Keep Good Going: The Hottest Players Heading into March Madness

In college basketball, if a team can manage to heat up as the weather does, it's made some pretty good company for itself.

The snow and cold are letting go, and conference tournaments will soon get rolling in earnest. March 13's Selection Sunday is more than a late-winter mirage. It's a tricky, luck-ridden process, but if teams can manage it, now's the time to play their best ball.

These players are the hottest in the country, and their fans are hoping they can keep it rolling right on into the time when single eliminations are the order of the day.

Players appear based on the intensity of their current hot streak, the prominence of their teams in the Big Dance conversation (making it important their hot play continue) and the overall heft of their statistical output.

Perry Ellis, Forward, Kansas Jayhawks

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Season averages: 16.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 52.1 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 15.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 52.6 field-goal percentage

The big man has spurred Kansas' run back to the No. 1 spot. Most recently, on his senior day at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, Perry Ellis scored 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds to help the Jayhawks knock off the No. 21 Iowa State Cyclones.

He has been nothing but consistent through the year, and now he's becoming even more efficient in the paint. Kansas may have emerged as the top team in a balanced field this season, and Ellis may have emerged as its leader.

Jabari Bird, Guard, California Golden Bears

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Season averages: 10.0 ppg, 39.4 percent three-point percentage

Last five games: 11.8 ppg, 52.4 percent three-point percentage

Jaylen Brown, Tyrone Wallace and Ivan Rabb fill most of the stat sheets and column inches out in Berkeley, California. But wingman Jabari Bird has been central to the Bears' eight wins in their last nine tries.

Bird is a three-point machine lately, hitting on more than half his attempts. The best performance was a 20-point effort February 25 against the UCLA Bruins that saw him convert five of eight deep shots.

The net effect is not just scoring-based. It loosens up the floor for the entire team.

"That definitely helps a lot," Rabb recently said of Bird's shooting, per the Associated Press (via Fox Sports). "It takes some of the attention away from me. It just slows the defense down when they're trying to double or collapse on me."

Bird's numbers would be even gaudier of late if not for his one-point clunker in Saturday's squeaker win over the Arizona State Sun Devils. Bears fans have to hope it's just a blip.

Grayson Allen, Guard, Duke Blue Devils

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Season averages: 21.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, 47.5 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 25.6 ppg, 3.2 apg, 43.8 field-goal percentage

Grayson Allen probably won't get a lot of looks from NBA scouts, but Duke fans likely aren't all that concerned right now.

No way Duke does as well as it has down the stretch—the Blue Devils haven't been world beaters, but they've been better than some might have guessed after big man Amile Jefferson went down for the season in early December—without its scrappy young floor leader and top scorer.

Even as other top Devils like superfrosh Brandon Ingram have started to slow down, Allen has just gotten hotter. Only once has he failed to reach the 20-point mark in the past five contests. He's hit or surpassed 29 points three times in the same span.

Of course, the 2-3 record in that stretch is not what you'd like to see if you're a Duke fan. By the same token, the mark probably would be worse—and February wins over Virginia and North Carolina also would not have happened—without Allen pouring in as much as he has.

Trevon Bluiett, Guard, Xavier Musketeers

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Season averages: 15.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.4 apg

Last five games: 16.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.4 apg

Xavier is probably not under the radar anymore as a national title contender. Any notoriety it gets as it rolls into March is well-deserved.

All the team has done since January 26 is rip off nine wins in 11 games, with victories over then-top-ranked Villanova, Providence twice and Butler, among others.

At the tip of the Musketeers' rapier is Trevon Bluiett, who leads Xavier in scoring and is second in rebounds. He's a Swiss army knife of a player for a Swiss army knife of a squad, a deep group that plays well on both ends and doesn't have many glaring weaknesses. 

Bluiett isn't amazing in any one area, but the sophomore guard is hard to ruffle and harder to deny.

Damian Jones, Center, Vanderbilt Commodores

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Season averages: 14.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 59.4 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 16.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 68.6 field-goal percentage

Things are clicking for junior Damian Jones. By extension, things are going well for Vanderbilt, as well.

