Latest 2023-24 Men's College Basketball National Player of the Year Rankings

Welcome to our latest installment of the National Player of the Year rankings for the 2023-24 men's college basketball season, otherwise known as the quest to identify the players who could, maybe, almost stop Purdue's Zach Edey from repeating as NPOY.

As was the case at the end of last December, it's starting to feel like this race is already over. But a lot can change with conference play already well underway in a handful of leagues.

If the Boilermakers stumble against a weaker-than-usual Big Ten, it would open the door to a whole host of quality candidates for the Wooden Award.

Players are ranked on a combination of overall individual production/efficiency and team success—the latter playing a key role, as the NPOY has almost always come from a team that earns a No. 4 seed or better in the NCAA tournament.

Statistics current through start of play on Wednesday, Dec. 27.

Two weeks ago, we had 16 honorable mentions. This time, it's 12. We'll trim the list by four with each subsequent iteration until we're down to just a Top 10. Here's the current dozen that just missed the cut, in alphabetical order:

Max Abmas, Texas—The former Oral Roberts star has scored in double figures in every game, but with nary a KenPom top-100 win, it's hard to make a real case for a Longhorn for NPOY.

Armando Bacot, North Carolina—Since averaging 22.7 points and 13.3 rebounds in his first three games, Bacot has gone for 12.3 and 10.1, respectively, over the past eight games. Still a double-double on average and still playing on a nationally relevant team, but not quite the same.

Johnell Davis, Florida Atlantic—Had a couple of duds in November (two points vs. Eastern Michigan; one point against Liberty) but was sensational in the wins over Arizona (35 points) and Texas A&M (26 points). Will need to really destroy the AAC to maintain attention, though.

David Jones, Memphis—As with Davis, bit of a "tree falling in the forest" conundrum for Jones in the AAC. But with at least 22 points in every game in December, the DePaul-turned-St. John's-turned-Memphis star is definitely on the radar for now.

Dalton Knecht, Tennessee—Hasn't been the same since injuring his ankle in the loss to North Carolina, but he's still easily Tennessee's best candidate and could storm back into the conversation with a vengeance in SEC play.

Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State—Has cooled off from averaging 26.8 points in his first five games, but LeDee is still clearly SDSU's go-to guy with at least 13 points in every game.

Caleb Love, Arizona—At least one of Arizona's quintet of 12 PPG guys has to be a candidate, and Love has both the most points and the most name recognition.

Jamal Shead, Houston—Like Love at Arizona, someone from Houston needs to be in the mix here. It might be LJ Cryer because of his scoring, but Shead is the heart and soul of the Cougars.

Braden Smith, Purdue—Hard to imagine a non-injury scenario in which he supplants teammate Zach Edey for NPOY, but Smith has made quite the leap as a sophomore and was huge in recent wins over Arizona and Alabama.

Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State—Likely one game away from 2,000 career points, Stevens is also one of the best set-up men in the nation at 7.3 assists per game. Colorado State probably needs to run the table in MWC for him to become a serious NPOY threat, but never say never.

Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M—Scored 35 against FAU and 34 against Houston. If Texas A&M had won either of those games, Taylor would be a bigger threat here.

Tyson Walker, Michigan State—There might not be a better bucket-getter in the nation, but we'll see if MSU can work its way back into contention for a top-six seed in the dance.

Season Stats: 20.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.5 BPG, 2.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 39.6% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 6

Statistically speaking, PJ Hall remains maybe the most impressive player in the nation.

Even in Clemson's lone loss of the season against Memphis, Hall still filled up the stat sheet with 21 points, three blocks, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

In the subsequent win over Queens, he finished with 27 points, four blocks and four rebounds...in just 19 minutes played.

On a per-40 basis, Hall is averaging almost 30 points, almost 10 rebounds and better than three blocks and three assists.

Factor in the ability to stretch the floor with his perimeter shooting, and Hall is having himself a "senior-year Danny Granger" type of campaign for the Tigers.

But the big question still is: Will enough people notice?

