NCAA Basketball: Carey, Winston lead National Player of the Year race
By Brian Rauf
Who is leading the National Player of the Year race in NCAA Basketball at the start of the new year? We rank the top 10 contenders in our power rankings.
Hard to believe that we’re already about halfway through the NCAA Basketball season as we’re over two months in, and there is almost no mystery surrounding teams or individual players anymore. We’ve seen teams play enough games that we generally know who’s good and who’s not, and the same goes for the nation’s top players.
And the National Player of the Year race is as wide open as any year in recent memory. There is no Zion Williamson running away with the award this year (he had all but locked up his victory at this time), and there’s not even a heavy favorite like a Frank Mason or Jalen Brunson.
That said, several players have made legitimate cases to this point and are right in the thick of things at the start of conference play. Here are the top 10 in our updated National Player of the Year Power Rankings.
Previous: 6th. Markus Howard. 10. player. 474. .
Stats: 28.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.0 apg
The reigning Big East Player of the Year has been as dominant as ever at times this year, scoring 51 points against USC and 40 against Davidson. He also scored 38 in a season-opening win over Loyola and 39 in Marquette’s most recent game against Providence.
However, there are several factors keeping Markus Howard from being a serious contender at this point. For starters, his production has been inconsistent. He was held to six points against Maryland – the game immediately following his 51-point performance – highlighting his struggles in some of Marquette’s biggest games.
There’s also the fact that the Golden Eagles haven’t quite lived up to expectations. They’re just 2-4 in games against KenPom top 70 teams and only have one win (Villanova) against a team currently ranked.
In a sense, Howard is a victim of his own success. Expectations for him are so high that he has to clear a higher bar than most others in order to impress. He has done enough from an individual standpoint to put himself in the conversation, but he won’t rise up the list until he leads the Golden Eagles to some more quality wins.