The Most Underrated Player on Every AP Top 25 Team in College Basketball
Stars get the headlines, but without the role players and glue guys, even the best teams in college basketball wouldn't be as successful as they are.
Take a look at the rosters of the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings, and you'll recognize some big names—the ones for whom opponents spend the most time preparing. And then there is the supporting cast, which for each team includes at least one player whose importance is often overlooked.
Check out our list of the most underrated player from each ranked team, then give us your thoughts in the comments section.
No. 25 Notre Dame: V.J. Beachem
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Notre Dame isn't as guard-oriented as it was a year ago, with the losses of perimeter players Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton causing the Fighting Irish to adjust to a more standard lineup with a full complement of frontcourt players. V.J. Beachem is sort of both, as a 6'8" junior who can block shots and grab rebounds on the defensive end and play much further from the basket on the offensive side.
Beachem is the most frequent (and accurate) three-point shooter on the team, hitting 49 triples in 20 games at a 43.8 percent clip. Last year he shot 41.6 percent from outside, but in only 14.6 minutes per game he reached double-figures just nine times.
In 2015-16, he's gotten there 12 times already, including on Thursday when he had a career-high 22 points thanks to 5-of-8 three-point shooting.
No. 24 Duke: Luke Kennard
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Duke has been using a six-man lineup since mid-December, when senior forward Amile Jefferson injured his foot and left the Blue Devils extremely thin. This injury prompted them to go small, leaning even more on their backcourt despite two of the four guards being freshmen.
This has enabled Luke Kennard to take on a much bigger role—one that's also different than what was projected before he arrived at Duke.
Kennard was the No. 2 all-time scorer in Ohio high school history and came in with a reputation as a lights-out three-point shooter. That hasn't manifested yet, as he shoots 29.6 percent from outside, but he's made up for this by becoming more aggressive toward the basket and drawing contact.
His 91.5 free-throw percentage is tied for second in Division I, making 23 of 26 foul shots in ACC play.
No. 23 Oregon: Dwayne Benjamin
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Oregon's huge win Thursday at Arizona which ended the Wildcats' 49-game home win streak featured contributions from all the usual players. That includes Dwayne Benjamin, who doesn't start for the Ducks but is often in there during critical moments.
The 6'7" senior forward only averages nine points per game on 41 percent shooting, but since Pac-12 play has begun, he's provided an offensive boost in the games that matter most. He had 15 against Arizona, hitting three three-pointers along the way, and last week went for 16 (with another trio of threes) in knocking off then-ranked USC.
Benjamin also has the third-most steals on the team at 22, helping the Ducks rank in the top 50 nationally in steal percentage.
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No. 22 Wichita State: Markis McDuffie
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Quick, name someone on Wichita State other than senior guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet. Don't feel bad. Most non-diehards aren't aware of any other Shockers since that duo has been at it so long it's easy to forget there are other players involved in their success.
Freshman Markis McDuffie is doing his best to get noticed, becoming a consistent scoring threat off the bench. The 6'8" forward is proving to be a matchup nightmare as a wing who can stretch the floor and draw slower defenders away from the paint and then either shoot over them or drive to the basket.
McDuffie is averaging 8.2 points per game for the season and 9.3 per game in Missouri Valley Conference play, helping Wichita State to a 9-0 start in the league. He's shooting 54.5 percent from the field in the conference.
No. 21 Purdue: Rapheal Davis
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The reigning Big Ten defensive player of the year, Rapheal Davis doesn't post the kind of stats that make him stand out in that area. That's because most of what he does can't be found in a box score, which is just the point.
The 6'5" senior guard usually takes on an opponent's best offensive perimeter player, trying to get in his face and keep him from lighting it up. Just as much as the presence of Purdue's two 7-footers and beefy 6'9” freshman Caleb Swanigan down low, Davis' ability to disrupt shooters and scorers is why the Boilermakers were fifth in the country in field-goal defense (37.2 percent) before Wednesday's win at Minnesota.
