NCAA Basketball: Powell, Garza lead National Player of the Year Power Rankings
By Brian Rauf
The group of legitimate NCAA Basketball National Player of the Year contenders has thinned, with Seton Hall’s Myles Powell and Iowa’s Luka Garza leading.
The NCAA Basketball season is getting into the heart of conference play as February approaches and, as the best teams have started to separate themselves from the rest of the country and/or the rest of their conference, the same thing is happening in the National Player of the Year race.
As of now, there are only six legitimate candidates that appear to be in the running. Players like Louisville’s Jordan Nwora and Duke’s Vernon Carey Jr. have fallen off over the last few weeks, taking themselves out of the race for now. Other fringe contenders, like Marquette’s Markus Howard, simply haven’t moved the needle enough to be considered more than that.
Of course, none of this means one of those players – or someone else, for that matter – can’t still be named National Player of the Year. There are still seven weeks before Selection Sunday (we’re getting close!) and countless meaningful games between now and then.
However, at this point, there simply aren’t many players who have dominated throughout the entirety of the season so far (which is one of the reasons why there is so much parity but, I digress). These six have easily been the most notable performers with worthy combinations of production, impact, “Heisman moments,” and team success.
Who are the current top six players in the National Player of the Year race, and how do they stack up against each other? Find out in the latest edition of our Power Rankings: