-
John GasawayESPN Insider
Welcome to our updated rankings of the top 25 players in men’s college basketball. We last conducted this exercise in the preseason, and much has changed since then.
In fact, it might be more accurate to say everything has changed.
True, players such as Kofi Cockburn, Chet Holmgren, E.J. Liddell and a few others are still listed in the same vicinity as where they were found before. But, for the most part, this latest top 25 represents a complete makeover.
The season has demanded a makeover in our understanding of the game’s top performers, starting at the very top. Even as player evaluations become more precise, and even as the top 10 or so high school recruits yet again become the top 10 or so draft picks a year later, we can still be surprised by the performances we see in college basketball.
Think of this update as a tribute to the power of surprise. Here are the top 25 players of 2021-22 so far:
When the preseason version of this feature was posted, Davis had never started a Division I game and was nowhere to be found in our top 25. Now coach Greg Gard’s star is No. 1. In the brief but spirited history of these top 25 rankings, no player has risen so far so quickly.
Davis more or less single-handedly destroyed a Purdue team in West Lafayette, Indiana, that at the time was ranked No. 3 in the nation. With 37 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals, the 6-foot-8 sophomore recorded possibly the most impressive performance by any player this season. Even more remarkably, Davis has exploded as a featured scorer while functioning as Wisconsin’s leading distributor of the ball and posting his team’s highest defensive rebound percentage. Don’t fault him for what looks like average shooting on 2s (49%). Give him due credit instead for working wonders with less help around him than most of the players on this list.
It should be impossible for a 2021 second-team All-American like Cockburn to be underrated, but, well, here we are. Even at this late date, observers still aren’t quite grasping what the 7-foot junior is accomplishing. Here, for example, is every major-conference player who’s averaged at least eight made 2s per game this century: Cockburn (2022), Blake Griffin (2009), Andre Emmett (2003), Luke Harangody (2009), Michael Beasley (2008), Zion Williamson (2019), Luka Garza (2020). That’s it. Yes, Cockburn’s body of work this season is still young, but what we’ve seen thus far is exceptional. The Illini standout is also one of the better all-around rebounders in the nation not named Oscar Tshiebwe. Cockburn is shooting a respectable 66% at the line, and he has recorded as many assists in 12 games this season as he did in his previous 41 outings.
Tshiebwe as an individual has a higher offensive rebound percentage than 30 or so entire Division I teams, including NCAA tournament hopefuls like Colorado State and Minnesota. He leads the nation in both offensive and defensive rebound rates at KenPom, and the 6-foot-9 junior could become the first player in the modern era to average a 15-15 double-double for an entire season. In a not atypical effort during Kentucky’s win over Georgia last weekend, Tshiebwe rang up 29 points to go along with 17 boards. He has yet to foul out as a Wildcat, and he’s playing more minutes than he did as a freshman during his only full season at West Virginia. Every minute Tshiebwe’s on the floor translates into diminished rebounding at both ends of the floor for the opponent.
For a player who was originally slated to redshirt as a freshman in 2018-19, Agbaji has certainly come a long way. In fact, there’s a case to be made that the 6-foot-5 senior is the most efficient featured scorer to wear a Kansas uniform since Wooden Award winner Frank Mason III. Agbaji is posting career highs for accuracy from both sides of the arc and at the line while carrying a heavier load in the KU offense than ever before. He also happens to be the oldest player currently projected as a 2022 first-round pick by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz. When you’re performing at a level stratospheric enough to be drafted as a 22-year-old, you deserve a spot very high in these top 25 rankings.
Mathurin had his best game in Arizona’s biggest win of the year, an 83-79 victory at Illinois. The 6-foot-6 sophomore lit up the Illini for 30 points powered by 5-of-8 shooting on his 3s. In his first season in Tucson, Mathurin played more of a supporting role alongside James Akinjo and Azuolas Tubelis. Now Akinjo is at Baylor and Mathurin and Tubelis are more or less equal partners in Tommy Lloyd’s offense along with Christian Koloko and Kerr Kriisa. A true dual-threat wing, Mathurin demands the attention of the opponent everywhere on the floor.
In terms of straight bottom-line efficiency statistics, Murray’s in a class by himself. His figure for possession usage, for example, is similar to what former teammate Luka Garza carried last season for Iowa. Murray’s offensive rating, however, is fully 10 points higher than what we saw from Garza on his way to winning the Wooden Award. Clearly Murray’s having an extraordinary season, and the NBA has taken notice. One year removed from starting just four games for the Hawkeyes, the 6-foot-8 sophomore is projected as a late lottery pick for 2022.
Strictly speaking, Moore is a scoring wing, and an outstanding one at that. The 6-foot-5 junior does most of his scoring inside the arc, where he’s connecting on no less than 63% of his attempts. But here’s where categories like “wing” begin to get in our way, perceptually speaking. It turns out Moore records assists on 27% of the Duke field goals that occur during his minutes, easily the highest rate on the team. He may never earn the hoary “true point guard” label from onlookers, but the veteran’s an outstanding distributor of the ball on a very young and very talented team.