Minnesota shot 50 percent from the field as one of just three teams to hit that mark against Purdue this season, but when the Boilermakers needed him most, Davis came through with a block of Carlos Morris' potential go-ahead three-pointer with 24 seconds left.
No. 20 Kentucky: Derek Willis
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All those McDonald's All-Americans, 5-star prospects and future NBA draft picks, and Kentucky's season is turning on the play of a little-used upperclassman reserve.
Derek Willis was an afterthought in the Wildcats' 2013 recruiting class, which also featured Julius Randle, the Harrison twins and James Young. Along with the freshmen who came in during his sophomore season, Willis only logged 114 minutes in 33 games in two years. But with Kentucky's frontcourt not producing like it has in the past, the 6'9" junior forward is becoming a key weapon thanks to his diverse game.
ESPN's Jeff Goodman tweeted Wednesday that Kentucky is "so much better with Willis on (the) court" alongside either Alex Poythress or Marcus Lee because Willis can score inside and out while also being able to defend and grab rebounds.
Willis had 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting (including 4-of-5 from three-point range) with 12 rebounds and two blocks in the blowout win over Missouri on Jan. 28. He's averaged 12.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in his last four games.
No. 19 Indiana: OG Anunoby
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Yogi Ferrell is Indiana's leading scorer and the school's career assist leader. Thomas Bryant is the promising young big man who shoots better than 70 percent from the field. And James Blackmon Jr. was the Hoosiers' most explosive offensive player before suffering a season-ending knee injury in December.
Blackmon's injury came in the middle of what was a 12-game win streak for Indiana before Tuesday's overtime loss at Wisconsin, and in his absence, the Hoosiers have seen OG Anunoby emerge as an instant-energy player who is effective on both ends of the floor.
"Anunoby accentuates the strengths of Indiana's top players while helping cover up their weaknesses," Ricky O'Donnell of SB Nation wrote. "He has been found money and looks like a keeper for IU long-term."
The 6'8" freshman forward is averaging 6.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 63.3 percent since Blackmon got hurt.
No. 18 Arizona: Parker Jackson-Cartwright
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Generously listed at 5'8" and 150 pounds, Parker Jackson-Cartwright has played much bigger many times this season as Arizona searches for the right mix in the backcourt.
The sophomore guard doesn't put up great numbers, averaging 4.8 points and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 35.5 percent from the field, but more often than not he makes at least one significant contribution to every trip he makes down the court.
Much of this has occurred since freshman guard Allonzo Trier, the team's most dynamic scorer, went out with a broken finger. The Wildcats' other scorers needed to have someone help create for them, and Jackson-Cartwright responded with 27 assists in a four-game span. He's also re-discovering his outside shooting, though, having made eight of 16 threes in Arizona's last eight conference games.
No. 17 Baylor: Johnathan Motley
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Baylor has a thing for big-time bench production, not buying into the notion that your five best players should always be starting. Last year it was Taurean Prince who led the team in scoring despite being the team's sixth man, and now it's Johnathan Motley contributing a lot of points.
In an odd twist that only Bears coach Scott Drew could pull off, the 6'9" sophomore forward started all 34 games last season but now as a reserve is scoring more. He averaged 7.7 points per game in 2014-15 and is at 11.0 this year, including eight in Wednesday's win at Oklahoma State, thanks to an improved shooting touch that's raised his field-goal percentage from 41.7 to 62.6 percent.
Motley had reached double figures in four of the previous five games, including a 27-point, 13-rebound performance in Baylor's Jan. 9 win at Iowa State.
No. 16 Louisville: Chinanu Onuaku
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Chinanu Onuaku was arguably Louisville's most accomplished returning player heading into 2015-16 as a result of numerous players leaving or being removed from the program during the offseason. But despite his experience with Rick Pitino's system and expectations, most of the spotlight for this year has been placed on the Cardinals' newcomers.
