2020-2021 Top College Basketball Players

Top 25 College Basketball Players John Gasaway ESPN Insider 1. Luka Garza, Iowa Hawkeyes As the only 2019-20 consensus first-team All-American who returned this season, Garza has earned his status as the presumptive player of the year for 2020-21. He'll have to work hard to hold on to that status in competition with many talented players (24 of whom are set forth below), but Iowa's senior certainly has the profile of an elite college star. Garza has steadily taken on more of the workload within the Iowa offense for three seasons, and by the time Big Ten play rolled around last season, he was responsible for 37% of his team's shot attempts during his minutes on the floor. All the while, his efficiency remained very high. He scored 44 against Michigan (on 17-of-32 shooting from the floor) and 38 against Indiana (14-of-22), and if both games were losses, both also came on the road and showcased Garza's doing everything possible to lift his team. If he chooses to avail himself of the extra season of eligibility afforded by the NCAA because of the coronavirus pandemic, Garza has a shot to become a three-time Big Ten player of the year. Marcus Garrett will get his turn in the spotlight for Kansas this season. Can he power the Jayhawks to a Final Four? Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports 2. Marcus Garrett, Kansas Jayhawks Garrett has a shot to finish the season atop this list. He's the reigning national defensive player of the year who also happens to be a senior in line to inherit a more prominent role in the offense of a national title contender. He'll be in an ideal position to display his skills on both sides of the court as a complete, all-around player. On offense, Garrett's assist rates, along with his 3-point accuracy, have improved each season of his career. Last season, he shot 33% from beyond the arc at the lowest of low volumes in a season in which the line was made more challenging. A respectable perimeter shooter who distributes the ball and halts opposing offenses in their tracks would more than likely earn first-team All-American honors. 3. Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State Cowboys EDITOR'S PICKS 2020-21 men's college basketball preview: Preseason picks, rankings, complete coverage Iowa's Luka Garza on 2020-21 goals: 'I think you'll see improvements on everything' Baylor sits at No. 1 in combined men's and women's college basketball rankings For the first time in the history of these venerable top-25 rankings, the "start of the season" version is happening right after the NBA held its draft. It's conceivable that the first player taken in the 2021 draft will, for a 12th consecutive year, have just completed his freshman season. If this is indeed the case, that player could be Cunningham. The freshmen taken at the top of the draft the past few years have -- Zion Williamson notwithstanding -- been something of a mixed bag in terms of college performance. One of the most intriguing questions posed by this most uncertain of seasons is whether Cunningham might emerge as the best non-Zion freshman of that group. He's billed as an NBA-ready, 6-foot-7 point guard who, alas, will play what is presumed to be his single college season for a team facing a postseason ban for 2021. 4. Remy Martin, Arizona State Sun Devils Martin earned inclusion on the AP's six-player preseason All-American team when he tied with Gonzaga's Corey Kispert for the last spot. The 6-foot senior is a scoring point guard in the truest and most entertaining sense of the term. Although Martin has yet to combine accuracy with volume on his 3-point shooting, it's hardly a stretch to envision the career 76% shooter at the line having a productive season from beyond the arc in 2020-21. He'll also have an opportunity to record a mountain of assists this season, with passes to teammate Alonzo Verge, a likely top-25-player honoree in waiting. 5. Garrison Brooks, North Carolina Tar Heels The fact that Brooks posted an impressive individual season in the midst of North Carolina's injury-riddled 14-19 odyssey in 2019-20 was cold comfort for Tar Heel fans. Still, it was an undeniably noteworthy feat at a time when little else was going right for UNC. The 6-foot-9 Brooks has always been a reliable source for 2-point makes, and last season, he took a great leap forward in terms of both minutes and, especially, workload. By late February and early March, he was averaging better than 25 per game over the course of four outings while achieving levels of volume (45 free throw attempts) and accuracy at the line (82%) that are worthy of Tyler Hansbrough himself. 6. Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois Fighting Illini Dosunmu is the first Illinois player to be named a first-team AP All-American in the preseason since Dee Brown earned that honor in 2005-06. The junior was thought to be a potential candidate to take a shot at the next level two years ago, much less last year, but after testing the waters, he's back for a third season in Champaign. As chance would have it, he has created his own tough act to follow. In January, he ended his team's 15-game losing streak against Wisconsin with a clutch 3 in the 40th minute in Madison. Dosunmu followed that with a game winner with 0.5 seconds remaining against Michigan in Ann Arbor. This season might, finally, be the last go-around at the college level for the 6-foot-5 combo guard. 