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

Stats: 20.5 ppg, 5.5 apg, 4.3 rpg

Payton Pritchard led Oregon to the Pac-12 regular-season championship while leading the conference in both points and assists, accomplishments that merit All-American honors on their own.

Yet the most impressive thing about Pritchard’s play this past season was his ability to come through when the Ducks needed him the most.

It started in the third game of the season against a fully healthy Memphis team, where he hit the dagger that put the game away for good.

Then there was the game at Michigan, where he scored 15 of Oregon’s last 17 points to lead the Ducks to the victory. With the Wolverines being ranked No. 5 in the country at the time, it is the highest-ranked team Oregon has ever beaten during non-conference play.

Then there was the shot against Washington…

…and the 38 points he scored against Arizona…

…anyways, you get the picture. Pritchard had some of the season’s most special moments, and it’s those moments that really carry his candidacy.

A mid-February slump in which he struggled (Oregon went 2-3 in those five games) did take a lot of the momentum away from his candidacy – it’s why he’s rarely mentioned with the top two players on this list – but Pritchard had just about as good of a season as anyone. You just may not have heard as much about it because he plays on the West Coast.