Graduate transfers have accounted for much of the current team's scoring, with seniors Damion Lee and Trey Lewis combining to score 29.9 points per game. Right behind them is Onuaku, a 6'10" sophomore center who, in addition to averaging 10.6 points per game, chips in a team-best 9.0 rebounds. He's averaging 11.3 boards in ACC action, having recorded six straight double-doubles before going for nine points and five rebounds on Jan. 26.
All that's keeping Onuaku from being dominant is his propensity for picking up fouls. Per Jeff Greer of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Onuaku averages 4.8 fouls per 40 minutes, but that number rises to 5.5 per 40 against teams that are considered Tier A or B foes by KenPom.com.
No. 15 Miami (Florida): Ja'Quan Newton
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You can count on one finger the number of games Ja'Quan Newton has started this season, but two hands might not be enough to tally how many of Miami's wins he's been as least partly responsible for.
The 6'1" junior guard has one career start. Otherwise he's one of Miami's first guys off the bench, resulting in a scoring average of 12 points per game (in just 21.8 minutes), good for second-best on the team.
"He's the best sixth man I've seen in college basketball," ESPN's Dick Vitale said Monday (h/t Miami's Twitter account) during an 80-69 win over Duke. Newton had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in that game.
Newton shoots 50.7 percent from the field, and his 52 assists enable starting point guard Angel Rodriguez to take breaks or be able to switch into scoring mode in critical moments.
No. 14 Iowa State: Abdel Nader
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Abdel Nader has more than doubled his production from a year ago, scoring 12.9 points per game and averaging 5.5 rebounds. He plays the fewest minutes of any Iowa State starter but seems to have more involvement in every aspect of the game than the rest of the Cyclones, including a tendency to draw fouls that belie the team's overall hands-off approach.
The 6'6" senior wing is shooting 84 percent from the line in Big 12 play, going 10-of-12 at the stripe in the Jan. 18 win over No. 1 Oklahoma. That was his fourth 20-point game of the year and continued his trend for playing better against tougher competition.
According to Rob Gray of CycloneFanatic.com, Nader "continues to outpace his season average in almost every measurable category when the Cyclones face KenPom top-50 teams."
No. 13 SMU: Jordan Tolbert
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With Keith Frazier having left the program, no player currently on SMU's roster was involved in the NCAA investigation that led to the program being banned from the postseason for 2015-16. That means Jordan Tolbert will be the only Mustang who doesn't get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament despite being such a key piece this season.
Tolbert, a 6'7" senior forward, had to sit out last year after transferring from Texas Tech and thus wasn't a part of SMU's American Athletic Conference title or the second-round NCAA tournament loss to UCLA.
This season, he's scoring 12.6 points per game and posts a team-best 9.2 rebounds per game, and his 19.4 offensive rebounding percentage is the best in the country.
No. 12 Michigan State: Deyonta Davis
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Michigan State was supposed to have noted freshman big man Caleb Swanigan on its team for 2015-16, but just before the spring signing period last year, he opted to go to Purdue instead. The Spartans were going to lean mostly on the backcourt this season anyway, so the loss didn't hurt too much.
It also helped that they'd already picked up Deyonta Davis, a less heralded but just as effective freshman forward.
The 6'10" Davis has been a huge help on the inside this season for MSU, even though he hadn't moved into the starting lineup until four games ago. In those four starts he's averaging 7.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, which are similar to his season rates. He's also the team's top shooter, at 63.3 percent, though he has only attempted 10 or more shots in three of 22 games.
No. 11 Virginia: London Perrantes
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Virginia is scoring 7.5 more points per game than a year ago, and almost all of that increase in production is coming from London Perrantes. After spending his first two seasons seemingly afraid to take a shot, the 6'2" junior guard now takes it upon himself to be more assertive and not just a facilitator.
