NCAA Basketball: Toppin tightens grip on National Player of the Year race
By Brian Rauf
Obi Toppin has put himself firmly in the lead in NCAA Basketball’s National Player of the Year race as Markus Howard re-emerges as a contender.
Hard to believe that the NCAA Basketball season only has a month left before Selection Sunday – conference tournaments start in two and a half weeks! – and the National Player of the Year race is still very much undecided, although Dayton’s Obi Toppin appears to be putting himself in front with his continued run of dominance.
That said, instead of the race tightening down to fewer candidates at this time of the year, the list of top-end contenders has actually expanded. After weeks of this being a four-man race between Toppin, Luka Garza, Myles Powell, and Payton Pritchard, star Marquette guard Markus Howard has put his name in the mix.
Always an elite scorer (he leads the nation in points per game), Howard has also cut down on turnovers, maintained a solid assist rate, and is vastly improved defensively, as compellingly laid out by Alan Bykowski of CrackedSidewalks.com. All that has helped Marquette regain their footing in the top 25, setting themselves up for a potential run through March.
Though time is running out, Howard also has shown the blueprint for other fringe contenders getting back into the National Player of the Year race. A marquee performance or two on a national stage, combined with team success, can do wonders for your buzz in this area.
So, while the list is only up to five players this week, several others are flirting around the edges waiting to breakthrough. Duke’s Vernon Carey, Gonzaga’s Filip Petrusev, Kansas’ Devon Dotson, and San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn are all in position to rise should they take advantage of the regular season’s final weeks.
How does Howard factor into what is now the top five legitimate National Player of the Year contenders? What other movement has there been among the other four?
Find out in our latest National Player of the Year Power Rankings.