Zion Williamson is still the NCAA Basketball National Player of the Year frontrunner, but Grant Williams is now the clear No. 2. How does the rest of the race look?
It’s hard to believe we’re already into February and, as the NCAA Basketball season approaches the stretch run towards the postseason, so does the National Player of the Race.
A handful of contenders have really separated themselves from the pack and, as such, we’ve cut our list down from 10 contenders to eight. The time for participation trophies is over.
Notable players like Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, and Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver are not on this list this time around. The best of the best are the only players that are legitimately still in the race at this point. Those players (and others like them) are certainly worthy of All-American consideration, yet they’re all but out of the POY race.
That can obviously change in the coming weeks – there’s still a month left in the season, after all – and some of these eight candidates might fall off this list. But, it’s time to really start narrowing things down.
Grant Williams has taken full advantage of this time of year, taking his game to yet another level while leading the No. 1 team in the country. He’s averaging 26.5 points over Tennessee’s last four games, three of which were hotly contested games – until Williams would take over down the stretch.
This surge has Williams firmly entrenched as Zion Williamson’s (yes, he’s still very clearly at the top) biggest challenger. How does the rest of the race shake out behind them? Find out in our new National Player of the Year Power Rankings:
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