Perrantes is still the Cavaliers' assist leader, at 4.4 per game, but his 11.7 points per game is nearly double the 6.4 from a year ago. He's shooting 46.8 percent from the field—a major rise from the previous season despite increased attempts—and he's become a sniper from outside at 52.7 percent.
In ACC play, Perrantes has turned into a clutch second-half scorer by making 13 of 22 threes in the final 20 minutes of league games, according to play-by-play information on Virginia's Web site.
No. 10 Providence: Rodney Bullock
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Kris Dunn has been the engine that's paced Providence's 17-4 start, and Ben Bentil's major jump in production has been a huge boost. But Rodney Bullock has been that third piece that's turned the Friars into a real contender in both the Big East and on a national stage.
Bullock redshirted in 2013-14 and then missed all of last season with a leg injury suffered during the preseason. The two years off haven't created any rust for the 6'8" sophomore forward; if anything, it's driven him to give it his all whenever possible.
This has resulted in 12.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest, though he's been slumping of late with only 11 points and eight boards in his last two games.
No. 9 West Virginia: Jonathan Holton
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We'll see just how much West Virginia misses its most underrated player now that Jonathan Holton has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. According to Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail, Holton will miss at least three games, including Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge clash against Florida.
On a team that uses chaos and mayhem to push the tempo, quick hands force turnovers, but strong hands kept possessions alive. The Mountaineers are first in the nation in steal percentage with almost every player contributing to that stat, but only a few are responsible for them also being second nationally in offensive rebound rate.
Holton was second on the team in rebounding at 7.5 per game, with 81 of his 150 boards coming on the offensive end. He pulls down 18.2 percent of his team's misses when on the court, a rate that ranks fourth in Division I, which has enabled him to shoot 54 percent overall and 65.4 percent on two-pointers.
If the 6'7" junior forward didn't choose to heave up threes from time to time—he's 6-of-33, including 3-of-19 in Big 12 play—he'd have been among the top field-goal shooters in the country.
No. 8 Maryland: Jake Layman
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Maryland scored a much-needed signature win on Thursday, downing third-ranked Iowa at home. The victory was paced as much by a balanced offensive attack as it was a team approach to defense, holding one of the nation's highest-scoring teams to 13 points below its season average.
And right in the middle of both areas was Jake Layman, scoring 11 points with seven rebounds while doing the seemingly unthinkable in shutting down Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff.
Uthoff was 2-of-13 from the field for a season-low nine points, with the defense of Layman having much to do with that. The 6'9" senior forward averages 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing, while his 93.4 defensive rating is second only to Robert Carter among Maryland's most-used players.
No. 7 Xavier: James Farr
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James Farr has been Xavier's savior many times this season, even if he is his own worst enemy far too often.
The 6'10" forward is finally getting his chance to be a major contributor as a senior, and he's coming through in a big way with some of the best rebounding numbers in the country. He leads the Musketeers at 9.1 per game, along with 10.8 points per game, and ranks fifth nationally with a 23.1 percent total rebound rate.
Farr is doing this mostly off the bench, having started just three games in 2015-16, and in only 21.2 minutes per night. He'd likely be getting more playing time if he could stop committing fouls, as he's gotten to four in seven games and fouled out twice (including Tuesday at Providence).
No. 6 Villanova: Daniel Ochefu
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Since the schedule has switched to Big East action, Villanova has pulled back on its tendency to camp out beyond the three-point line and ignore the paint. The Wildcats are taking nearly 61 percent of their shots from two-point range in conference play, compared to 50.5 percent in nonconference games.
Somehow, though, this shift isn't taking advantage of Villanova's only big man, 6'11" senior forward Daniel Ochefu. It's been an issue his entire career, though of late Ochefu is contributing to the lack of touches because of foul trouble.
Ochefu's minutes are down slightly from a year ago, but when on the court, he's taking more shots. Still, Villanova's guards continue to get the majority of the touches and tend to look to Ochefu only as a last resort.
