Updated Player of the Year Rankings for College Basketball in 2016-17

This college basketball season keeps taking wacky turns. UCLA and Kentucky have both lost two straight games in the past week, Duke had a losing record in the ACC until its current two-game winning streak and the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the AP Top 25 poll are Baylor and Gonzaga.

But while the teams at the top of the polls play hot potato, the two leading candidates for National Player of the Year remain steady.

It is a two-man race between Kansas' Frank Mason III and Villanova's Josh Hart, even more so now that UCLA's struggles have Lonzo Ball's stock dropping. Mason and Hart have been consistently productive, and their teams have remained in the Top Five since Week 3 of the season.

It's important to remember that team success typically plays a big part in determining the NPOY, and that's why all 10 players on this list play for Top 25 squads. And as long as Kansas and Villanova stick near the top, their stars will likely remain out front.

Also considered: Lauri Markkanen (Arizona), Sindarius Thornwell (South Carolina), Joel Berry II (North Carolina), Justin Jackson (North Carolina), Donovan Mitchell (Louisville).

10. Luke Kennard, Duke

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Previous rank: 8

Duke appears to be trending in the right direction after Luke Kennard saved his team at Wake Forest with a monster second half (30 of his 34 points) and the game-winner. The Blue Devils carried that momentum over to Monday night's 10-point win at Notre Dame.

If the Devils are finally right and Kennard's game-winner at Wake is where it all turned, then that's a big boost for his candidacy—and he'll shoot up these rankings in the coming weeks. His numbers (20.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 2.5 APG) warrant inclusion.

9. Jock Landale, Saint Mary's

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Previous rank: 9

Jock Landale gets the Wisconsin bump. The "Wisconsin bump" is viewing a player's per-game averages through a different lens because of Wisconsin's pace of play.

The Gaels play at the slowest pace in college hoops, according to KenPom.com, so Landale's numbers (16.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.1 BPG) are even better than they look on paper.

The big Aussie has also made 63.2 percent of his twos, which is an impressive rate for such a heavy usage. His 121.4 offensive rating ranks third nationally for players who use at least 28 percent of their teams' possessions, per KenPom.com.

8. Ethan Happ, Wisconsin

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Previous rank: Not ranked

Ethan Happ is arguably the most valuable two-way big man in the country with footwork that leaves opposing big men dizzy and a sneaky ability to rack up steals on the defensive end.

Happ ranks 15th nationally in steals rate, according to KenPom.com, and he's the only player taller than 6'6" to rank in the top 50.

The 6'10" sophomore also had his best performance of the season (32 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals at Rutgers) on Saturday. Happ saved the Badgers from what would have been a bad loss. He made 12 of 18 shots, while the rest of the team was 8-of-42 from the field. He then followed that up with another solid night on Tuesday, logging 14 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Illinois to make it six straight for Wisconsin. 

7. Johnathan Motley, Baylor

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Previous rank: 10

Johnathan Motley is playing the best basketball of his life, which is good timing for Baylor as it heads to Kansas on Wednesday. The Bears have a chance to take the conference lead and put KU's Big 12 title streak in jeopardy.

Motley is a nightmare matchup for the small-ball Jayhawks, who have made multiple post players look like All-Americans this season. In Big 12 play, the top scoring big man in each game against KU has scored 8.9 points per game above his season average. If Motley (16.2 PPG) is able to do that, he'll put up 25 against the Jayhawks.

Motley is already averaging 22.0 points and 11.5 rebounds over his last four games.

6. Malik Monk, Kentucky

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Previous rank: 5

I wrote last week about the freedom Kentucky head coach John Calipari allows Malik Monk to operate under. The Wildcats have never been as reliant on one scorer in the Coach Cal era. 

This is a dangerous way to live because Monk can take some highly questionable shots. However, anyone watching him on Tuesday night against Georgia saw the reward. Monk caught fire, sent the game to overtime with a clutch jumper and then dropped multiple daggers in overtime. All closely guarded. A closer look at the numbers also suggests Calipari should embrace Monk toeing the line of questionable shot selection.

Entering Tuesday's game against Georgia, Monk was scoring 1.44 points per possession on catch-and-shoot jumpers when guarded, according to Synergy Sports Technology. On unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers, he was scoring 1.16 points per possession.

5. Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga

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Previous rank: 7

The numbers for Nigel Williams-Goss are not going to knock your socks off (14.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.9 APG and 1.6 SPG), but the point guard deserves a lot of credit for Gonzaga's team success.

Williams-Goss is capable of putting up better numbers if he wanted—he did so two years ago at Washington—but the reason the Zags have such an effective offense is their balance. They have seven players averaging eight points or more.

Williams-Goss realizes that spreading the wealth is a good thing. The Zags are the second-most efficient team on post-ups in America, per Synergy, so Williams-Goss makes sure his bigs get plenty of touches. He wisely picks his moments to attack.

His placement is also sort of a team award. When a team gets this deep into the season undefeated, its best player is deserving of getting a vote for first-team All-American.

4. Lonzo Ball, UCLA

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Previous rank: 3

Lonzo Ball drops a spot this week after UCLA lost back-to-back games against Arizona and USC. There are major questions about whether the Bruins are a national title contender with a defense that ranks 125th in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.com.

Ball was good in the loss to Arizona (24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, eight assists and just one turnover), but he did have one of his worst games in the loss at USC (15 points on 7-of-17 shooting, four assists and a season-high seven turnovers).

Ball is close to a lock for a first-team All-American spot because he's the pilot of the best (and most fun) offense in America.

Should he also get some blame for such a cruddy defense? Yes...but with an asterisk.

Ball is only allowing 0.693 points per possession when his man finishes a play, according to Synergy, which is the top mark among UCLA's rotation players. There's much more that goes into defense than simply stopping your man, but do not automatically assume Ball is a crappy defender because he plays on a bad defense.

3. Caleb Swanigan, Purdue

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Previous rank: 4

In Big Ten games, Caleb Swanigan is averaging 18.9 PPG and 12.9 RPG and shooting 47.8 percent from three-point range.

Swanigan is stacking up silly lines every night as a low-post beast, rebound eater, three-point threat and distributor. (His passing gets overlooked because of everything else he does, but he's averaging 3.0 assists per game.)

It's gotten to the point where the question is not whether Swanigan will finish with a double-double. It is whether he'll have a 20-20 game. (He's done so four times and nearly pulled it off last week with 25 points and 17 boards in a win at Michigan State.)

The only thing holding Swanigan back is team success. Purdue is two games behind first place in the Big Ten and would probably need to win at least a share of the league to put Swanigan in the conversation with Villanova's Josh Hart and Kansas' Frank Mason III for National Player of the Year. But Swanigan is approaching Doug McDermott status; the numbers might just be ridiculous enough for voters to look past the fact that he's not on a Top 10 team.

2. Josh Hart, Villanova

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Previous rank: 2

Josh Hart's drive to the bucket in the final seconds against Virginia on Sunday could have been one of those NPOY moments. (In football, they refer to this as a "Heisman moment.") But even the miss should be part of his NPOY candidacy package.

Hart put himself in position to win the game with an assist from the brilliant Jay Wright. The Villanova head coach drew up a play where Kris Jenkins bluffed a ball screen on Hart's defender, Devon Hall, who took a half-step in anticipation of the screen, which allowed Hart to drive past. Hart then slithered into the lane. By getting to the rim, he drew enough attention to allow Donte DiVincenzo a clear path to tip the ball in for the win at the buzzer.

This was classic Hart. He executed the play perfectly, reading his man and knowing the ideal time to attack. Even though he didn't get the bucket, he gave his team a chance to win by getting there.

1. Frank Mason III, Kansas

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Previous rank: 1

Frank Mason III had an inefficient week by his standards—15 points on 16 shots at West Virginia and 21 points on 18 shots at Kentucky—but for almost anyone else, both outings would have qualified as good games.

Mason outplayed UK's De'Aaron Fox (10 points, two assists and five turnovers) and hit several key shots during KU's second-half comeback, including a lefty floater off the glass that reminded everyone the NPOY favorite was in the house.

He's now down to an almost-human 51.6 percent from three-point range. So he came back to the field slightly in these rankings, but it just shows how good he's been that averaging 18 points and three dimes in two games, including a win at Rupp Arena, qualifies as a so-so week.

C.J. Moore covers college basketball and football for Bleacher Report.