Who Has the Best Starting 5 in College Basketball?

Kentucky is the best team in the country, but the Wildcats have a starting five that doesn't even rank in our top two.

For the purpose of this article, we pretended that teams have no bench. Your best five against your opponent's best five. Depth is great on the court but worthless in these rankings.

As a result, it's as if McDonald's All-Americans Tyler Ulis, Dakari Johnson, Devin Booker and Marcus Lee don't even exist for Kentucky. The Wildcats still have an outstanding starting five, but we don't believe it would typically beat the starting five of Duke or Wisconsin.

Once we settled on the top 10, teams were ranked by how well they would do in a hypothetical round-robin tournament against the other nine teams.

Honorable Mentions

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Iowa State Cyclones

Monte Morris, Bryce Dejean-Jones, Dustin Hogue, Georges Niang, Jameel McKay

We haven't yet had the pleasure of soaking in this projected starting five, as Jameel McKay just became eligible one game ago.

Even without the man who has long been presumed to serve as the team's starting center for the second half of the season, the Cyclones have played extremely well. Offensive rebounding and two-point defense have been two of their biggest issues, but McKay should do a lot to fix both of those problems.

Texas Longhorns

Isaiah Taylor, Demarcus Holland, Jonathan Holmes, Myles Turner, Cameron Ridley

Eventually, this should be Texas' starting five, and it should be glorious.

However, Isaiah Taylor has missed the past nine games with a broken wrist, and Myles Turner just broke into Rick Barnes' starting lineup this week against Rice.

At full strength, this still might be the best team in the country. Keep in mind, Texas lost at Kentucky by just 12 points despite losing Turner and Cameron Ridley to fouls and playing without its starting point guard.

St. John's Red Storm

Jamal Branch, Phil Greene IV, D'Angelo Harrison, Sir'Dominic Pointer, Chris Obekpa

Despite replacing starting point guard Rysheed Jordan with Jamal Branch at the end of November and finding out two weeks before the start of the season that presumed starting power forward Keith Thomas was ruled academically ineligible for the entire season, St. John's hasn't missed a beat.

D'Angelo Harrison is the best player that no one is talking about, and Sir'Dominic Pointer and Chris Obekpa have been outstanding in the paint for one of the best defensive units in the country.

10. Louisville Cardinals

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PG: Chris Jones (12.3 PPG, 2.3 SPG, 2.8 APG, 94.6 O-rating)
SG: Terry Rozier (16.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 111.9 O-rating)
SF: Wayne Blackshear (13.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.0 SPG, 115.5 O-rating)
PF: Montrezl Harrell (16.0 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 115.5 O-rating)
C: Chinanu Onuaku (4.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.2 BPG, 99.4 O-rating)

We almost dropped Louisville completely out of the top 10 because this is no longer the Cardinals' starting lineup.

On Tuesday against Long Beach State, freshman Shaqquan Aaron started in place of Chris Jones.

Aaron only played five minutes, but not because of Jones, as the former starter logged just nine minutes of his own. Instead, it was freshman Quentin Snider who played 26 minutes for Rick Pitino after logging just one minute over the weekend against Kentucky.

It was a necessary change, though. Jones has solid per-game numbers, but he is shooting just 30.8 percent from the field, averaging 1.03 points per field-goal attempt and committing 2.3 turnovers per game—hence the woeful O-rating.

Once Aaron is ready and able to be a consistent contributor—he just became eligible a week ago—Louisville could be even better than it was in opening the season 11-0 and climbing to No. 4 in the AP poll.

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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PG: Jerian Grant (17.6 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.4 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 138.2 O-rating)
SG: Demetrius Jackson (14.2 PPG, 3.2 APG, 2.2 SPG, 131.6 O-rating)
SF: Steve Vasturia (9.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 133.0 O-rating)
PF: Pat Connaughton (13.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 126.0 O-rating)
C: Zach Auguste (14.8 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 125.2 O-rating)

Don't ask them to play defense, but the Fighting Irish have the most offensively gifted starting five in the country.

Despite playing at a below-average tempo, Notre Dame has four starters averaging at least 13 points per game and a fifth scoring 9.0 PPG while shooting 43.5 percent from three-point range.

If you're not impressed with that, try this on for size: All five of Notre Dame's starters entered play on Tuesday ranked in the top 100 in the country in O-rating.

There's a catch-22, though. The Fighting Irish haven't yet played a true road game, and their strength of schedule is among the worst in the entire country. We'll be curious to see how they fare on the road against North Carolina on Monday.