No. 5 Texas A&M: Anthony Collins
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Don't look for Anthony Collins to do much scoring, because that's not his game. He has averaged 7.6 points per game for his career, including just 5.0 during this season with Texas A&M. He'd been a little more active as a shooter during his time at South Florida, but the graduate transfer isn't needed in that area with the Aggies.
Instead, he gives them a second point guard on the floor, along with senior Alex Caruso.
The 6'1" senior has started every game this season, and his 27.4 minutes per game are second-most on the team, though he's attempted a mere 69 field goals. Compare that to the 91 assists he's logged, good for 4.6 per game, and his 2.94-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and you understand what he brings to A&M's lineup.
As a shooter, Collins is at 42 percent overall but 50 percent from three-point range, making four of 10 attempts from three in SEC play.
No. 4 Kansas: Hunter Mickelson
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Kansas coach Bill Self is still searching for someone from his long list of big men to take the center spot by the reins and make it his own. The numbers indicated Hunter Mickelson was in the best position to be this guy, but that was before he suddenly stopped playing.
The 6'10" senior forward started 10 straight games between Dec. 9 and Jan. 16, but those last four starts saw him log less than 10 minutes. He then had two minutes in the Jan. 19 loss at Oklahoma State, and he's not left the bench in the Jayhawks' last two games.
Self hasn't given any explanation for Mickelson's disappearance, which has also seen freshman Cheick Diallo and junior Landen Lucas grab more of his minutes. According to KUSports.com, however, Mickelson has a high-ankle sprain and is not expected to play Saturday against Kentucky.
For the season, Mickelson is averaging 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 9.2 minutes per game, though his Box Plus/Minus (which estimates how much better or worse a player is than an average replacement) is a team-high 15.8.
No. 3 Iowa: Anthony Clemmons
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Anthony Clemmons has never played a major role for Iowa during his four seasons, but he's also not someone whose work hasn't served a purpose. The 6'2" senior guard has provided valuable backup minutes throughout his career, and now as a starter, he's continuing to do the same on a larger scale.
He's averaging 8.7 points and 3.9 assists per game, but in Iowa's last five contests, he's kicked up the production to the tune of 11.8 points and 4.6 assists. The three-point shooting stroke that had been one of his best assets in previous seasons is down, sitting at 32.1 percent overall, though all four of his games with multiple threes have come in Big Ten play.
Jarrod Uthoff, Mike Gesell and Peter Jok grab most of the attention for the Hawkeyes' first Top Five ranking since 1987, but Clemmons has been just as integral to the process.
No. 2 North Carolina: Isaiah Hicks
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Isaiah Hicks will probably never be a 30-minutes-per-game player, but that doesn't mean he can't play like one when he's on the court. It's the approach the 6'9" junior forward has taken whenever he gets minutes off the bench for North Carolina, producing at the same rate whether he plays 17 minutes or 27.
For the season, Hicks averages 18.5 minutes per game, during which he's scoring 10 points with 4.6 rebounds. Projected out to per 40 minutes, he'd be second on the Tar Heels at 21.5 points per game thanks to his stellar 67.6 percent field-goal shooting.
Hicks also gets his rebounds, too, with at least four in 10 straight games. His play made the absence of senior center Kennedy Meeks—who missed six games with a knee injury—a non-factor.
No. 1 Oklahoma: Khadeem Lattin
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Oklahoma's biggest question mark coming into this season was how it was going to address the loss of inside presence TaShawn Thomas, who paired well with Ryan Spangler for a versatile frontcourt that could score or defend.
Khadeem Lattin is still developing his offensive game, but there's no denying the sophomore forward's performance protecting the rim and cleaning up the glass.
The 6'9" Lattin makes it possible for Oklahoma's guards to play tight on the perimeter, knowing that if their man gets the edge and drives toward the basket, Lattin is there to get in the way. He's responded with 24 blocked shots in eight Big 12 games including eight in Tuesday's win over Texas Tech.
Statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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