March Madness: Who are the best seniors left in the NCAA Tournament?

1. Jevon Carter, West Virginia Mountaineers

Yes, all three of the seniors on this list hail from the Big 12 – kudos to the conference on that. And sure, placing Jevon Carter above Graham seems sacrilegious in the eyes of conference player of the year voters.

But Carter is just too important to ignore anymore.

The two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year is getting it done on both ends of the court. Against Murray State, he attempted just one three-pointer, missing it. Didn’t matter, because he dished eight assists while turning the ball over just twice.

Against Marshall, he found his three-point stroke, making five of seven shots en route to 28 points, his most in over two months. Oh, and he did that in just 29 minutes, receiving plenty of rest with the game in hand.

West Virginia beat their two opponents by a combined 40 points. Carter recorded a combined 49 points and 11 steals in those games, overwhelming opponents on both ends.

This is the third time Carter has reached the Sweet Sixteen in his career. The first trip resulted in an embarrassing blowout to Kentucky, while the second ended with a close loss to Gonzaga. Villanova is another massive roadblock in the way of Carter’s first Elite Eight.

Next: Ranking the Sweet 16 teams

There’s no senior who’s better set up to succeed in this moment.