8. Villanova Wildcats

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PG: Ryan Arcidiacono (7.8 PPG, 3.8 APG, 1.6 SPG, 103.6 O-rating)
SG: Dylan Ennis (11.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, 40.7 3P%, 118.4 O-rating)
SF: Darrun Hilliard (12.6 PPG, 2.2 SPG, 2.1 APG, 116.5 O-rating)
PF: JayVaughn Pinkston (10.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.3 BPG, 101.0 O-rating)
C: Daniel Ochefu (9.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 112.6 O-rating)

On the one hand, Villanova is one of the six remaining undefeated teams in the country. The Wildcats have wins over VCU, Syracuse, Illinois, Temple, Michigan and La Salle, so let's go ahead and agree that they're a cut above other undefeateds Colorado State and TCU.

However, we can't be overly enamored with the starting five when their three primary players off the bench—Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Phil Booth—each has a better O-rating than any player in the starting lineup.

It's hard to throw stones at a team that's 12-0 against this schedule, but neither Ryan Arcidiacono nor JayVaughn Pinkston has even remotely lived up to our preseason expectations. "Arch" is shooting 31.9 percent from the field and 20.5 percent from three-point range, and Pinskton's scoring average has decreased by nearly 25 percent despite the departure of James Bell.

Good thing Dylan Ennis has emerged as a great shooting guard and Daniel Ochefu is vying for his second consecutive Most Improved Big East Player of the Year award.

At the end of the day, though, Villanova employs an eight-man rotation in which no player is averaging so much as 30 minutes per game. Five-eighths of that rotation is good enough for a spot in the top 10, but they have a long way to go to reach top five. Starting Hart (130.4 O-rating) instead of Arcidiacono would be a nice step in the right direction, though.

7. Gonzaga Bulldogs

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PG: Kevin Pangos (11.5 PPG, 5.0 APG, 135.4 O-rating)
SG: Gary Bell Jr. (8.1 PPG, 2.2 APG, 119.1 O-rating)
SF: Byron Wesley (12.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, 112.8 O-rating)
PF: Kyle Wiltjer (17.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 126.3 O-rating)
C: Przemek Karnowski (9.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 108.0 O-rating)

Once an unstoppable wrecking ball, Gonzaga's offense has had trouble putting the ball in the hoop lately. The Bulldogs scored just 60 points against San Diego on Monday. That game came nine days after a 63-point showing against Cal Poly.

They did win both of those games by double digits, but what gives? How does a team with Kyle Wiltjer and Kevin Pangos ever fail to score at least 75 points?

It's enough of a concern that Gonzaga wasn't even really considered for a spot in the top five. We wouldn't be surprised in the least if the Bulldogs eventually earned a spot in the top three, though, because this was an unbelievable unit for the first five weeks of the season.

Pangos is still playing pretty well, but he was a serious Wooden Award candidate at the end of November. Wiltjer has six games with at least 20 points and has really established himself as a power forward who can go to work in the post when he isn't busy stepping back and draining three-pointers.

Przemek Karnowski is a mountain in the paint who could be averaging a double-double if he wasn't sharing playing time with Domantas Sabonis.

However, we'd still like to see more from Gary Bell Jr. The senior shooting guard came into this season averaging better than 10.0 PPG for his career, but he has been much more passive on offense this season. He has scored just 4.8 PPG over his last six games.

6. North Carolina Tar Heels

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PG: Marcus Paige (13.6 PPG, 3.6 APG, 110.3 O-rating)
SG: Justin Jackson (9.8 PPG, 2.6 APG, 113.9 O-rating)
SF: J.P. Tokoto (8.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.5 SPG, 98.2 O-rating)
PF: Brice Johnson (11.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.1 BPG, 107.1 O-rating)
C: Kennedy Meeks (13.3 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 1.8 BPG, 125.5 O-rating)

Whether or not you're buying North Carolina as a potential Final Four team, there's no denying that this is one of the most gifted starting fives in the country.

J.P. Tokoto has his turnover woes, but the man is a Swiss army knife crossed with a jack-in-the-box. Like Sam Thompson at Ohio State or K.J. McDaniels last year for Clemson, Tokoto is going to do at least two things in every game that make you wonder whether he's actually human—like this ridiculous dunk against UAB the other day that didn't even surprise North Carolina's commentators.

Likewise, Brice Johnson is an athletic freak of nature from whom anything short of 17 points and eight rebounds feels like a disappointment. He may be a bit slender for a power forward, but his statistics are not.

