NCAA Basketball: 2022-23 Christmas wishlist for each top 25 team

14. Duke Blue Devils – Jeremy Roach remaining consistent in ACC play

Duke has had a ton of injuries, including five-star freshmen, Dariq Whitehead and Dereck Lively. They’ve also had to deal with junior point guard Roach being hurt with a toe issue. He’s been back but has struggled in two of the past three games, scoring six and nine points against Boston College and Wake Forest respectively. They lost to the Demon Deacons on the road this past week.

Outside of freshman and leading scorer/rebounder Kyle Filipowski, there aren’t many consistent options for the Blue Devils on a nightly basis. Roach has to be one of them if they’ll be a contender in both the ACC and NCAA Tournament. The veteran has shown the ability to have big nights but has to avoid those low-scoring outputs in league play.

13. UCLA Bruins – Continued growth from Amari Bailey

After back-to-back wins over Maryland and Kentucky, the Bruins are on an eight-game winning streak and enters Pac-12 play with plenty of momentum. The veterans on the roster are playing as expected, with both Jaime Jaquez and Jaylen Clark playing at an all-conference level, while Tyger Campbell and David Singleton are producing in the backcourt. They’ve also gotten more help from Amari Bailey, a five-star freshmen guard that has had some ups and downs to this point.

Bailey is averaging 9.5 ppg on the season and averaged 16.0 ppg in a four-game stretch that included wins over Stanford and Oregon. But he’s only scored 18 points combined in the past four games, which included the Kentucky and Maryland matchups. UCLA is good enough to win without him for now but in March, Bailey playing at a high level could be what propels them into being a Final Four contender.