Second on the team in scoring and rebounding, Jones has shined during the Commodores' recent return from the land of wind and ghosts. Wins in the past month or so over Kentucky, Texas A&M, Florida and others have a once-unlikely Big Dance appearance looking more and more viable. Not too shabby for a squad that was 12-9 and 4-4 in the SEC when the calendar flipped to February.

Jones doing it on both ends of the court, too. The big man's 95.1 defensive rating is fifth in the SEC, his 6.0 block percentage is seventh and his 1.7 defensive win shares and 4.9 defensive box plus/minus are both ninth, according to College Basketball Reference.

Gabe York, Guard, Arizona Wildcats

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Season averages: 15.0 ppg, 2.4 apg, 42.6 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 16.2 ppg, 2.2 apg, 43.9 field-goal percentage

With all its injuries this season, Arizona at several points wasn't expected to be a real Pac-12 contender.

Things have changed, and that's thanks in big part to senior guard Gabe York.

Over the past two games, there may be no hotter scorer in the entire country than York, at least at the power-conference level. On Thursday against Cal, York poured in 19 points—including the game-winning three with 19 seconds left.

On Saturday against the Stanford Cardinal, York celebrated senior day in Tucson with nine three-pointers and a career-best 32 points. 

The Wildcats are a surprising 8-2 in the past 10 contests and are looking frisky for the postseason. Arizona fans have York to thank for that.

Jaysean Paige, Guard, West Virginia Mountaineers

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Season averages: 14.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 46.6 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 18.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 43.8 field-goal percentage

The strangest thing about these stats? Jaysean Paige doesn't even start.

It doesn't seem to matter much to Paige, who leads the Mountaineers in scoring despite coming off the bench. During the four-game win streak that has WVU back up to second in the Big 12, Paige has been a house on fire. The stretch culminated with a career-high 34 points in a win over Iowa State.

Paige is emblematic of his team's swarming style, as coach Bob Huggins typically plays an 11-man rotation. 

"Our strength is in our numbers," Paige recently told the Associated Press (via USA Today). "The way we play, we need guys to come in and give us solid minutes and guys that come and give some guys breathers. It's just constant attacking."

After a bit of a dip in the middle of the season, Paige and the entire gang of Mounties appear to be peaking at the right time for postseason success.

Denzel Valentine, Forward, Michigan State Spartans

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Season averages: 19.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 7.5 apg 

Last five games: 20.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 9.0 apg 

I'm not exactly breaking any news here, but no player at the sport's top levels is more important to his team's success than Denzel Valentine is to Michigan State's. 

The basic stats bear that out: He leads the team in scoring and assists and is second in rebounds. That's a complete player.

This isn't coach Tom Izzo's most balanced or talented team, and yet, here it sits at second in the tough Big Ten after a six-game winning streak. Izzo deserves a large share of that credit. Valentine's share may be even larger.

In fact, Valentine is probably a lock for conference Player of the Year honors. Alongside Oklahoma Sooners sharpshooter Buddy Hield, Valentine is one of the favorites to reap top national recognitions.

"Denzel Valentine and Buddy Hield are probably 1A and 1B right now on my Wooden [Award] watch list," CBS Sports's Sam Vecenie said recently. "It wouldn't surprise me if either ended up taking home the hardware.

Malcolm Brogdon, Guard, Virginia Cavaliers

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Season averages: 18.4 ppg, 2.8 apg, 47.4 field-goal percentage

Last five games: 22.2 ppg, 2.6 apg, 55.5 field-goal percentage

If there's a hotter college basketball player in the nation right now, I have no idea who it is.

Malcolm Brogdon is keying the Cavs to No. 1 seed contention, thanks to a recent 4-1 streak that includes wins over the North Carolina Tar Heels and Louisville Cardinals. His shooting has been white-hot from two- and three-point range. In the case of the latter, he's converting a crisp 50 percent of his attempts in the last five games.

If Brogdon can keep this going, Virginia has to be the favorite to win the ACC tournament and erase the bad taste of last year's early exit from the dance.

All statistics are accurate as of March 8 and courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.