NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga, Kansas among teams with 2022-23 NPOY favorites

3. Brandon Miller – Alabama Crimson Tide

2022-23 stats: 19.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.7 apg

We’ve seen the somewhat maligned freshmen class play better as of late, including the top guys such as Kyle Filipowski (Duke) and Keyonte George (Baylor) leading their teams to big wins over the past couple of weeks. But the first-year player that has continued to excel all season and is the clear best player on a top-5 team has been Miller.

The 6’8 forward had a 36-point performance in a loss to Gonzaga in the non-conference but by his standards, was a bit quiet to start out SEC play. But in the past few games, Miller has started to reach break out. In the win over LSU, the freshman went for 31 points and nine rebounds on 11/16 shooting from the field, and seven 7/11 from three-point range.

Miller followed that up with 31 points and 10 rebounds in a road victory over Vanderbilt, shooting 10/16 from the field. The only hope that most teams have is that the freshman wing is inefficient but when he’s shooting like this, Alabama is nearly impossible to beat.

With the team unbeaten in SEC play and many having them as the best team in NCAA Basketball, Miller has a real case to make when it comes to being the National Player of the Year. Let’s see if he can continue this stellar play this week when they take on Mississippi State and Oklahoma.