The Most Entertaining Players in the 2015-16 College Basketball Season

At this time of year, entertaining college basketball players are more than flash.

You need wins, too. Empty stats aren't cutting it anymore. Sure, there are some players who are succeeding despite (or because of?) a down season for the team as a whole. But how entertained are you by their games when it comes to mid-February?

Fans are spoiled rotten this time of year. If it's not a big game, plenty are going to tune out. There's probably a big game on somewhere.

So which players have the right combination of entertaining style, opportunities to excel and are subsequently capitalizing on those opportunities? More than any others, they are the players on this list.

They are ranked in no particular order and were, along with many other players, evaluated based on the three factors stated above as well as statistical output.

Buddy Hield, Guard, Oklahoma

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OK, let's get the obvious one out of the way right off the bat.

Buddy Hield is the Player of the Year candidate with seemingly interminable shooting range and the guts to pull the trigger.

Yes, he and the Sooners have hit the skids a bit lately, losing three of their last five. That includes the home rematch with Kansas and a hangover loss at Texas Tech that saw Hield finish 6-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-10 from distance.

He's still an entertaining player, though, what with his second-in-the-nation 25.4 points per game, per NCAA.com, and that aforementioned range; he's still shooting a near-ungodly 48.7 percent from deep, also second in the nation.

Hield is also a choice here for the bounce-back he enjoyed Saturday at West Virginia, scoring 29 points (well more than twice that of any other player) and displaying his usual clutchness down the stretch against the vaunted Mountaineer defense.

Kay Felder, Guard, Oakland

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If you don't know who Kay Felder is yet, what are you doing with yourself?

The Golden Grizzlies leader is the nation's leading assist man with 9.2 helpers per contest. He also hits 44.3 percent of this shots, a great rate for a guard and good for fifth in the Horizon League.

You know where else he's ranked fifth? On the national scoring list, as Felder is averaging 24.3 points per game.

Despite the fact that Oakland lost both its regular-season games to conference rival Valparaiso, that wasn't Felder's fault. He poured in a combined 46 points, eight rebounds, 14 assists and three steals in those contests.

Kris Dunn, Guard, Providence

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Kris Dunn is carrying Providence to the NCAA tournament. 

The Friars have dropped four of their last five games, and that's not helping anything, but along with Ben Bentil and Rodney Bullock, Providence has a triumvirate of threatening players. Beyond that, it gets thin. But those three? They're great.

Dunn is the greatest among them. He ranks in the top 10 nationally in assists per game, steals per game, assist percentage, steal percentage and box plus/minus.

It's no wonder he's considered a sure lottery pick in this summer's NBA draft, assuming he forgoes his senior season. As Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress.com noted:

"

[Dunn] got wherever he wanted on the court thanks to his elite burst, ability to change speeds and directions on a dime, and excellent size and strength for his position. ... Dunn proved to be a maestro in the pick and roll, keeping defenders on his back and dropping it off to the roll man or bouncing out of the paint and knocking down a mid-range jump.

"

Brice Johnson, Forward, North Carolina

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The loss to Duke was not his fault.

Brice Johnson was a monster against the frontcourt-challenged Blue Devils, running wild for 29 points and 19 rebounds.

Johnson continued beasting in UNC's rebound game, pacing the Heels with 16 points and 15 boards in a 96-71 drubbing of No. 11 Miami.

It's been this way all season for the North Carolina forward. The athletic, rim-punishing big man is fifth nationally in player efficiency rating and ranks in the ACC's top 10 or better in a host of scoring and rebounding categories.

Ever since that 39-point, 23-rebound performance on January 4 against Florida State put him on the national map, he has only been held to single-digit scoring twice. And with all those fast-break finishes, it's been a fun ride.

Jamal Murray, Guard, Kentucky

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Jamal Murray wasn't on a ton of radars to begin the season—at least not as many as ballyhooed freshman Skal Labissiere, who has largely been a dud.

Murray can score, and he can do so in bunches. Even so, his evolution into Kentucky's best player and de facto leader has taken most people by surprise, as he's played out of position so Tyler Ulis could continue to run the point.

Alex Forkner of 247Sports describes the situation thusly, and it helps show why Murray stands out as an entertaining player despite being on a team that isn't meeting overall expectations:

"

It’s clear that Murray will leave Kentucky a different player than when he arrived, becoming perhaps the most prolific scorer Calipari has coached at UK. But before he departs as a surefire first round NBA Draft pick, he could very well be the key to another deep NCAA Tournament run by the Cats.

"

Jack Gibbs, Guard, Davidson

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Is he getting a Steph Curry bump? Maybe. But who cares?

Jack Gibbs may never reach the heights of the all-world Davidson alum—he and all the other Wildcats will exist under Curry's shadow until the end of time—but he has a high-octane style and averages 25.3 points per game, which ranks third in the nation.

He also sits atop the Atlantic 10 conference in effective field-goal percentage and player efficiency rating while ranking fourth in assists, so you know you're getting a well-rounded and dynamic game.

Angel Rodriguez, Guard, Miami

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Angel Rodriguez isn't the only good player on the Miami Hurricanes roster this season. He might not even be the best. Standing 5'11", he definitely isn't the tallest.

But he certainly is the most entertaining.

His up-and-down, hot-and-cold style of play is fun to watch and gauge—unless you're a Miami fan, that is. However, 'Canes faithful will take what he's giving, seeing as how he's the crazy straw that stirs that drink this season.

He can take too many shots. He can commit too many turnovers. But he has some fairy dust up his sleeve. Case in point: his buzzer-beating tip-in on February 9 to down Pittsburgh.

“At first, it took me a bit to sink in, like, `Wait, did I actually tip that in?’ Even though I knew I did it," Rodriguez told Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald. "It was just shocking. But once I told myself, `Yes, you did, celebrate!’ I started going crazy. I even forgot I had ball in my hands.”

No one else forgot. How could we? It's too entertaining to look away.

All statistics are accurate as of Wednesday and provided by ESPN.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.