NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Minnesota of last decade

1. Tyus Jones – Duke

It’s fitting that we’ve just covered two high school teammates who starred separately at Gonzaga because today’s top name is a callback to the player ranked #4. We teased that Tre Jones’ brother did tremendous things and we were not kidding at all. This Jones is a 6’1 guard from Apple Valley who was a 5-star recruit, opting to play for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. He spent just a single season with the Blue Devils, but if you know how things went in 2015 then you already know it was a successful campaign.

That season saw Jones average 11.8 points and 5.6 assists per game as Duke’s starting point guard. Among his breakout performances was a 22-point game in a win at Wisconsin in early December, though he was even more dynamic in ACC play. While the Blue Devils were tripped up in the conference tournament, they put together a fantastic postseason run, winning the national championship, with Jones scoring 23 points this time in a title game win over Wisconsin.

The highly-touted freshman point guard was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2015 NCAA Tournament and was also on the All-ACC Third Team. He was near the top of the national leaderboards in assists and free throw shooting, while his steal numbers were among the league leaders. He clearly had a tremendous impact, helping lead Duke to their fifth national title. He was a late first-round draft pick a few months later and has spent the last seven years playing in the NBA, with these last few seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies.

We’re finished with our look at the best college basketball players from the last decade from the state of Minnesota; were there any players we may have overlooked or underrated on our rankings today?