Kennedy Meeks is less of an athlete and more of a workhorse, but he has been without question the most valuable player on this team. We can't wait to see him go to war with Duke's Jahlil Okafor in a little over a month.

Surprisingly, it's the backcourt that's keeping the Tar Heels out of the top five.

Justin Jackson appears to be turning a corner over the past few games, but he hasn't been anywhere near as great as advertised.

Marcus Paige's numbers look pretty respectable until you connect his name to them. With this supporting cast, we were expecting Paige to average either 20.0 points or 7.0 assists per game—or maybe even both—but he hasn't done much distributing, and he's still searching for his shooting stroke.

5. Virginia Cavaliers

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PG: London Perrantes (2.9 PPG, 3.9 APG, 95.9 O-rating)
SG: Malcolm Brogdon (13.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.1 APG, 118.3 O-rating)
SF: Justin Anderson (15.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 132.2 O-rating)
PF: Anthony Gill (12.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 131.4 O-rating)
C: Mike Tobey (8.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 125.8 O-rating)

Mad respect for what Virginia has accomplished already this season, but you can't have the best starting five with a point guard who doesn't do much of anything and a center who doesn't block shots or play so much as 20 minutes per game.

The fact that the Cavaliers are still at No. 5 on the list should tell you just how great those other three guys have been.

According to the KenPom.com Player of the Year standings (subscription required), Justin Anderson has been the sixth-most valuable player in the country, while Anthony Gill is in third place behind only Frank Kaminsky and Jahlil Okafor.

After hitting four of six three-pointers against Davidson on Tuesday night, Anderson is shooting 60.9 percent from downtown. We keep waiting for that number to come crashing down to Earth, and he just keeps improving upon it.

Meanwhile, Gill is shooting 62.4 percent from the field after setting a new career high with 25 points against Davidson.

Throw in Malcolm Brogdon's points, assists and rebounds, and the Cavaliers have one heck of a three-headed monster on offense.

Of course, Virginia's primary focus is its defense, so having three scorers this valuable is like repeatedly finding a $20 bill in an old jacket.

4. Arizona Wildcats

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PG: T.J. McConnell (7.6 PPG, 6.3 APG, 4.5 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 107.7 O-rating)
SG: Gabe York (9.9 PPG, 36.2 3P%, 118.0 O-rating)
SF: Stanley Johnson (14.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 1.7 APG, 43.2 3P%, 104.6 O-rating)
PF: Brandon Ashley (11.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 41.2 3P%, 106.2 O-rating)
C: Kaleb Tarczewski (8.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 105.4 O-rating)

Compared to the high-scoring starting lineups of Notre Dame, North Carolina and Gonzaga, Arizona seems a bit out of place at No. 4. Gabe York is the only one with an O-rating of 108 or above, and it's not hard to argue that he should be replaced in the lineup by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (115.8 O-rating).

However, defense is Arizona's calling card.

They don't force quite as many steals as Louisville's backcourt, but T.J. McConnell and Stanley Johnson have some of the most active hands in the country. UNLV and Christian Wood made it look relatively easy to score against Arizona last week, but for most teams, every possession feels like trench warfare.

Thanks in large part to Johnson, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski, Arizona is one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country. Even if you can avoid turning the ball over against the Wildcats, second-chance opportunities are few and far between.

At the offensive end of the court, Tarczewski is shooting 64.2 percent from the field and should arguably be a much bigger focal point in the team's game plan.

Outside of the occasional turnover bug, Johnson has played very well and has clearly assumed the role of Arizona's go-to guy despite being the only freshman averaging more than 10.1 minutes per game. He leads the team in points and rebounds and has emerged as one of Arizona's best long-range shooters.

3. Kentucky Wildcats

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PG: Andrew Harrison (7.3 PPG, 4.2 APG, 103.2 O-rating)
SG: Aaron Harrison (10.3 PPG, 2.1 APG, 109.6 O-rtaing)
SF: Trey Lyles (7.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 112.3 O-rating)
PF: Karl-Anthony Towns (8.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 113.0 O-rating)
C: Willie Cauley-Stein (10.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 1.7 BPG, 129.2 O-rating)

Before you go accusing us of trolling, remember that we're solely focused on the starting five. We're forced to pretend that Tyler Ulis (131.3 O-rating), Devin Booker (128.5 O-rating) and Dakari Johnson (116.4 O-rating) don't even exist because they don't start.

