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NCAA Basketball: 5 National Player of the Year candidates midway through 2021-22

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - JANUARY 15: Alondes Williams #31 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 15, 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - JANUARY 15: Alondes Williams #31 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on January 15, 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
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Johnny Davis Wisconsin Badgers NCAA Basketball Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images
Johnny Davis Wisconsin Badgers NCAA Basketball Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

The National Player of the Year race is heating up in the NCAA basketball world as conference play really heats up in the month of February. Check out five early candidates with the potential to take home this year’s award.

6-foot-5 sophomore Johnny Davis, Guard/Wing, Wisconsin Badgers

Sophomore Johnny Davis has Wisconsin basketball back on the rise in the Big Ten basketball ranks and enters as the early favorite to take home the National Player of the Year award. After starting in zero of his 31 appearances in 2020-21, he’s emerged in the starting rotation with 21.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.4 apg, and 1.3 spg on 44.0 percent shooting from the floor and 35.5 percent shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

https://twitter.com/BadgerMBB/status/1488224878880772097?s=20&t=l7JIr-DguW5Llu97nTmKVA

He’s a strong, stocky wing to watch that’s taken over NCAA basketball. He showed off his versatility in their recent victory over Minnesota with a career-high 15 rebounds and showed off his star power in the final minutes by scoring the Badgers’ final six points in a victory to keep at the top of the Big Ten basketball standings.

Davis has gone from not talked about all and catapulted himself into the national spotlight as Wisconsin basketball recovers from a season that saw them go 10-10 in conference play a year ago. Now, he’s in the conversation for National Player of the Year and then some with the Badgers ranked No.11 in the AP Top 25 NCAA Basketball Poll and in a tie with Illinois basketball in the conference standings.