NCAA Men's Tournament 2022: Ranking the Top 20 Players in the Sweet 16
It's time for this season's greats to stamp their images on the college basketball consciousness. It just might not be who we were expecting.
The madness has danced its dance, and six of the 15 Wooden Award finalists are out of the building. So it goes. Meanwhile, other stars have ascended, hot streaks have been kindled, and diamonds have emerged from the rough.
These are the 20 best players in the Sweet 16 field. Some are names you already know, some may be new but are still making big impacts on their teams (and opponents).
They're ranked here based on performance in the tournament and overall season play. In other words, and this is important to understand, the question we're trying to address is: Who would you most want on your team right now? This is not an NBA mock draft or a debate over the National Player of the Year (that will likely be Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe, one of the early-round casualties).
So, recent performance gets a lot of weight as we look to see who has the most momentum heading into the second weekend. All right, here goes.
Nos. 20-16
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20. Noah Horchler, Forward, Providence
Providence just keeps chugging along, and Horchler has been its most consistent weapon. He's averaging 14.5 points per game on 11-of-22 (50 percent) shooting and has gotten hot at the right time from three, where he's converted 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) attempts. His 11.5 rebounds per game are seventh among all players in the Sweet 16 field.
19. Taze Moore, Guard, Houston
Moore is averaging 15.0 points on 13-of-26 shooting and 5.5 rebounds per contest in the tourney.
But that doesn't tell the whole story; it never does with Houston. Moore excels at the little things. In the round of 32, his defense helped hold all of Illinois' non-Kofi Cockburn starters to 19 total points. His 4.5 defensive box plus/minus led the Cougars and was third in the AAC.
18. Kevin Obanor, Guard, Texas Tech
The Oral Roberts transfer is back in the postseason and flourishing again. He's one of an astounding five Red Raiders with a defensive win share of at least 2.0, all of whom ranked in the Big 12 top 10 for that category.
In this year's dance, he's averaging 12.5 points and 13.0 rebounds per contest, the latter of which ties him for second among all players still in the tournament. Teammate Bryson Williams also has a case to be here, but Obanor has carried the heavier load, with 29.5 minutes played per game compared with 20.0 for Williams.
17. Ochai Agbaji, Guard, Kansas
It's been a relatively quiet tourney for the First Team All-America. Jayhawks nation certainly has to hope he does better than the 5-of-14 (35.7 percent) he's scraped out in each of the two Big Dance contests. That gives him an average of 13.0 points per game—well below his season average of 19.3. But he's come on recently, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half against Creighton. And there's a good chance he'll be tough for Providence to handle.
16. Mark Williams, Center, Duke
Duke's semi-secret weapon scored 15 points in each tournament game on a combined 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) shooting. He also blocked a combined 10 shots and grabbed 15 total rebounds in those two games. And he makes all the hustle plays, like tapping the ball back out to a teammate after a missed shot. I call those hockey rebounds.
Nos. 15-11
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15. Charlie Moore, Guard, Miami
Moore is the straw that stirs the Hurricanes.
The veteran knows what his team needs, and he goes out and gets it. He doesn't have the scoring pop of teammates Isaiah Wong or Kameron McGusty, but he is consistent, contributing 15.5 points per game on 47.4 percent shooting in the tournament.
But his leadership has been best illustrated by his 6.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game—not that bad for a guard listed at 5'11". Both of those marks are well over his respective season averages of 4.6 and 2.7. He has added 3.5 steals, which ranks him second among players still dancing.
14. Armando Bacot, Forward, North Carolina
Bacot is the consummate glass cleaner, delivering 13 boards per game, tying him for second in the Sweet 16 field. But he's also contributing 16 points (all without attempting a three), two blocks and one steal per contest.
13. Collin Gillespie, Guard, Villanova
Gillespie finished fourth in the Big East with 16 points per game, second in total points with 559, 11th with 3.4 helpers and second with a 90.2 percent free-throw percentage. Through two tourney games, the steady floor leader has stayed true to form and been a model of consistency, averaging 17 points, four assists and a perfect 100 percent from the stripe—all while catalyzing one of the best offenses remaining in the dance.
12. Tyger Campbell, Guard, UCLA
The lion's share of the attention goes to Johnny Juzang, but Campbell is UCLA's tournament MVP to date.
The Bruins' assists leader and primary ball-handler has matching 16-point efforts in the first two rounds to go with 4.5 helpers to just 1.5 turnovers per game. He's done it with 50 percent shooting from the floor and hasn't missed a free throw in nine attempts.