With Clemson no longer among the nation's undefeated teams, it's not going to receive much national attention outside of the games against Duke (Jan. 27) and North Carolina (Jan. 6 and Feb. 6) unless it wins at least two of those three games and spends the final month of the regular season in the hunt for its first ACC title since 1990 and the first No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed in program history.

But believe me, I'll be watching Hall and talking him up as often as I can, just as I did throughout last season for Penn State's Jalen Pickett. I can only do so much to shine a spotlight on this star, though.

To borrow a line from Season 3 of Arrested Development: Please, tell your friends about this show.

Season Stats: 12.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.3 APG, 2.8 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 57.8% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 9

For as great as this freshman has been, Reed Sheppard is probably too unselfish to actually win NPOY.

Despite leading the nation in true shooting percentage, Sheppard has averaged just 8.3 field-goal attempts over his past eight games. He has still scored 13.9 points per game during that time because he's so doggone efficient, but racking up 43 assists while taking just 66 shots simply isn't enough.

To be clear, we're not imploring Sheppard to shoot the ball every time he gets it. Setting up teammates on a regular basis is a beautiful thing. Three cheers for his 5.4 assists per game over the past eight games—and his multiple steals in every game thus far this season.

But when the best shooter in the country is only taking 17.0 percent of his team's shots while he's on the floor, it sure feels like points are being left on the table.

In seven of Kentucky's 11 games, Sheppard had six or fewer field-goal attempts, resulting in a scoring average which will make it very difficult to climb any higher than this in the NPOY rankings. (Consensus first-team All-Americans typically average at least 18 points per game.)

If John Calipari just sets Sheppard loose, though, and tells him to do his best sophomore-year Tyler Ulis impersonation, things could change considerably.

Season Stats: 21.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 38.1% 3P%

Previous Rank: Honorable Mention

Two weeks ago, RJ Davis' teammate, Armando Bacot, was the Tar Heel in our top 10, but with the caveat of "We'll see if Bacot can even ward off his own teammate in this NPOY conversation, though."

And while Bacot struggled mightily in the loss to Kentucky (nine points, six rebounds, six turnovers) and was just OK by his standards in the win over Oklahoma (14 points, eight rebounds, three blocks), Davis extended his 23-point scoring streak to seven games as the MVP of both contests.

During that streak—all seven games coming against KenPom top-100 competition, no less—Davis has averaged 26.1 points, shooting 24-of-59 (41 percent) from three-point range and a near-perfect 47-of-49 from the free-throw line.

In the loss to Kentucky, he almost willed UNC to victory, scoring 18 of his 27 points in the final 14 minutes, missing just two shots during that time. It just wasn't enough to overcome Kentucky's 18 offensive rebounds.

And in the win over Oklahoma, each and every one of his five triples (and his five assists with no turnovers) felt like a dagger in the heart of what was an undefeated Sooners team.

Davis isn't quite leading the nation in scoring, but only because he got out to a slow start in UNC's first four games. He has been unstoppable since the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals and just might score his way to breaking up what has been a big man monopoly on the Wooden Award for the past half-decade.

Season Stats: 16.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 5.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 33.8% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 3

Two weeks ago, Tristen Newton had posted an O-Rating of 117 or better in nine of his first 10 games and was fresh off impressive performances against Kansas and North Carolina in early December. He was efficiently dominating, putting up borderline senior-year Denzel Valentine or senior-year Kyle Collinsworth types of numbers.

Since then, however, he has played three straight games with an O-Rating of 108 or below, including a brutal one-assist, six-turnover showing in a stunning blowout loss to Seton Hall.

O-Rating certainly isn't everything, and Newton did bounce back nicely a few days later with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and just the one giveaway in the win over St. John's. Connecticut does not win that game (sans Donovan Clingan) were it not for Newton's play over the final 10 minutes.

But the Huskies also won what was effectively a road game against Gonzaga (in Seattle) while Newton made a minimal impact on the box score, finishing that one with nine points, five assists and three rebounds. It was a similar story in UConn's key victory over Texas, in which the veteran point guard had just eight points (on 10 shots) with eight assists, four rebounds and three turnovers.