Holmgren’s a potential No. 1 overall pick in 2022, a status that carries with it high expectations for his one and, presumably, only college season. Yet, a bit like past No. 1 picks such as Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis, Holmgren’s also playing for a national title contender with whom he’s not expected to be the team’s leading scorer. Instead, he’s converting a predictably impressive 74% of his 2-point attempts as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 scoring option behind Drew Timme. Holmgren is also shooting a respectable 36% from beyond the arc on about three attempts per game. His rim defense has been very good, and he has picked up a fourth foul just twice so far on the season.
The much-traveled Akinjo arrived at Baylor by way of Georgetown and Arizona and now finds himself the leading scorer on the nation’s No. 1 team. In fact, for a program that said goodbye to Davion Mitchell, Jared Butler and MaCio Teague, the arrival of Akinjo has been critical to BU’s 15-1 start. The 6-foot-1 senior has hit his 3s and dished assists while posting an excellent steal rate, and his 27-point game on 10-of-15 shooting helped the Bears survive a tough challenge from Oklahoma. One thing to watch with Akinjo going forward, however, will be turnovers. He has committed seven turnovers twice this season, and early in Big 12 play, Baylor as a team is giving the ball away on a high percentage of its possessions.
One game removed from being held to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting at Indiana, Liddell scored 17 in just the opening five minutes against Northwestern. His final tally against the Wildcats included 34 points and five blocks. The 6-foot-7 junior is one of the better rim defenders in the nation, yet he has also recorded his team’s second-highest assist rate while making 37% of his 3s on about four attempts per game. Liddell’s workload on offense is equivalent to what Davis carries for Wisconsin, and the proof of the Buckeye star’s versatile brand of excellence is found in his team’s results. Ohio State has one of the nation’s most efficient and accurate offenses.
Bacot has been a starter at UNC since the first game of his freshman season, and now the 6-foot-10 junior has developed his game to the point where he’s on something of a rampage. He has posted six consecutive double-doubles, and in the past two games alone, Bacot has scored 50 points and pulled down 38 rebounds. His 29 points against Virginia qualified as one of the more productive games any scorer has registered against the Cavaliers since in the Tony Bennett era. That was also the contest in which Bacot grabbed 21 rebounds, making him just the sixth player to record a 20-20 double-double against a major-conference opponent in the past five years.
Throughout his career, Jackson-Davis has excelled in the paint while his teammates, for the most part, have struggled to make 3s. That second part might or might not change this season: Indiana’s accuracy has been good overall but not as impressive early in Big Ten play. Then again, it looks as though the question itself might be moot. Jackson-Davis is so good and this defense is now so strong that the Hoosiers might be fine regardless. Among elite post scorers nationally, Jackson-Davis stands out for his ability to stay on the floor and out of foul trouble. He has picked up a third foul in a game just once so far this season.
Smith is one smooth scorer for a freshman. At a listed height of 6-foot-10, he’s already shooting 79% at the line and 46% on his 3s at a high volume. Conversely, his relatively low 2-point conversion rate (46%) reflects a zest for attempting jumpers inside the arc. In fact, per barttorvik.com, such attempts have outnumbered Smith’s shots at the rim by about 2-to-1 to this point in the season. The NBA will rightly look at those shots and shrug. Those attempts will become fewer in number either at this level of basketball or the next one, and Smith is on course to be selected at the top of the draft board in 2022.
With Ivey, we’re confronted with a sophomore breakout season that everyone saw coming. His performance for Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia last summer rightly got people talking, and he has more than delivered on those expectations. The NBA is eagerly awaiting a slashing 6-foot-4 wing who converts at the rim, hits his 3s, dishes assists, crashes the defensive glass and, for another few weeks here, is still just 19 years old. Whether it’s 6-of-6 shooting on 3s against Butler, seven assists against Villanova or 10 defensive boards against North Carolina, Ivey does what’s necessary on a team that doesn’t lack for scoring options.
15. Drew Timme, Gonzaga Bulldogs
Timme has seen his previously sky-high offensive rating fall to just “really, really high” as a junior. His turnovers have become a bit more numerous as defenses have focused even more attention on him than was the case last season. Also, Timme’s offensive rebounding rate has taken a hit, a development possibly related to the arrival of a certain 7-foot freshman teammate. Just the same, when speaking of a 64% 2-point shooter who’s the leading scorer on quite possibly the nation’s top offense, the main takeaway is clear enough. Timme drives the Bulldogs’ offense with his scoring, his passing and his foul-generating pressure on opposing front lines.
We’re yet to see a quote-unquote signature game from Banchero, but that can be chalked up at least partly to circumstance. The freshman did ring up 20 points in the first half of Duke’s win over Gonzaga, after all, before suffering from dehydration and cramps after the intermission. Then the Blue Devils paused their schedule because of the coronavirus. Still, if these early returns are any indication, we might now see Banchero thrive inside the arc while stepping out for an occasional 3 and, especially, making opponents pay at the line. The freshman is Duke’s best defensive rebounder and his skills as a distributor seem to be improving as the season progresses.
