NCAA Basketball: Best player from each conference entering January 2019

America East: Anthony Lamb, Vermont

The top player in the America East is easily Vermont’s Anthony Lamb.

The junior forward is averaging 22 points and seven rebounds per game, while guiding the Catamounts to an NCAA Tournament berth as a freshman in 2017.

Lamb’s team is 9-4 this season, and is the favorite to win the America East outright. Lamb should have another opportunity to prove himself on a national stage in March, and once again, he’ll make Vermont a serious Cinderella pick.

Lamb leads the America East in points per game by three points, and there really isn’t any other player that comes close to challenging Lamb for the title. One can argue that Lamb was the America East’s top player last season as well, even though UMBC had a couple of great players on their squad.

American Athletic Conference: B.J. Taylor, UCF

UCF isn’t the best team in the AAC. They might not even be top three.

But they have the top player in senior guard B.J. Taylor. Taylor is averaging 17.5 points per game on the season, and has lifted the Knights to a 10-2 record in non-conference play.

On December 11th, Taylor scored 35 points against Georgia Southern to lead UCF to a big win over a good opponent. Taylor is the surefire leader of this Knights’ team, and has no problem coming up big in big situations.

Houston, one of just four remaining unbeaten teams in the country, has a couple of really good players. As does Cincinnati. However, a couple of key departures last season (namely from Wichita State, Houston and Cincinnati) has made the AAC a little thin talent-wise, and therefore UCF’s B.J. Taylor is the top player.