With the team struggling in the first round against an upset-minded Akron squad, Campbell scored eight points in the final three minutes, including a critical three that made it a two-possession game with about a minute left. With Juzang and Jaime Jaquez Jr. shooting a combined 6-of-21 on the night (28.6 percent), the Bruins needed every point from Campbell, and he came through with flying colors.
11. Remy Martin, Guard, Kansas
Now fully recovered from a lingering knee bruise that cost him seven games midseason, Martin is hitting on all cylinders, carrying the Jayhawks for long stretches while Agbaji runs hot and cold. In two tournament games, Martin is averaging 17.5 points, 4.0 assists and 0.5 turnovers. The Jayhawks wouldn't still be in this tournament without his 20 points against Creighton.
10. Kyler Edwards, Guard, Houston
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The most valuable Houston Cougar still stands out on a team that prides itself on depth and balance. For a squad made up largely of transfers, this Texas Tech transplant has helped this group jell, and he's doing it again in the tournament.
You can't argue with the 20 points per game he's put up thus far. His shooting has been streaky but still effective in the aggregate (45.2 percent overall, 50.0 percent from three). His defense has been a difference-maker for KenPom.com's 10th-ranked defense. In the opening round, Edwards helped stifle UAB top scorer Jordan "Jelly" Walker to the point he went just 1-of-10 from three.
Further, despite being just 6'4", Edwards has pulled down 6.5 boards per game in the dance.
"I thought Kyler was the best defensive player in this league," head coach Kelvin Sampson said back at the American Athletic Conference tournament, per Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle. "I told my team that, and I'll tell you that. On the No. 1 defensive team in the league, Kyler is our best defensive player. It must mean something."
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9. Chet Holmgren, Center, Gonzaga
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A few months from now, Chet Holmgren will be a rich, rich man. Until then, he'll have to settle for being one of the best centers in college basketball.
Projected as the No. 2 pick in the most recent NBA mock draft by Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman, the 7'0" Holmgren packs a great deal of speed and athleticism into that wiry frame. He plays the game with a hint of a snarl; there's not a ton of finesse there.
In the rounds of 64 and 32, Holmgren averaged a relatively humble 14 points, with a nine-point effort against Memphis dragging down his average. That game saw him take just seven shots.
What he really needs to do is stop shooting threes; he hasn't made one in nine attempts in his last three games. Without the five tries from deep he's taken in the tourney, he'd be shooting 80 percent. With them, he's shooting 60 percent—a significant drop when you're not taking a ton of shots.
His total worth is best measured by contributions on both ends of the floor, though. He leads all players still active in the tourney with 5.5 blocks per game and is tied for second with Bacot with 13 rebounds per contest.
8. Isaiah Wong, Guard, Miami
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Isaiah Wong is Miami's top scorer in the tournament, averaging 21.5 points per contest on 50 percent shooting. The 6'3" guard works mainly in close and is adept at drawing contact. So far, he's 13-of-14 from the line.
That scoring number has him seventh among players active in the Sweet 16. He's adding five rebounds per game, a testament to his comfort level among the tall trees.
Speaking of which, who could forget his dunk on Jabari Smith as the Hurricanes were on their way to thumping Auburn out of the tournament? Wong is emblematic of Miami's high-octane, high-efficiency small ball attack.
7. Paolo Banchero, Forward, Duke
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A lot is made of Paolo Banchero's NBA-ready, 6'10", 250-pound frame, but he's so much more than a prototype body.
I keep coming back to a play he made in the second half against Michigan State, where he drove to the basket, bobbled the ball, regained control as he was careening out of bounds and then tossed it in off the glass for an and-1. That sort of nimbleness is hard to find in a player that size.
The Duke Blue Devils needed every one of his 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists and one block to take down the Spartans. They'll need a similar effort against Texas Tech, KenPom's top defense in the land.
Texas Tech will throw a lot of bodies at Banchero, harassing him at every turn. The All-American will surely see a lot of the hard-nosed Marcus Santos-Silva, who at 6'7" and 250 pounds has the physicality to deal with Banchero, at least on the inside.
But you have to think the Duke star is up to the challenge. He's shooting 53.6 percent from the floor in the tourney, including 44.4 percent from three. His 8.5 rebounds are not too shabby either. All three numbers are significantly higher than his season averages of 47.8, 31.7 and 7.9, respectively.
He's a threat from anywhere on the court, and even a school like Texas Tech will have to work hard to slow him down.
6. Jaden Ivey, Guard, Purdue
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Jaden Ivey is averaging a crisp 20 points per tournament game for Purdue. Here's an interesting stat: He's shooting a perfect 50 percent both overall (10-of-20) and from three (5-of-10).
He didn't play as much in the team's first-round drubbing of Yale, but he came alive at the right time against No. 6 Texas with two huge late-game threes to seal the win.
