NCAA Basketball: Top 10 Player of the Year candidates after Feast Week

8. Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Volunteers

2024-25 season stats: 11.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 7.9 APG

The Tennesee Volunteers have (quietly?) put together a stellar start to its 2024-25 campaign and a reason for its strong start is thanks to Zakai Zeigler, the speedy 5-foot-9 PG staple for Rick Barnes. It’s simple. When Zeigler is in the game, Tennessee can be a championship-level team.

Despite his size, Zeigler has increased his FG% at the rim and is dishing out nearly eight assists per game. He may not have scored much in its dominant wins over Baylor and Virginia but he doesn’t need to. The Vols have the weapons offensively. They are among the top defensive teams in the country. And Zeigler is the heartbeat of it all.

7. RJ Davis, North Carolina Tar Heels

2024-25 seasons stats: 18.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 4.4 APG

Comparable to Mark Sears, RJ Davis hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts for the 4-3 North Carolina Tar Heels. Davis is shooting under 30% from three and struggled to find rhythm in its two losses to Auburn and Michigan State. Yet again, leaving Davis off this list after just seven games would not be wise for the fifth-year guard because I fully expect a bounce-back for Davis this month.

The underlying issues in Chapel Hill are larger than Davis’ shortcomings in Maui: Its defense has been shredded. With Bacot gone, its interior defense off pick-and-rolls has faltered and the game plan for opposing teams is simple: stop RJ Davis. But don’t expect Davis to stay in this funk for long.