points and grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds. Though he wasn't at his best in the blowout loss at Oregon, he continued his season-long streak of tallying at least 12 points and six rebounds in every game, also recording three assists and two steals.
Tubelis barely averages one three-point attempt per game, but averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game while shooting around 45 percent from three-point range is some senior-year Luka Garza or any-year Doug McDermott type of stuff.
Jaquez could jump into the top five with a big game against Arizona this Saturday, but Tubelis could keep JJJ at bay with a gem of his own in that head-to-head clash.
No. 6: Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky (Previous Rank: 8)
17.3 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 1.3 APG, 1.1 BPG
A little "how the sausage is made" revelation: This was going to publish a day earlier with Oscar Tshiebwe at No. 12, dropping several spots because Kentucky is on the NCAA tournament bubble and because "Big O" had an uncharacteristic four points and six rebounds in the blowout loss to Alabama. However, after realizing that eight of the top 15 players were in action Tuesday, we postponed publishing by a day in case any adjustments needed to be made.
It's a good thing we waited, because Tshiebwe scored a career-high 37 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and had three steals with no turnovers in a win over Georgia.
An outrageously dominant individual performance from the reigning National Player of the Year, putting him right back in the conversation for a repeat.
Tshiebwe has recorded a double-double in 11 of 16 games played, including at least 15 points and 12 rebounds in six of his last seven contests.
In Saturday's massive win for UK, Tennessee tried to have Uros Plavsic face-guard Tshiebwe on rebounding situations to neutralize him. Big O still grabbed 13 boards, Plavsic fouled out in 25 minutes played and Kentucky finished plus-20 on the glass.
It's just a question of whether other Wildcats will show up to help his cause on any given night.
Nos. 5-4: Marcus Sasser and Drew Timme
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No. 5: Marcus Sasser, Houston (Previous Rank: 7)
16.9 PPG, 3.1 APG, 2.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 36.6% 3PT
Marcus Sasser has had a great four-year run in Houston, but he had never scored 30 points in a game until a week ago against South Florida. The Cougars needed all 31 of those career-high points to avoid a disastrous loss to a Bulls team that put up 77 points out of nowhere against an elite defense.
Sasser made six triples against South Florida, added seven more Tuesday against Tulane and is shooting 45.0 percent from deep over his last seven games.
That scoring explosion was unusual. What's much more typical for Sasser is 12-18 points, a few assists and great defense/leadership for what the metrics agree is the best team in the country. But it was good to be reminded that he can put the offense on his back, if necessary.
No. 4: Drew Timme, Gonzaga (Previous Rank: 2)
21.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.4 APG, 0.9 BPG, 0.9 SPG
January has not been kind to Drew Timme or to Gonzaga.
Sure, he has scored in double figures in all four games, and the Zags won all four games. But they barely survived the road games against San Francisco, Santa Clara and BYU before annihilating Portland. And Timme merely shot 44.1 percent from the field and averaged 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists during that four-game stretch.
We didn't expect him to pad his stats in WCC play, but who could have guessed after 10 22-point performances within his first 15 games that he'd still be searching for his first such game in 2023?
He's in the mix for NPOY, but he has some work to do to get back into the top three.
No. 3: Brandon Miller
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No. 3: Brandon Miller, Alabama (Previous Rank: 6)
20.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 46.2% 3PT
Since losing to Gonzaga in mid-December, Alabama has been a wrecking ball, winning seven consecutive games by a combined margin of 146 points while ascending to a projected No. 1 seed for the Big Dance.
Though they've barely needed him, Brandon Miller has continued to deliver stellar performances for the Crimson Tide.
On Saturday, he put up 31 points (on 16 shots) with nine rebounds in the merciless 106-66 drubbing of LSU.
Lather, rinse, repeat for 30 points (on 16 shots) with 10 rebounds as the Crimson Tide won at Vanderbilt.
The freshman phenom also had double-doubles against both Jackson State and Mississippi State and scored 19 in the dominant win over Kentucky.
What else is new, though?
Miller has scored in double figures in every game this season, save for the road game against Houston's outstanding D. He leads the SEC in scoring (next-closest is Arkansas' Ricky Council IV at 18.3 PPG) and trails only Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe and Auburn's Johni Broome in the RPG department.
Miller is an outstanding perimeter shooter with range well beyond the NBA three-point line, and it is some kind of special when he gets into a groove. He'll be one heck of a consolation prize for the NBA franchise that misses out on Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson.
No. 2: Jalen Wilson
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No. 2: Jalen Wilson, Kansas (Previous Rank: 3)
20.8 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, 32.8% 3PT
Where would Kansas be without Jalen Wilson?
The Jayhawks have played in nine games (eight wins) this season decided by six points or fewer, and Wilson has scored at least 16 points in each of those close contests.
KJ Adams Jr. has become the go-to guy when the reigning national champions need a game-winning/game-sealing bucket in the closing seconds of regulation, but Wilson's consistent excellence in close games keeps putting Kansas in a position to let Adams be the hero.
In addition to the scoring, Wilson leads the Jayhawks in rebounds and ranks second in assists. His numbers are even more impressive when you keep in mind Kansas has faced one of the nation's toughest schedules.
Better yet, he saved his signature performance for a night with everyone watching.
Playing at Kansas State on Tuesday in a decidedly hostile environment, Wilson was unstoppable, racking up a career-high 38 points to go along with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.
If KSU had a smaller defender on him along the perimeter, Wilson shot over him. When a bigger defender picked him up, he drove to his right and finished through contact near the rim. He had double-digit two-point attempts, double-digit three-point attempts and double-digit free-throw attempts. A perfect display of how to exploit a constant matchup problem.
Much like Buddy Hield's 46-point special in 2016, Wilson's Herculean effort wasn't enough for his team to win on the road in overtime. But it did give him a boost to remain within shouting distance of Zach Edey.
Another gem against Kentucky on Jan. 28 could really tighten up the race.
No. 1: Zach Edey
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No. 1: Zach Edey, Purdue (Previous Rank: 1)
21.9 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 2.2 BPG, 1.3 APG
In the past two Purdue games, we have seen two very different approaches to dealing with Zach Edey.
On Friday, Nebraska (for the second time this season) did everything in its power to take the 7'4" Boilermaker out of the game, incessantly doubling Edey in the post and daring Purdue to win from the perimeter. Purdue did win both games—though the one in Lincoln went to overtime—and despite just seven field-goal attempts in each game, Edey posted two double-doubles and a combined line of 23 points, 30 rebounds and 11 blocks.
On Monday, Michigan State almost never doubled Edey in the post, more or less daring Purdue to let the runaway favorite for NPOY be the reason it won the game.
That bold strategy worked about as well as expected, as Edey scored a career-high 32 points—including the game-winning bucket with two seconds remaining—and grabbed 17 rebounds.
Damned if you double.
Damned if you don't.
Can't even try to play "Hack-a-Zach" with a guy who makes better than 75 percent of his free-throw attempts.
Edey is an unstoppable difference-maker who has reeled off 10 consecutive double-doubles and a total of 15 in 17 games this season. As long as Purdue remains close to a Top 10 team, it's hard to imagine anyone else wins NPOY.
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