2024 NCAA Tournament: Ranking the Top 20 Players from the South Region

12. Pop Isaacs (Texas Tech)

Isaacs joined Texas Tech two seasons ago as a Top 100 prospect. He showed certain promise as a freshman and opted to stay in Lubbock after a coaching change. Suffice to say Grant McCasland is glad he’s still a Red Raider as he’s taken a solid step forward with his entire game as a sophomore. Not much was expected from Texas Tech, but Isaacs has them dancing with a 6-seed and plenty of future potential.

He was good for 15.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game during the season, taking that definite step forward in his second collegiate campaign. Isaacs plays a vital role among a talented Red Raiders lineup and nobody in the Big 12 put up more field goals than him. He scored 32 points in a win over BYU and was a decent contributor even when his shots weren’t falling. The overall numbers still could use some work, but Isaacs is an incredible sophomore leader for this program.

11. Jeremy Roach (Duke)

Considered a Top 20 prospect from the class of 2020, it’s been a four-year career at Duke for Roach, who has been an important piece in the backcourt for that entire time. Roach helped lead the Blue Devils to the Final Four as a sophomore and an ACC Tournament title as a junior and is now certainly a veteran presence for a team full of young talent.

Helming Duke to the 4-seed this season, Roach averaged 14.0 points and 3.1 assists per game and is among the many formidable weapons at Jon Scheyer’s disposal. Roach made just under 44% of his 3-point attempts and had great offensive metrics across the board. He’s not the type of player that will drop 30 points in the Big Dance, but he did recently have a 21-point effort against NC State and plays an important role in making this offense churn.