Latest 2023-24 Men's College Basketball National Player of the Year Rankings
Welcome to another installment of 2023-24 National Player of the Year rankings for men's college basketball, otherwise known as the quest to determine who will be invited to sit in the front row while Zach Edey wins his second consecutive Wooden Award.
The race isn't completely over. We've got all of February and half of March still to play before the voting takes place. But it's Edey vs. The Field, with the 7'4" Boilermaker as the clear favorite even in that context.
Who's in the best position to be named to All-American teams, though?
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced its Top 20 Watch List for the Wooden Award, with 13 of those 20 players appearing in this top 15 ranking. (For what it's worth, the other seven are also on our spreadsheet of candidates, which currently stands at a generous 32 players.)
The two players we have here that the Wooden Watch didn't include are Alabama's Mark Sears and Houston's Jamal Shead.
At 20 points per game for a team that has surged into the mix for a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, not including Sears feels like a swing and a miss by the L.A.A.C., but we can agree to disagree on that one.
However, not having Sheadโand instead having teammate L.J. Cryer on the listโis inexcusable. It sure feels like whoever put together this list just said "give me Houston's leading scorer." But we'll get into how great Shead has been for the Cougars, particularly as of late.
For the most part, though, we agreed on the best of the best at a national level.
So, how about some updated rankings?
Players are ranked on a combination of overall individual production/efficiency and team successโthe latter playing a key role, as the NPOY has almost always come from a team that earns a No. 4 seed or better in the NCAA tournament.
(Team success is even a little bit more of a factor than it had been in previous iterations of these rankings, now deep enough into the season that Clemson (PJ Hall), Colorado (KJ Simpson), Memphis (David Jones), Michigan State (Tyson Walker) and Texas A&M (Wade Taylor IV) appear unlikely to play their way up to a No. 4 seed.)
Statistics current through the start of play on Wednesday.
Honorable Mentions
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We started with 16 honorable mentions seven weeks ago, but this portion of the list has now been pared down to just four. This late in the season, it would take something herculean the rest of the way for someone outside this top 15 to play his way up to first-team All-American, let alone NPOY.
Johni Broome, Auburn
15.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.1 BPG, 1.7 APG, 1.1 SPG
Including what Broome is currently doing, there have only been 70 cases in the past 32 seasons of a player averaging at least 15.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game. But while the other 69 each averaged more than 28 minutes played per game, Broome is putting up that slightly absurd stat line on just 24 minutes a night. He has been remarkably efficient for his entire four-year college career, but he is operating at a special level this year.
Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State
20.5 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.2 SPG, 37.9% 3PT
Tuesday night was a double whammy for LeDee's NPOY case. Not only did he have a bit of an off night, but San Diego State suffered its third loss in five games, having already slipped out of the AP Top 25 before that game. The Aztecs would just about need to win out to get back into the mix for a top-four seed. But as one of the biggest breakout stories of the year, you've got to still like LeDee's chances of at least being named a consensus second-team or third-team All-American.
Baylor Scheierman, Creighton
17.8 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 37.9% 3PT
This is more of a "TBD Top Bluejay" placeholder than a specific pick of Scheierman because both Trey Alexander (17.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 4.7 APG) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (16.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.6 BPG) have been sensational, too. Scheierman has only been named the KenPom game MVP once in this entire season. But he's their leading scorer, leading rebounder, best three-point weapon and just generally the guy you expect to come through in the clutch.
Mark Sears, Alabama
20.0 PPG, 3.9 APG, 3.9 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 43.7% 3PT
With wins in eight of their last nine games, the Crimson Tide are back in the AP Top 25 and back to looking good for a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament. That means it's time to start seriously considering Sears for NPOY. However, he is somewhat clearly the third fiddle behind Dalton Knecht and Antonio Reeves in the race for SEC POY, fueled in part by Knecht shining in a 20-point win over Alabama two weeks ago. But Sears torched Auburn for 22 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals, and could gain some ground on Knecht and Reeves by doing the same in the rematch next Wednesday.
10. DaRon Holmes II, Dayton
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Season Stats: 19.4 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.2 BPG, 39.6% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 9
Dayton suffered its first loss in more than two months this past Saturday, and it's no coincidence it came in one of DaRon Holmes II's worst performances of the year. He settled for way too many three-point attempts and later got into foul trouble before finishing with just nine points and eight rebounds.
But can we give him a mulligan in what has otherwise been a dominant run?