We're still in on Newton as a NPOY threat, because his herculean 31-point showing at Kansas (albeit in a loss) was one of the most impressive individual performances of the season to date. However, he's going to need to show up in a big way in Big East play against Creighton, Marquette and Villanova, because padding stats against the likes of Stonehill, Manhattan, New Hampshire and Indiana isn't going to cut it.

Season Stats: 18.3 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 50% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 2

From a purely statistical point of view, Hunter Dickinson has become a version of Oscar Tshiebwe that can hit the occasional triple.

"Big O" averaged 16.9 points, 14.4 rebounds and between 1.3-1.7 in each of assists, steals and blocks over his final two collegiate seasons, which is close to where Dickinson is at as the second-leading rebounder in the nation, behind only Akron's Enrique Freeman (13.5 RPG).

Will it be enough, though?

And can Dickinson bounce back from being somewhat neutralized in the recent wins over Missouri and Yale?

He got his double-digit rebounds in each of those contests, but he got up a combined total of just 18 field-goal attempts in 70 minutes between those games. As a 7'2" center with three-point range playing on a team with two starting guards (Dajuan Harris and Elmarko Jackson) who are kind of reluctant to shoot, that is just plain inexcusable.

Dickinson should be taking close to 18 shots per night, not per 70 minutes.

Because of that, and because one of his teammates has emerged as an even better NPOY candidate, Dickinson slipped a few spots to just outside our top five. But he's still very much in the running, assuming he can reharness some of the aggressiveness that got him to 27 points and 21 rebounds in the Champions Classic victory over Kentucky.

Season Stats: 17.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.7 BPG, 1.4 SPG, 30.6% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 7

In the second half of last week's Madison Square Garden matchup with Baylor, Duke trailed 48-42 midway through the second half. To that point in the game, Kyle Filipowski hadn't done a whole lot. But he either scored or assisted on 11 consecutive points to jump-start the comeback.

It was just about the only stretch of the game in which he could get the ball to go through the hoop, but he still finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals, leading the Blue Devils in the latter three categories.

This came a week after he almost messed around and had a triple-double against Hofstra, going for 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in that one.

Surprisingly, Filipowski only has four double-doubles thus far this season after going for six in his first 11 games last year. But he has been considerably more efficient and impactful this season.

His field-goal percentage is up from 44.1 to an even 50.0. He has a plus-14 assist-to-turnover ratio after finishing his freshman campaign at a minus-34. He's blocking shots more than twice as often as he did last year.

All told, he has improved from a respectable 7.5 box plus/minus in 2022-23 to a 13.2 mark that rates just outside top-10 in the nation.

Playing for Duke doesn't hurt Filipowski's chances, either. The Blue Devils (six) and North Carolina (four) are the only programs to have produced at least three Wooden Award winners. So if they blow through ACC play like a freight train and get back into the mix for a No. 1 seed, he just might emerge as the top challenger to Zach Edey.

Season Stats: 15.3 PPG, 6.2 APG, 5.3 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 43.5% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 4

For Golden Eagles not named Tyler Kolek, opening Big East play on the road against Providence was a nightmare. Kam Jones couldn't hit anything and committed a career-high five turnovers. Oso Ighodaro was smothered and managed just six field-goal attempts. Role players further down the rotation struggled even more than Jones and Ighodaro, while a usually proficient offense managed to score just 57 points.

But Kolek refused to give up and almost single-handedly willed the Golden Eagles back into that game in the second half. His 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists led the team in each category.

That performance was book-ended by a pair of points-assists double-doubles against St. Thomas and Georgetown on nights where his teammates could actually hit the occasional shot.

Kolek isn't as prolific on the defensive end as Kris Dunn was over his final two seasons at Providence, but it's a good comparison from a points, assists and rebounds perspective. He hasn't recorded a triple-double yet in his career, but he could instantaneously make the leap from "NPOY candidate" to "legitimate NPOY contender" by getting one in Big East play.

The two (possibly three) late-season showdowns with Tristen Newton and the Connecticut Huskies will go a very long way toward determining which of those point guards is named a first-team All-American. For now, though, Kolek has the edge—and could create a little separation from Newton with a big showing this weekend against Creighton.