By taking away arguably Kentucky's best attribute (ridiculously talented depth), the Wildcats are rendered significantly less dominant than they are in actuality.

Andrew and Aaron Harrison are very talented players, but Kentucky would be No. 1 in this list if Ulis and Booker were the starters. Andrew's assist-to-turnover ratio sits at just 1.86, while Aaron is shooting just 27.3 percent from three-point range. They've basically reverted to playing as ineffectively as they did last season prior to the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

Meanwhile, Trey Lyles was just recently thrust into a starting job when Alex Poythress tore his ACL, and we're still trying to get a feel for just how dominant he can be as a small forward. He isn't there yet, but it might not be crazy to think we'll be comparing him to Aaron Gordon before the year's finished.

Definitely nothing negative to say about the power forward or center, though. The humongous hyphens, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein will be two of the primary candidates for the Wooden Award, so long as playing less than 25 minutes per game doesn't completely kill their campaign.

Still, issues in the backcourt and an unfinished product at small forward are enough to keep the best team in the country from being deemed the best starting five.

2. Wisconsin Badgers

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PG: Traevon Jackson (8.8 PPG, 3.1 APG, 105.7 O-rating)
SG: Josh Gasser (7.0 PPG, 43.6 3P%, 138.9 O-rating)
SF: Nigel Hayes (11.9 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 126.3 O-rating)
PF: Sam Dekker (12.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 117.0 O-rating)
C: Frank Kaminsky (16.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.2 BPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, 121.3 O-rating)

If the backcourt was just a little more consistently productive, Wisconsin could be the best team in the country.

The frontcourt is nothing short of incredible.

Frank Kaminsky is one of the primary candidates for this year's Wooden Award. Nigel Hayes has been a gem of a starter after spending last season honing his craft as one of the best sixth men in the nation. Sam Dekker has already fought through a few injuries to have arguably the best season of his college career.

Put those three guys up against any other small forward, power forward and center combination in the nation, and we're taking Wisconsin every time.

But the backcourt leaves something to be desired.

Josh Gasser is incredibly efficient, but Wisconsin's starting shooting guard is only being used on 11.1 percent of possessions while he is on the court. He is averaging just 4.3 field-goal attempts per game.

Traevon Jackson is used a good deal more than Gasser, but there's no telling what he'll give you. Jackson had 25 points against Duke, but he had a combined total of six points, three turnovers and no assists in the first two games of the Battle 4 Atlantis against UAB and Georgetown.

Because of his wild inconsistency, we couldn't rationalize giving Wisconsin the top spot—even though we feel this is the team best suited to beat Kentucky.

1. Duke Blue Devils

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PG: Tyus Jones (11.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, 1.6 SPG, 138.5 O-rating)
SG: Quinn Cook (14.5 PPG, 3.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 133.6 O-rating)
SF: Justise Winslow (11.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.1 APG, 107.5 O-rating)
PF: Amile Jefferson (8.8 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 127.9 O-rating)
C: Jahlil Okafor (18.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 1.5 APG, 120.6 O-rating)

Amile Jefferson might be the most underappreciated player in the country.

Everyone raves about Jahlil Okafor, and rightly so. The freshman center has been a monster and just posted a career-high 27 points on Monday night against Toledo. In five of his last six games, he has committed either one or zero fouls, playing adequate defense while avoiding any unnecessary time on the bench.

Tyus Jones has also been lavished with his fair share of adoration. The freshman point guard has run this offense to a tee, averaging 3.8 assists per turnover and tallying more steals than turnovers on the season.

Justise Winslow hasn't been quite the dominant scorer that he was in the first two weeks of the season, but he has contributed in other ways as a plus-defender with moderate three-point range and an eye for assists.

Even Quinn Cook has had no shortage of praise for not only accepting his role as secondary ball-handler but thriving in the position. The senior guard has at least 10 points in all but one game and is averaging an impressive 1.41 points per field-goal attempt.

But Jefferson—despite averaging 14.8 points and 14.0 rebounds per 40 minutes—has been taken for granted by the college basketball nation.

Jefferson always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Whether the Blue Devils need someone to grab a defensive rebound, to draw a charge, to draw a double-team away from Okafor or to make the opposition pay for trying to double Okafor, Jefferson has been the guy who keeps the Duke machine running smoothly.

Because of him, Duke has the best and most complete starting five in the country.

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

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play on Tuesday December 30 and are courtesy of Sports-Reference.com and KenPom.com (subscription required).