In the 10 games leading up to that dud, Holmes averaged 22.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.4 blocks. And in Tuesday's blowout of George Washington, he was back to his usual self, going for 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. (And, notably, attempted zero threes after firing up nine of them against Richmond.)
To be clear, it has been great to see the deep ball become a legitimate part of Holmes' offensive arsenal. He was 7-for-26 from three-point range over the previous two seasons, and adding that element to his gameโwhile also becoming a much more willing passerโhas made him a more well-rounded star and, presumably, a much more attractive NBA draft prospect. He simply tried to overdo it against the Spiders.
The only real question we have here is: Are enough people paying attention to Holmes?
Despite the loss, Dayton appears to still be in good shape for a possible No. 3 seed. But the dream of ascending to a No. 1 seed might be dead, which is perhaps what it would have taken for Holmes to really surge up these rankings.
If he keeps churning out 25-12-4-2 lines, though, he'll continue to get some love from us.
9. Antonio Reeves, Kentucky
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Season Stats: 19.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 43.1% 3PT
Previous Rank: Not Included
It has been overdue, but we officially have a changing of the guard atop the pecking order of Kentucky's NPOY candidates.
Freshman Reed Sheppard wore that crown up until now after a remarkable, better-than-anyone-anticipated start to the year. However, he has been too passive on offense, not scoring enough despite some of the best efficiency marks in the nation. And that opened the door for Antonio Reeves to shoot his way into the top 10.
Before Wednesday night's game against Florida, Reeves was averaging 22.1 points over his last nine games, shooting 51.1 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from distance and 90.7 percent from the free-throw line.
What's bizarre about Reeves, though, is the way he vanishes late in close games, which has damaged his case in these types of rankings.
Yes, the scoring average and the shooting percentages are great, but where are the "Heisman Moments," if you will?
Kentucky has played in eight games this season decided by single digits. And save for missing five consecutive three-point attempts at the end of the Champions Classic loss to Kansas, Reeves has not even attempted a shot in the final two minutesโneither in regulation nor in overtime; neither a field goal nor a free throwโof any of those games.
If you're the type to just flip around to the dramatic finishes on a nightly basis, you might not even realize Reeves is still playing at Kentucky.
He has plenty of opportunity left to change that narrative, with two games against Tennessee and one each against Alabama, Auburn and Gonzaga.
For now, though, until he does something in the clutch, this is as high as we can justify ranking Reeves.
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8. Jamal Shead, Houston
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Season Stats: 12.3 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.9 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 35.6% 3PT
Previous Rank: Not Included
When Jamal Shead was included as an honorable mention in our initial NPOY rankings back in mid-December, he was grouped with Virginia's Ryan Dunn with this explanation: "Defensive wizards and glue-guy extraordinaires, but hard to take seriously for NPOY when under 10 PPG."
Because, yes, at that time, Shead was averaging a modest 9.1 points per game, largely content to rack up steals and assists while letting his teammates do a lot of the scoring.
In the 11 games since then, however, Shead has become Plan A for the Cougars offense, averaging 15.2 points.
Foul trouble limited his playing time in the loss at TCU, but in Houston's four other biggest B12 games against Iowa State, Texas Tech, BYU and Texas, Shead averaged 21.0 points on 18.5 field-goal attemptsโtransforming from "defensive glue guy" into "Kris Dunn 2.0" overnight.
He's still dishing out plenty of dimes, too, resulting in points-assists double-doubles against both Texas Tech and West Virginia. And he is still a fierce first line of defense with at least one steal in each of Houston's 21 games.
It was just the lack of scoring that was previously holding Stead out of our top 10 as we waited to find out who actually is Houston's most valuable player, but not anymore.
If both the Cougars and Shead continue to shine, he could be a consensus first-team All-American, just like Marcus Sasser was last year.
7. Tyler Kolek, Marquette
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Season Stats: 15.0 PPG, 7.2 APG, 4.9 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 38.3% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 7
Say this much for Tyler Kolek: He loves to show up in a big way in his final game before we put out a new batch of NPOY rankings.
Before our initial set of rankings in mid-December, Kolek had a casual 14-7-7 line in a comfortable victory over Notre Dame. In advance of the late-December update, he had a double-double in a blowout win over Georgetown. Three weeks later, Kolek went for 21 points and 11 assists in a home win over Villanova.
But he went over the top this time, exploding for a career-high 32 points with nine assists, six rebounds and three steals in a road win over those same Villanova Wildcats.
Poor 'Nova keeps catching Kolek fresh off a dud against Seton Hall when he's extra motivated to destroy the world. Kolek had two points in a loss to the Pirates before the first game and managed just four points with five turnovers against SHU before Tuesday's matchup, in which he put forth a legendary performance.
