The 2018 NCAA Tournament is starting up. Who are the players that will ultimately decide it’s outcome?
March Madness has been in full swing since the conference tournaments have been underway. But now that Selection Sunday is over and done with, it’s time to turn our focus to the 68 teams left, more importantly – the key players.
We all know the names of the blue bloods that we’ve been watching all year-long on the Dukes, Kentucky’s and Michigan States of the world, but March is also time for the no-name heroes to come out of nowhere to steal the show.
Assuming that each team has around 12 scholarship players, there are around 850 players that will be eligible to participate in this year’s event. So I decided to do a rankings list for the top players.
Now here’s the problem. I didn’t want to do a normal rankings of the “top players”, because just the Selection Committee has been trending, it would’ve been completely unfair to the mid-majors guys, who very well could be as good as their power conference counterparts.
Also, based solely on talent I could include Duke’s bench players on this list over other team’s starters. Besides, I wanted to include all 68 teams, no matter how small or irrelevant they may seem.
So here’s how I did it. It’s a top-100 list of players that will decide this tournament. Meaning that what’s the likelihood that they’ll have an impact. Mid-major players who could take their team on a run will be ranked higher that those who are likely one-and-dones.
Power conference players who are talented, but doesn’t have to play great for their team to win will be docked a bit. Those who must play great for their team to advance will be placed higher.
These rankings aren’t a prediction of how team’s will perform, but rather the impact they’ll have on this tournament. Hope I made it as clear as possible so that people aren’t too confused. Everyone will be listed with their bio and stats, with a little commentary on them as well.
Each team is represented, so see where the player on your favorite squad is, with the 100 players that will decide the 2018 NCAA Tournament.