Among his many distinctions, Williams has perhaps created a new position name for basketball. The 6-foot-10 senior has become a true “point center.” Williams is posting by far the highest assist percentage on the Purdue roster, personally assisting on 31% of the Boilermakers’ made field goals during his minutes. (Teammate Sasha Stefanovic carries a higher per-game assist rate because he averages seven more minutes per contest.) When Zach Edey picked up four fouls in 10 minutes at Penn State, Williams put up 21 points and nine boards in just 21 minutes to stave off the upset.
Each season that Roddy and Isaiah Stevens have been together in Fort Collins has coincided with a marked improvement in Colorado State’s performance. This year CSU was one of the last remaining undefeated teams in the country until a 30-point loss at San Diego State brought the win streak to a shuddering halt. At 6-foot-6 and 255 pounds, Roddy is for the first time hitting 3s consistently while he continues to dominate the paint. His seven 3s and 36 points in the Rams’ 95-81 win over Creighton served notice that the junior can wreak havoc at any time against any opponent.
Having scored four points and picked up five rebounds in the 2018 national title game against Michigan, Gillespie definitely qualifies as experienced in 2022. Villanova has worked its decade-long wonders on offense in part by sharing the ball, of course, but to the extent that this year’s Wildcats have a go-to option, it is leading scorer Gillespie. The senior is both attempting and making more 3s than at any point in his career, and he’s doing so while converting 55% of his 2s. Villanova has been doing Villanova things early in Big East play (i.e., scoring 1.12 points per possession), and Gillespie is at the controls.
UCLA has still played just 11 games, but one conclusion can already be drawn regarding Mick Cronin’s team. For the first time in Campbell’s career, he’s a perimeter threat who stretches defenses. In fact, the 5-foot-11 junior leads the Bruins in made 3s despite the fact that Johnny Juzang and Jules Bernard have both attempted more shots from beyond the arc. This 3-point awakening has occurred while Campbell has continued his usual rock-steady ways at point guard. During the 570 offensive possessions he has been on the floor this season, Campbell has committed just 12 turnovers.
21. Zach Edey, Purdue Boilermakers
Possession for possession, Edey might be the most dominant offensive player in the nation. Of course, his unique role in a rotation that also happens to have Trevion Williams means Edey is averaging just 17 minutes per contest. Nevertheless, within those minutes, the 7-foot-4 sophomore does things we’ve rarely seen before from a single player. Edey is naturally a 2-point-making expert, but he’s also one who passes the ball and, crucially, shoots 71% at the line. He swats away 9% of opponents’ 2-point attempts while he’s on the floor, and his fouls are less of a concern for Purdue than they otherwise would be because, again, there’s a teammate named Williams.
Mobley was already a 44% 3-point shooter last season, but this year he’s hitting 46% while increasing the number of his attempts. The result has been an unceasing headache for USC opponents, who don’t generally have to game-plan for a 6-foot-10 player who shoots like a 2-guard. Can this level of perimeter mastery continue with a player who’s a career 55% shooter at the line? For 14 months the answer to that question, remarkably enough, has been yes. Then again, Mobley is more than a 3-point shooter. He recorded a 21-12 double-double against Utah with all his points coming from inside the arc and at the line.
As long as Will Wade continues to prefer bringing Eason off the bench (and as long as Trevion Williams and Zach Edey continue to trade starts), Eason will be a lock for every “sixth man” award that matters. Though not a starter, the 6-foot-8 sophomore is in fact the leading scorer for a ranked SEC team that’s 14-1. That scoring is happening primarily in the paint, up to and including one spectacular and indeed apocalyptic dunk against Tennessee. While Eason is a career 26% shooter beyond the arc, he’s also one who has improved his free throw shooting by more than 20 percentage points this season. It’s conceivable the 3s could fall at some point.
Williams is a walking rebuttal to dire talk about a “transfer epidemic.” After 25 starts across two seasons of limited playing time at Oklahoma, Williams made the move to Wake Forest. Now he is or at least should be in the hunt for ACC player of the year honors while the Sooners are outperforming preseason expectations under Porter Moser. Everybody’s happy. A 6-foot-5 wing, Williams has blossomed as both a featured scorer and as the Demon Deacons’ primary generator of assists. His 25-12 double-double to go along with four assists gave Wake just enough cushion to defeat Syracuse 77-74 in overtime.
If Kessler had recorded 11 blocks in just any game, that alone would be enough to earn consideration for this list. The fact that the 7-foot-1 sophomore got his 16-10-11 points-rebounds-blocks triple-double against 12-0 LSU, however, is what clinched this deal. After a freshman season vying for minutes alongside Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe at North Carolina, Kessler transferred to Auburn and has started every game. He’s the rare and valuable shot-blocker who’s also excellent on the defensive glass. Note, however, that Kessler managed to foul out in 12 minutes at Alabama, and his offensive rating to date has been limited by a rather dogged quest to show 3-point-shooting ability.