No triple-doubles yet, though. He's had four points-assists double-doubles and the occasional game with 7+ rebounds. But, hey, maybe he's saving that magnum opus for one of the games against Tristen Newton and Connecticut (Feb. 17 and March 6).
6. Kyle Filipowski, Duke
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Season Stats: 17.5 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.9 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 37.3% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 4
Kyle Filipowski committing completely unnecessary fouls has been a season-long trend for the Blue Devils, but it has become a legitimate problem in recent games.
In the controversial victory over Clemson, Filipowski finished with just nine points and four rebounds, because he was only able to log 24 minutes before fouling out. And in the win at Virginia Tech on Monday night, "Flip" committed four fouls in 8.5 minutes, subsequently spending a large portion of the final 15 minutes on the bench.
Duke did win both of those games, but it would've been less of a challenge if the big man who had 30 points, 13 rebounds and four assists against Georgia Tech, 26 points and 10 rebounds at Pitt and 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists against Hofstra hadn't taken himself out of commission with infractions.
Filipowski also simply hasn't been playing as efficiently as of late. The Clemson game was especially bad, but he has had four straight games with an O-rating of 106 or worseโthis compared to exceeding 120 in four of the previous five games.
For those reasons, he slips a couple of spots in the rankings.
But, uhh... *clears throat*
I mean... *gestures at calendar*
If Flip goes off in a win at UNC Saturday, that could be a rankings shaker upper.
It would need to be a "Buddy Hield scoring 46 at Kansas" type of unforgettable performance in order for Filipowski to make any sort of serious case for immediately challenging Zach Edey for the top spot. However, a leap to No. 2 in advance of an interesting race over the final month of the season could be in play.
5. Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., Kansas
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Hunter Dickinson's Season Stats: 18.7 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 37.8% 3PT
Kevin McCullar Jr.'s Season Stats: 19.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.5 SPG, 35.6% 3PT
Previous Rank: Dickinson No. 2; McCullar No. 6
Listen, if the Pac-12 can put out a preseason all-conference first team of 10 players and the Big East can do a six-player first team, then we're allowed to temporarily lump these two awesome Jayhawks together in one spot instead of continually trying to argue why one should rank ahead of the other.
Save for McCullar not playing (knee) in Tuesday's destruction of Oklahoma State and Dickinson managing just eight points in the late-December win over Yale, each of these Jayhawks has scored in double figures in every game this season.
And as is evident above, they each do a whole lot more than score.
Dickinson has tallied 12 double-doubles, while also doing a little damage in the assists, blocks and steals departments on a near-nightly basis, a la Oscar Tshiebwe in the previous two seasons. And McCullar had a pair of triple-doubles back in Novemberโstrangely the only games all season in which he had at least 10 rebounds or 10 assists, though he does average a combined 11 per game.
If forced to choose one as a first-team All-American right now, an ever so slight edge to McCullar for his metronome-likeโPerry Ellis-like, reallyโproduction. He has scored at least 16 points in 14 consecutive games played, while only once exceeding 25. He also has at least four rebounds and at least three assists in all but two games this season.
However, the year-end KU pecking order is going to boil down to who takes over more games down the stretch. They're both statistically sensational, but we'll see who has more clutch moments in February. And thus far, Dickinson holds the lead in that department with the last-second game-winner against TCU in Kansas' only game of the year decided by a one-possession margin.
4. Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
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Season Stats: 20.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.8 APG, 40.0% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 10
There's hot.
There's liquid hot magma.
And then there's Dalton Knecht over the past few weeks.
Tennessee suffered a stunning home loss to South Carolina on Tuesday night, but certainly not for lack of production from Knecht. He scored 31 of the Volunteers' 59 points, including each of their final 13, trying to drag them back to victory by his lonesome.
Knecht also had seven rebounds, two assists and no turnovers and was named the KenPom Game MVP in a losing effort for the second time this season.
Ready for the absurd part?
That herculean 31-point effort lowered his scoring average dating back to Jan. 10.
Knecht has now scored at least 25 points in six consecutive games, averaging 31.8 during that stretchโthis coming on the heels of a five-game run in which he scored a combined total of 38 points.
He clearly was not right for the first month or so after injuring his ankle on a 37-point night against North Carolina. He played through the pain, but Rick Barnes limited his minutes and didn't ask him to carry the offense.
But now? He's back to doing the heavy lifting, and efficiently so.
