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

Stats: 21.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.9 apg

While Azubuike rose down the stretch, Myles Powell was dealing with knee tendinitis that led to a shooting slump and contributed to Seton Hall’s 5-5 finish to the regular season. Despite his inconsistent and inefficient close, Powell deserves this nod as a National Player of the Year finalist.

At the end of January, Powell was averaging over 22 points per game, had Seton Hall on a 10-game win streak, and was responsible for some of the most electric performances of the season.

He had three games in which he scored at least 32 points, and all of those came away from home. That was where he did his best work, averaging 25.8 points in Seton Hall’s nine road games in Big East play (7-2). Oh yeah, there were 12 other games in which he scored at least 23, routinely coming up clutch for the Pirates and leading them to a share their first conference title since 1993.

Powell was named Big East Player of the Year for his efforts, and head coach Kevin Willard credited the senior’s work ethic when speaking with the New York Post.

"“Myles is kind of what we strive for in our program, which is getting guys individually better. He exemplifies what we do. “He was extremely determined when he came in to be a great player. A lot of kids talk about wanting to be great and a lot of kids go out Thursday nights, go out Friday nights. He wasn’t one of those kids. He was a kid who was dedicated and did what he could to be great.”"

Still, as great as Powell was and as good as his season was, that sputtering down the stretch keeps him outside of the top three.