ESPN INSIDER
1. Lonzo Ball, UCLA Bruins
Last season UCLA gave over 4,000 combined minutes (and about 1,400 shots) to Bryce Alford, Isaac Hamilton, Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh, and the Bruins went 15-17. This season those same four players have logged about 3,700 minutes and 1,300 shots, and you may have noticed Steve Alford's team is 29-4. What changed? That's easy: Lonzo Ball arrived. Fellow freshman TJ Leaf has had an outstanding freshman season as well, but no other player in college basketball made such a night-and-day difference to his team. Ball distributes the ball with the calm mastery of an NBA veteran, and his 2-point percentage (71.7) looks like a typo. Ball gives us a happy example of pro potential and college impact aligning perfectly. He makes his dad sound understated.
2. Frank Mason III, Kansas Jayhawks
Mason entered the season as a career 39 percent 3-point shooter, so we knew he could hit those shots. What we didn't know was that he would hit 49 percent of them as a senior while also playing just about every minute of every game as a national championship contender's point guard. In fact, the list of Division I players who have logged more minutes than Mason over the past three seasons is a very short one: Louisiana-Monroe's Nick Coppola and Notre Dame's Steve Vasturia. That's it. Mason is equal parts Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield and Cal Ripken.
3. Josh Hart, Villanova Wildcats
Hart is the latest in a series of Wildcats scorers who have been 6-foot-5 or 6-6 and uncannily efficient from both sides of the arc. The line of succession started with Darrun Hilliard a few years back, and has run through James Bell and now Kris Jenkins and Hart. In fact, the four-year careers of Hart and Jenkins have coincided perfectly with Villanova's reign of terror and accuracy in the reconstituted 10-team Big East. Incredibly, Hart has continued to shoot high percentages on both his 2s and his 3s even as his workload has increased significantly as a senior. He is a career 59 percent shooter inside the arc. Was it the player or was it coach Jay Wright's system? Doubtless both.
4. Caleb Swanigan, Purdue Boilermakers
The recently named Big Ten Player of the Year has had the mother of all sophomore breakout seasons. As a freshman, Swanigan was an excellent defensive rebounder who was also a somewhat turnover-prone 29 percent 3-point shooter. Now he's hitting 43 percent of his rare 3s and is perhaps the best defensive rebounder in the land. He has recorded 26 double-doubles this season. Swanigan also draws six fouls per 40 minutes and shoots 79 percent at the line. Job well done, Big Ten voters.
5. Jock Landale, Saint Mary's Gaels
Just as Gonzaga's run to a 1-seed obscured Saint Mary's performance in 2016-17, it's entirely fitting that Landale was also overlooked this season. No, I'm not going to relitigate the WCC Player of the Year decision ... except to say that Landale carried an even heavier workload than Nigel Williams-Goss did for the Bulldogs, yet the Gaels star shot a higher effective field goal percentage while performing as one of the nation's top all-around rebounders. Landale's excellence alone won't earn a deep tournament run for a Saint Mary's team that forces a very small number of turnovers, but it's safe to say that coach Randy Bennett's group would be nowhere near the No. 7 seed line without the 6-11 junior.
6. Josh Jackson, Kansas Jayhawks
Off-court issues notwithstanding, Jackson has been more or less exactly what Kansas fans wanted and expected when the elite recruit announced he was coming to Lawrence. With surprisingly deft passing, proven skills getting to the rim, and a 3-point shot that improved as the season progressed, the freshman quickly took his place alongside Mason as the Jayhawks' co-featured scorer. In theory, Jackson's 56 percent shooting at the line should be an issue late in close games, but you may have noticed KU fared rather well in that department this season (unless of course Jackson wasn't playing). Go figure.
7. Justin Jackson, North Carolina Tar Heels
Sometimes, explaining why a player is good is easy. A junior, Jackson entered this season as a career 30 percent 3-point shooter on less than three attempts per game. This season he's connecting on 37 percent of his 3s, at a rate of seven tries per contest. Opposing teams are finding that guarding an accurate high-volume 6-foot-8 wing on the perimeter while also trying to keep Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks off the glass is quite the challenge.
8. Semi Ojeleye, SMU Mustangs
Ojeleye is a rock of consistency who hasn't failed to make at least one shot from both sides of the 3-point line in a game for more than two months. Alas, SMU favors a slower pace, so the junior's per-game stats don't jump out and grab one's attention. (We can term this the Jock Landale effect.) Don't be fooled: Ojeleye is the essence of methodical low-turnover and high-accuracy effectiveness as a scorer. The fact that he's able to do so as a 6-7 wing who often plays at power forward or even at center makes all of the above even more impressive.
