NCAA Basketball: Top 10 players to wear jersey No. 5 in 2023-24 season

4. Jermaine Couisnard (Oregon)

After four years out at South Carolina, Couisnard opted to transfer after a coaching change and found a new home at Oregon. He played decent ball in his first year but missed nearly half of the season in what was a down year for the Ducks. This past year was much better both for program and player as the Indiana native had the best stats and success of his college career.

Improving on those previous seasons, Couisnard averaged 16.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, with slight improvement to basically every part of his game. He earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors while leading a bounce back charge for the Ducks. Oregon finished 4th in the league and returned to the Big Dance, with Couisnard putting on an show when they got there.

We can easily talk at length about Couisnard’s regular season efforts, including a heroic 39-point performance in a tough loss to Arizona. He was a major part of Oregon’s Pac-12 Tournament title and other success, though his run at the NCAA Tournament was the clear highlight. Couisnard scored 40 points in the opening round to knock off his former team South Carolina before putting up 32 points and 8 rebounds in a season-ending loss to Creighton. No one else had quite the impact on the opening weekend of the Big Dance.