It was the last of those that set the internet on fire. Ivey shook off his defender like a dog shaking off a rain squall and then with utter calm elevated from the top of the key to drain the three, which extended the Purdue lead to 77-71, making it a two-possession game and, it turned out, putting the contest out of reach. The moment had social media going nuts, with the likes of Ja Morant getting on Twitter to dap Ivey's effort.
Now that's how you become a star.
5. Christian Koloko, Center, Arizona
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Christian Koloko's signature moment from this tournament had just a tiny bit of wider importance. His emphatic dunk with about 10 seconds remaining in overtime clinched Arizona's win over TCU and a berth into the Sweet 16.
But those were only two of his 28 points, which came on an unreal 12-of-13 field-goal makes. It brought his average to 22.5 points for the tournament, which is fifth among players still active in the dance.
Not enough? He's also averaging 12.5 rebounds, which ties him for fifth in the field; his six offensive rebounds are tops. Just for fun, he also has four blocks and four assists per game.
Bennedict Mathurin gets a lot of the attention in Arizona, but the Wildcats wouldn't be nearly this good (and would not be a Sweet 16 team) without Koloko's length and dynamism around the basket and his ability to serve as a long big man who can run the court with the team that has the nation's fifth-highest tempo.
4. Hunter Dickinson, Center, Michigan
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The way Hunter Dickinson creates space for himself down low is a thing to behold. People fawn over Drew Timme's footwork, but the Michigan big man is right up there.
In the round of 32, Tennessee had no choice but to watch as the 7'1" center bludgeoned it for 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 11 rebounds. He even hit a trio of three-pointers.
His 24 points per game ties him for third among players still in the tournament. Don't think about hacking Hunter either; he's 13-of-15 from the stripe.
Villanova's guard-centric rotation is going to struggle with Dickinson. The Wildcats' best hope against him is forwards Eric Dixon and Jermaine Samuels, who are only 6'8" and 6'7", respectively.
3. Brady Manek, Forward, North Carolina
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It's a shame North Carolina forward Brady Manek's stellar tournament has been undermined by that flagrant-foul drama. In that moment against Baylor, he was the game's leading scorer with 26 points, and his ejection caused the Tar Heels to careen off the rails and blow a 25-point lead before finally pulling the second-round win out of the fire in overtime.
Manek was third on the team this season with 15.1 points per game, but the 6'9" graduate transfer has exploded recently, averaging 21.2 over the team's last six contests, including 27.0 per game in the tournament—good for second among still-active players behind only Drew Timme.
Manek will be a tough cover for UCLA, whose rotation tends to be more guard-heavy. Manek can do it from inside or out; he's 9-of-10 from two-point range and 9-of-18 from three. That, as they say, is a load.
2. Bennedict Mathurin, Guard, Arizona
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As Bennedict Mathurin goes, so go these Arizona Wildcats. And they're going.
From the regular season, Mathurin's advanced stats tell a compelling story. He led the Pac-12 in win shares (6.1) and offensive win shares (3.9) and ranked tied for first in offensive box plus/minus (6.2). He's an offensive machine, and defenses are hard pressed to handle him.
The projected NBA lottery pick is averaging 24 points per game in the tournament on 40.5 percent shooting. This included a 30-point outburst against TCU that surely cemented him as a household name among sports fans everywhere.
His three-pointer sent the game to overtime, and his six timely points in the extra period sealed the deal. This included fighting the ball away from a TCU player for a putback layup that gave the Wildcats an 83-80 lead with about a minute remaining.
It was a forceful display of will that put his team over the top. And those are just the biggest examples from a litany that illustrate his clutchness.
1. Drew Timme, Forward, Gonzaga
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Surprise!
Drew Timme has been one of the best two or three players in the college game for two seasons now, and he's leading from the front in Gonzaga's quest to land that elusive championship.
From a statistical standpoint if nothing else, Timme is ruling over this Sweet 16 field. He leads everyone in scoring (28.5 per game) and rebounds (13.5 per game). He's connecting on 62.2 percent of his attempts from the field on a combined 23-of-37 shooting.
But the intangibles also come into play. It was Timme who rallied the troops as they trailed 41-31 at halftime of the Memphis game, and he proceeded to take over the contest in the second half, scoring 21 of his 25 points after the break.
"What I said was, no matter what happens, no matter what the score is, win or lose, this could very well be the last 20 minutes of basketball you ever play, and go out with no regrets," Timme recalled afterward, per the Associated Press.
With essentially a player-coach in their midst, the Bulldogs will surely be well prepared to break Arkansas out of its rock-fight slump. It just won't be in a good way if you're a Razorbacks fan.
Statistics via Sports Reference and KenPom.com unless otherwise noted.
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