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John GasawayESPN Insider
1. Lonzo Ball, UCLA Bruins
Last season UCLA gave over 4,000 combined minutes (and about 1,400 shots) to Bryce Alford, Isaac Hamilton, Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh, and the Bruins went 15-17. This season those same four players have logged about 3,700 minutes and 1,300 shots, and you may have noticed Steve Alford's team is 29-4. What changed? That's easy: Lonzo Ball arrived. Fellow freshman TJ Leaf has had an outstanding freshman season as well, but no other player in college basketball made such a night-and-day difference to his team. Ball distributes the ball with the calm mastery of an NBA veteran, and his 2-point percentage (71.7) looks like a typo. Ball gives us a happy example of pro potential and college impact aligning perfectly. He makes his dad sound understated.
2. Frank Mason III, Kansas Jayhawks
Mason entered the season as a career 39 percent 3-point shooter, so we knew he could hit those shots. What we didn't know was that he would hit 49 percent of them as a senior while also playing just about every minute of every game as a national championship contender's point guard. In fact, the list of Division I players who have logged more minutes than Mason over the past three seasons is a very short one: Louisiana-Monroe's Nick Coppola and Notre Dame's Steve Vasturia. That's it. Mason is equal parts Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield and Cal Ripken.
3. Josh Hart, Villanova Wildcats
Hart is the latest in a series of Wildcats scorers who have been 6-foot-5 or 6-6 and uncannily efficient from both sides of the arc. The line of succession started with Darrun Hilliard a few years back, and has run through James Bell and now Kris Jenkins and Hart. In fact, the four-year careers of Hart and Jenkins have coincided perfectly with Villanova's reign of terror and accuracy in the reconstituted 10-team Big East. Incredibly, Hart has continued to shoot high percentages on both his 2s and his 3s even as his workload has increased significantly as a senior. He is a career 59 percent shooter inside the arc. Was it the player or was it coach Jay Wright's system? Doubtless both.
4. Caleb Swanigan, Purdue Boilermakers
The recently named Big Ten Player of the Year has had the mother of all sophomore breakout seasons. As a freshman, Swanigan was an excellent defensive rebounder who was also a somewhat turnover-prone 29 percent 3-point shooter. Now he's hitting 43 percent of his rare 3s and is perhaps the best defensive rebounder in the land. He has recorded 26 double-doubles this season. Swanigan also draws six fouls per 40 minutes and shoots 79 percent at the line. Job well done, Big Ten voters.
5. Jock Landale, Saint Mary's Gaels
Just as Gonzaga's run to a 1-seed obscured Saint Mary's performance in 2016-17, it's entirely fitting that Landale was also overlooked this season. No, I'm not going to relitigate the WCC Player of the Year decision ... except to say that Landale carried an even heavier workload than Nigel Williams-Goss did for the Bulldogs, yet the Gaels star shot a higher effective field goal percentage while performing as one of the nation's top all-around rebounders. Landale's excellence alone won't earn a deep tournament run for a Saint Mary's team that forces a very small number of turnovers, but it's safe to say that coach Randy Bennett's group would be nowhere near the No. 7 seed line without the 6-11 junior.
6. Josh Jackson, Kansas Jayhawks
Off-court issues notwithstanding, Jackson has been more or less exactly what Kansas fans wanted and expected when the elite recruit announced he was coming to Lawrence. With surprisingly deft passing, proven skills getting to the rim, and a 3-point shot that improved as the season progressed, the freshman quickly took his place alongside Mason as the Jayhawks' co-featured scorer. In theory, Jackson's 56 percent shooting at the line should be an issue late in close games, but you may have noticed KU fared rather well in that department this season (unless of course Jackson wasn't playing). Go figure.
7. Justin Jackson, North Carolina Tar Heels
Sometimes, explaining why a player is good is easy. A junior, Jackson entered this season as a career 30 percent 3-point shooter on less than three attempts per game. This season he's connecting on 37 percent of his 3s, at a rate of seven tries per contest. Opposing teams are finding that guarding an accurate high-volume 6-foot-8 wing on the perimeter while also trying to keep Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks off the glass is quite the challenge.
8. Semi Ojeleye, SMU Mustangs
Ojeleye is a rock of consistency who hasn't failed to make at least one shot from both sides of the 3-point line in a game for more than two months. Alas, SMU favors a slower pace, so the junior's per-game stats don't jump out and grab one's attention. (We can term this the Jock Landale effect.) Don't be fooled: Ojeleye is the essence of methodical low-turnover and high-accuracy effectiveness as a scorer. The fact that he's able to do so as a 6-7 wing who often plays at power forward or even at center makes all of the above even more impressive.
