NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 5 Naismith Trophy finalists for 2019-20

The Naismith Trophy is given out annually to NCAA Basketball’s National Player of the Year. Here is how we rank the five finalists for the 2019-20 season.

If you are still reeling from the unexpected end of the NCAA Basketball season knowing that there are normally tournament games on right now, that is perfectly understandable. But, with no more games set until November (let’s all cry together), we can already look back at the season that was and the players that dominated it.

On Tuesday, the Naismith Trophy – given annually to the nation’s best player by the Atlanta Tipoff Club – announced their five finalists.

In a release, Atlanta Tipoff Club executive director Eric Oberman praised all five players while acknowledging the awkwardness of how the season ended.

"“Each of these finalists enjoyed an incredible season, and all of them deserve to win the Citizen Naismith Trophy. Their talent and skill on the court make them worthy of Player of the Year, and although we won’t see them in postseason play, we believe it is important to still honor their accomplishments.”"

Marquette’s Markus Howard and Kansas’ Devon Dotson both also had legitimate cases to be name finalists for the award but were passed over for the other five (Duke’s Vernon Carey, Maryland’s Jalen Smith, and San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn were also semifinalists along with Howard and Dotson).

While there are five left, obviously only one player can win the award. How will team success be measured against phenomenal individual numbers? Will a finalist be hurt in any way for playing at the mid-major level? Or on the West Coast?

All of these questions will be answered when the award is officially handed out on April 3, but who should be favored? Let’s rank the five finalists.