If Knecht had just missed those seven games instead of soldiering through them, he'd be nearly leading the nation in scoring at 25.6 points per game and would be the clear 1B to Zach Edey's 1A for NPOY.
Though, if he goes for 25+ again this Saturday in a road win over Kentucky, maybe he gets to that level anyway.
3. Tristen Newton, Connecticut
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Season Stats: 15.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 32.4% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 5
Coming into the season, most everyone expected Donovan Clingan to be Connecticut's Player of the Year candidate.
But even before "Cling Kong" got hurt and missed a few weeks, Tristen Newton had clearly ascended to that throne, both for his statistical prowess and his ability to shine in clutch moments like he did in a recent win over Villanova.
With 4:30 remaining in the second half against the Wildcats on Jan. 20, AP No. 1 Connecticut found itself in one heck of a battle, tied at 54-54 on the road against a bubble team both desperate for a big win and desperate to avoid yet another loss.
At that critical juncture, Newton put the team on his back.
Newton hit a floater in the lane. Then he made a layup. Next, he set up Alex Karaban for a huge triple. After that, he had a phenomenal drive-and-dish to a wide-open Hassan Diarra who missed the three-point attempt.
Four straight possessions with great plays by Newton.
And at the most pivotal moment of all, he calmly stepped to the line with four seconds left in a two-point game and hit nothing but net on the back-to-back, game-sealing free-throw attempts.
Just a classic "NPOY caliber" sequence from a fifth-year senior who was already very much in that conversation as the nightly triple-double threat of arguably the best team in the nation.
2. RJ Davis, North Carolina
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Season Stats: 21.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.3 SPG, 40.6% 3PT
Previous Rank: No. 3
Much like Dalton Knecht, RJ Davis had a sensational individual performance on Tuesday night overshadowed by the fact that his team lost the game.
In Davis' case, he had 28 points, five rebounds and four assists, but in a loss to Georgia Tech on a night when no other Tar Heel scored in double figures.
(Which, by the way, has been an alarming trend from Armando Bacot lately. Once the patron saint of double-doubles, Bacot hasn't had 10 points or 10 rebounds in any of his past three games and has fallen completely off the NPOY radar. Something to monitor while everyone champions UNC as one of the few legitimate candidates to win it all.)
For Davis, it was the continuation of a stellar senior campaign.
He has now scored at least 14 points in 17 consecutive games, going for 20 or more in 13 of them. It was also his 18th consecutive contest with at least two made three-pointersโthough he has yet to have the type of walking inferno night in which he drains six or more triples. (Davis did score a career-high 36 against Wake Forest last week, but did most of that damage inside the arc.)
Of note, North Carolina has only had three players in school history score at least 750 points in a season: Antawn Jamison (822 in 1997-98), Tyler Hansbrough (882 in 2007-08) and Lennie Rosenbluth (895 in 1956-57). Even if the Heels make it to both the ACC title game and the national championship to play in 40 games, Davis probably won't catch Rosenbluth for the school record. He would need to average 23.4 points in those 19 games to get there.
But there's a good chance he becomes the fourth member of that 750-point club.
At a blue-blood program, that's the type of history-making that could help separate Davis from the pack.
1. Zach Edey, Purdue
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Season Stats: 23.0 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 2.3 BPG, 1.6 APG
Previous Rank: No. 1
There are a lot of guys having great seasons, resulting in a fine debate over who deserves to be No. 2 on this list.
But the reigning NPOY just refuses to cede any ground.
Heading into Wednesday night's game against Northwestern, Zach Edey was averaging 24.3 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in 10 Big Ten games, posting a double-double in all but one of them.
In four of those gamesโat Northwestern, at Iowa, at Indiana and vs. Penn Stateโhe finished with at least 30 points and at least 12 rebounds, including the recent 30-point, 18-rebound, four-block extravaganza on the road against a bubble-y Hawkeyes team that is usually pretty good in the paint.
Really, how are R.J. Davis or Tristen Newton supposed to contend with that?
Before the season began, the only real case for picking against Edey was the rationale that voters will be reluctant to reward the same player two years in a row if there's any drop in production whatsoever. See: Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe last year, or even Louisville QB Lamar Jackson not winning back-to-back Heisman trophies.
But aside from a slight decrease in reboundingโfrom 16.3 per 40 minutes to 15.3โEdey has been even better this year than he was last season.
There's a lot of basketball still to be played, but it does not feel like anyone else could play his way into winning the Wooden Award. The only way it happens is if Edey gets hurt or really struggles down the stretch to open that door.
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