1. Jahlil Okafor – C – Duke (19.5 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.7 BPG) – Okafor came into this season widely regarded as the favorite to win Player of the Year, and has definitely performed up to expectations, showing himself to be the nation’s best low-post scorer thus far this season. Okafor went on a tear after a mediocre outing Dec. 18th against defending champion Connecticut, averaging 26.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 76.9 percent from the floor in the three games following. Those numbers may have come against Toledo, Wofford and Boston College, but they are impressive nonetheless. ACC foes should be fearful: Okafor has made an increased effort to drive to the basket and draw fouls, as evidenced by his season best 14-17 mark against Boston College on Saturday. Okafor posted a double-double with 12 point and 11 rebounds against Wake Forest on the road Wednesday night.
2. Jerian Grant – G – Notre Dame (17.2 PPG 3.2 RPG, 6.3 APG) – Grant didn’t fare too well in the Fighting Irish’s 71-70 win against No. 18 North Carolina on Monday, scoring just eight points on 1-for-8 shooting before fouling out. The lackluster performance shouldn’t distract away from what he’s done so far this season, however. The senior combo-guard still managed to control the offense and involve his teammates to the tune of eight assists, and he hit all six of his free-throws. Good players find other ways to affect a game when things aren’t going their way, and Grant did just that. Did I mention his extreme athleticism and fearlessness when attacking the basket this season?
Posterizing dunks aside, his ball handling and passing skills are the main reason that Notre Dame currently ranks 5th nationally in scoring. The Fighting Irish have a huge game Saturday against No. 3 Virginia. The Cavalier’s 2nd ranked defense should provide Grant’s biggest test of the season.
3. Frank Kaminsky – F – Wisconsin (16.6 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.9 BPG) – Kaminsky has put up impressive numbers on a very good Wisconsin team that is known for sharing the ball and maintaining a balance on offense. Kaminsky has certainly been unselfish in his play with fellow Badgers stars Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes, but he is clearly at the top of both the team and conference. The Big Ten may be down this year, so it shouldn’t be too hard to keep the attention of pundits following a conference that has only two other ranked teams. His 16 point, 10 rebound, 6 assist performance in only 24 minutes against Northwestern this past Saturday was a good spotlight-grabber, and he followed that outing by scoring 1/3rd of his teams points in a 62-55 home win against Purdue on Wednesday, finishing with 21 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field and 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.
4. Justin Anderson – G – Virginia (15.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.8 APG) – Anderson has proven to be the best player on one of the nation’s last remaining unbeaten teams. His 15.1 points per game are largely owed to his 58.8 percent three-point percentage, something he worked very hard on during the offseason to improve. Anderson is obviously now a great shooter, but he also exhibits patience and wisdom in his shot selection, working hard to get open and never settling for bad shots, something he wasn’t exactly known for before arriving to Charlottesville. The Cavaliers have always been known as a defensive juggernaut under coach Tony Bennett, but Anderson’s offensive reinvention is the biggest reason why his team is still undefeated. The junior guard was 4 of 9 from three-point range on Wednesday night as he led the Cavaliers to a 61-51 win at home against NC State.
5. Willie Cauley-Stein – F – Kentucky (9.9 PPG, 7 RPG, 1.9 BPG) – Cauley-Stein didn’t make a very big impact offensively against Ole Miss in the Wildcats’ 89-86 overtime win on Tuesday night, but his four blocks and three steals in a season-high 39 game minutes were a part of his strong defensive effort that preserved the victory. Due to Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s method of employing “platoon” substitutions, Cauley-Stein’s numbers will not jump out very much compared to other candidates, but what he accomplishes in his 25.1 minutes per game on a team loaded with NBA talent is impossible to ignore. He has taken up a lot of the slack since the team lost Alex Poythress to a season-ending injury, and the Wildcats remain unbeaten because of it.
Other notables: Montrezl Harrell, Louisville, Melo Trimble, Maryland, Tyler Haws, BYU, Joseph Young, Oregon, Ron Baker, Wichita State.