Season Stats: 21.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.0 SPG, 40.8% 3PT

Previous Rank: No. 5

Momentarily, we will marvel at how well Zach Edey has performed against Purdue's toughest competition, but let's first cast Terrence Shannon Jr. in that same light.

His overall numbers are impressive enough, but the true test of a National Player of the Year candidate is how you fare in the games that everyone is watching.

After all, it's a glorified popularity contest.

In five games against KenPom top-100 foes this season—Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, Marquette, Rutgers and Missouri—Shannon has upped his game to average 25.8 points and 5.6 rebounds.

The most recent of those gems came in the Braggin' Rights blowout win over Missouri in which Shannon went for 30 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. It was the first 30-point double-double of his career, but it didn't quite match his 33-point career high from earlier this month against FAU.

The fifth-year senior has always been a high-caliber bucket-getter, on track to eclipse 2,000 career points sometime in the second half of February. But he is scoring more efficiently than ever before, and the shot blocking has been a nice added touch. After seven blocks in his past two games, he's already one away from matching his previous career high of 15 in a season.

Saddle up for next Friday's showdown with Purdue. Shannon managed just 13 points with six turnovers and five fouls in last year's game against the Boilermakers, but this is a gigantic opportunity for him to stake his claim as an NPOY hopeful.

Season Stats: 20.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 40.8% 3PT

Previous Rank: Honorable Mention

In our initial NPOY rankings, we imposed a strict "one player per team in the top 10" rule. Kansas was the one team it was tempting to break that rule for, but at that time, Hunter Dickinson edged out Kevin McCullar Jr. as Kansas' representative.

But now that we're willing to consider multiple players per team and now that McCullar has been the MVP of the Jayhawks' past two games against Indiana (21 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals) and Yale (34 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals), he takes the throne as the top challenger to Zach Edey.

McCullar used to be more of a defensive specialist/glue guy who could occasionally hit a big bucket, averaging at least 10 but never 11 points per game in each of the previous three seasons. But just like Jalen Wilson last season, McCullar has evolved into the Jayhawks' go-to guy who can do it all.

He had a triple-double (12 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) in the Champions Classic against Kentucky and had another one (22 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) in his very next game against Chaminade. He has scored at least a dozen points in each game and has tallied at least 10 combined rebounds and assists in nine of 12 contests.

And though he has taken some of his former defensive intensity and converted it into a much more aggressive approach on offense, he's still a damn good defender who can guard the 2, 3 or 4 at a high level

Circle Feb. 3 on your calendars. If McCullar puts on a show in a win over Houston, that will be when his NPOY stock really takes off.

Season Stats: 24.0 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.4 BPG, 1.6 APG

Previous Rank: No. 1

As things currently stand, there's really no question whatsoever that Zach Edey is the clear favorite for NPOY.

Not only is the reigning NPOY the brightest shining star of the No. 1 team in the AP poll, but he has already had some incredible performances against great competition.

In the recent marquee win over Arizona, Edey finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals while clearly outplaying Wildcats big man Oumar Ballo.

The week before that, he went for 35 points against Alabama in Toronto.

And on consecutive days against Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette in the Maui Invitational, Edey put together a combined total of 76 points and 39 rebounds with six blocks.

In that quintet of victories away from home over KenPom top-25 foes, Edey merely averaged 26.6 points and 11.0 rebounds.

Unless he gets injured or Purdue absolutely craters against a weaker-than-usual Big Ten, he's going to at least be a unanimous first-team All-American, if not the runaway winner of every NPOY trophy for a second successive season.

That isn't to say there won't be competition. Either of Kansas' two stars could overtake Edey by dominating against the Big 12 gauntlet. Terrence Shannon Jr. could bypass Edey if he is the obvious MVP of the two (possibly three) upcoming head-to-head showdowns with Edey's Boilermakers. Or it's plausible R.J. Davis makes a run by keeping his streak of 23-plus-point performances going for another two months.

But it's pretty much Edey vs. The Field right now, and Edey is more than a slight favorite in that matchup.