7. Jared Butler, Baylor Bears Baylor went more than three months between losses last season, and Butler was the unquestioned featured scorer for a team that reeled off 23 straight victories. He'll retain that status this season, and the 6-foot-3 junior will likely again do whatever it takes for a team that was cruising toward a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Butler posted the highest assist rate on the roster while converting 38% of his 3s and posting the league's highest figure for possession usage in Big 12 play. On a defense where he has to compete with the likes of Mark Vital to stand out, Butler recorded multiple steals in nine of his last 10 outings last season. 8. Marcus Zegarowski, Creighton Bluejays With Ty-Shon Alexander having moved on to the next level, Zegarowski will almost certainly see his workload increase on offense in 2020-21. If the 6-foot-2 junior maintains his present level of high efficiency while using more possessions, he will most certainly be in line to move up on this list. As it is, Zegarowski is already shooting percentages of 42 and 54 from beyond and inside the arc, respectively, and he's doing so as the Bluejays' go-to source for assists. He ended his sophomore campaign with a flourish, scoring 43 points in home wins over Georgetown and Seton Hall to go with 13 assists and three turnovers. 9. Corey Kispert, Gonzaga Bulldogs Kispert was the second-leading scorer for a program that was about to, rather incredibly, earn its third NCAA tournament No. 1 seed in four years when the basketball music suddenly stopped in March. Now scorers Nos. 1 (Filip Petrusev), 3 (Killian Tillie) and 4 (Admon Gilder) have departed, and Kispert is the leading returning veteran for a group that just earned its first preseason No. 1 AP ranking. A pure-shooting 6-foot-7 wing, the junior is a huge perimeter threat who is also a proficient scorer inside the arc. 10. Collin Gillespie, Villanova Wildcats There aren't many players on this list whose shooting percentages have gone down, on both sides of the arc, with each passing season. Hear me out: Gillespie over that span has become a consummate point guard who also happens to be responsible for a good deal of the scoring in Jay Wright's offense. The 36% shooting Gillespie displayed on his 3s last season could also move in an upward direction, if his 82% career shooting at the line is any indication. Gillespie's 28-point effort in a close loss at Butler last season (to go with six assists and a single turnover) was likely a glimpse of what's to come in 2020-21. 11. Keyontae Johnson, Florida Gators Florida tends to share the wealth on offense, and, indeed, no player in the Michael White era has averaged better than 16 points. That communitarian ethos might put a ceiling on individual counting stats, but Johnson's efficiency is sky high just the same. The preseason SEC player of the year converted 60% of his 2-point attempts last season at a listed height of 6-foot-5. He also knocks down 3s and takes care of business on the defensive glass for the Gators. Who knows? With both Kerry Blackshear (graduation) and Andrew Nembhard (transferred to Gonzaga) having departed Gainesville, it's possible that Johnson could exceed UF's previously inviolate 16-point threshold as a junior. 12. Jalen Crutcher, Dayton Flyers Crutcher has been a starter at Dayton since the December of his freshman year, and during that time, the one constant in his game has been his ability to record plenty of assists. Then, last season, the 6-foot-1 combo guard thrived alongside a certain national player of the year and shot 42% from beyond the arc. Obi Toppin is now a member of the New York Knicks, of course, but Crutcher is still a dangerous shooter and creator who shared leading scorer honors (24 points) with his more celebrated teammate in a key road win at Richmond last season. 13. Oscar Tshiebwe, West Virginia Mountaineers In a season that certainly does not lack for Big 12 talent (see the three players from the conference listed above), Tshiebwe could yet emerge as the league's 2021 player of the year. At 6-foot-9, he is possibly the finest all-around rebounder in the nation, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he has to compete for those boards alongside 6-foot-10 teammate Derek Culver. Tshiebwe's offensive rebounding alone lifts the entire Mountaineer attack, and his impact increases in direct proportion to the number of minutes he plays. Purely in Big 12 terms, the sophomore is a bit like an Udoka Azubuike who can make free throws (71%). 14. Sam Hauser, Virginia Cavaliers Virginia's 3-point shooting improved as the previous season progressed, but the Cavaliers still finished the season in the 300s nationally, at a mere 30.3%. There is a tendency in Charlottesville for Virginia to be pretty good at defense, and with the 6-foot-8 Hauser, a former Marquette shooter, raining 3s on opponents, the Hoos could be one tough nut to crack this season (again). Hauser is a career 45% shooter from beyond the arc. 15. Olivier Sarr, Kentucky Wildcats During an otherwise unremarkable 13-18 season for Wake Forest last year, Sarr blossomed as a post scorer and rebounding machine. The 7-footer drew almost seven fouls per 40 minutes and, contrary to expectations for players of his size, drained 76% of his free throws. He's also one of the better defensive rebounders in the nation, and his increase in workload last season hints at untapped potential on offense. Sarr's transfer to UK (and the SEC's decision in October to certify him as eligible for this season) gives John Calipari's rotation a measurable lift. 16. Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA Roadrunners If you've been reading along with us in preparation for this season, you already know that Jackson has a decent chance to break Pete Maravich's Division I record for career scoring. Is this quest being enabled by the NCAA's decision to grant players a fifth season of eligibility due to the pandemic? Absolutely. (Is it absurd that Maravich set his record in three seasons and did so without a 3-point line? Incredibly.) The only player in the nation last season who accounted for a higher percentage of his team's shot attempts during his minutes than Jackson was Markus Howard at Marquette. 17. Evan Mobley, USC Trojans In a celebrated high school career, Mobley was named California player of the year not once but twice. The 7-foot freshman is projected as a lottery pick in the 2021 draft, one who's still bulking up but has already represented the USA internationally. At the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup, Mobley teamed with the likes of Vernon Carey, Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Green and shot 67% from the field. 18. Landers Nolley II, Memphis Tigers The onetime Virginia Tech star made a splashy debut as a freshman, with seven 3s in the fourth game of his career followed by a 22-point effort in the Hokies' upset win over Michigan State at the Maui Invitational. Now a member of Penny Hardaway's Tigers, Nolley will team with Lester Quinones, Boogie Ellis and D.J. Jeffries in a rotation that could push Houston for the American title. Nolley's 3-point shooting was more frequent than accurate last season (particularly in ACC play), but a marked improvement there is a likely outcome for the sophomore in 2020-21. 19. Kofi Cockburn, Illinois Fighting Illini Cockburn came within a hair of posting a higher number for possession usage last season than his teammate, Dosunmu. Indeed, the 7-footer was pulling down offensive boards, being fouled, dunking or all of the above on a very high number of Illinois possessions as a freshman. After he started his college career by shooting 9-of-19 at the line in his first two games, it was assumed that he would struggle in that facet of the game. He proceeded to shoot 70% the remainder of the season, a key skill for a player drawing six fouls per 40 minutes. 20. Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga Bulldogs Few freshmen at schools not named Kentucky or Duke have been handed the keys to an offense ranked No. 1 in the preseason. That is the position Suggs finds himself in at Gonzaga, however, as a freshman point guard projected as a lottery pick in the 2021 draft. Suggs averaged 10 points while playing alongside Tyrese Haliburton as Team USA took home the title at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Greece. 21. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova Wildcats The term "breakout sophomore" is so very overused, and yet, well, just take a gander at Robinson-Earl. Here's a 6-foot-9 scorer who crashes the defensive glass and is statistically due for an uptick in his 3-point accuracy. He's playing in a rotation in which he won't have to carry the primary scoring load, and his coach is the Oligarch of Offense himself, Jay Wright. Buy your stock in Robinson-Earl now. 22. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana Hoosiers While the Indiana offense occasionally struggled to make shots and, especially, hold on to the ball in Big Ten play last season, Jackson-Davis was a shining beacon of low-turnover shooting accuracy. When a freshman can do that in an offense that isn't firing on all cylinders, expect big things to follow in his sophomore year. Among Hoosiers seeing heavy minutes, Jackson-Davis is also IU's most effective rim defender since D.J. White. 23. Kihei Clark, Virginia Cavaliers Clark was good enough defensively to earn Bennett's confidence and crack the starting lineup as a freshman, and over the course of two seasons, the 5-foot-9 point guard has developed as both a distributor and a scorer. His workload on offense escalated dramatically last season, and he posted the league's No. 2-ranked assist rate in ACC play while hitting 37% of his 3s. Scoring inside the arc is never going to be Clark's strong suit, but Bennett now has a seasoned floor general who's automatic at the line and poses a constant nuisance to opposing offenses. 24. Javonte Smart, LSU Tigers If Smart picks up where he left off last season, he'll be on track to live up to his selection to the All-SEC first team in the preseason. He closed 2019-20 with a 13-10 points-assists double-double in a win at home over Georgia, a victory that, we think, had the Tigers on track for something in the neighborhood of a No. 8 seed in an NCAA tournament that never happened. As a junior, Smart will likely share the scoring load with Trendon Watford on an LSU team that projects to rank among the nation's elite in terms of offense. 25. Carlik Jones, Louisville Cardinals The statistics that Jones posted at Radford on his way to winning Big South player of the year honors last season were exemplary. Yes, there is an adjustment to be made against ACC competition, and, yes, the 6-foot-1 lead guard will have to rise to that occasion. Don't be surprised if Jones does so with style. A player who can hit 40% of his 3s while accounting for 30% of his team's shot attempts during his minutes is someone who can cause headaches for the opponent's defense.