Ranking the players left in the tournament

[JasonEvans]

Sorta a silly exercise, but CBS has ranked all 80 starters (http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25120872/ranking-the-2015-sweet-16-starters-from-no-80-to-no-1) for the Sweet 16 teams. It is kinda interesting just to see where various players fall on the list.

Matt Jones comes in at #73. That's pretty low and tells me that the rankings are mostly looking at offense and ignoring Matt's great D.

Quin Cook is #27, which certainly seems low to me. But, it is worth noting that it puts him ahead of every single player on several teams still alive. He ranks ahead of such notable players as Brice Johnson, Demetrius Jackson, Travis Trice, and Pat Connaughton... and he is the #4 player on Duke according to these rankings.

Justice is their #15 player still in the tourney. Tyus is #11. Among the players behind them -- Trey Lyles, Sam Dekker, Marcus Paige, Nigel Hayes, Montrezl Harrell, and Kevin Pangos.

Jahzilla checks in as the #1 player. Considering the way he carved up SDSU, this is hardly surprising. The top 5 were:

5. Towns
4. Cauley-Stein
3. Grant
2. Kaminsky
1. Jah

-Jason "anyway, thought folks might enjoy reading a bit of it. Based on the rankings, it is easy to see why so many folks think Duke and Kentucky are fated to meet in the final game" Evans

[brevity]

A strange but fascinating undertaking. Basically requires the writer to decide what skills he values most in a player, and prioritize accordingly.

Here is the breakdown per Sweet 16 team. The worst best starter is Xavier's Matt Stainbrook (#53). The best worst starter is Kentucky's Aaron Harrison (#37).

KENTUCKY
Cauley-Stein (4), Towns (5), Lyles (24), Andrew Harrison (26), Aaron Harrison (37)
WEST VIRGINIA
Staten (18), Williams (51), Holton (64), Miles (67), Browne (69)
NOTRE DAME
Grant (3), Jackson (31), Connaughton (35), Auguste (42), Vasturia (71)
WICHITA STATE
VanVleet (9), Baker (12), Cotton (45), Carter (70), Wessel (75)

WISCONSIN
Kaminsky (2), Hayes (19), Dekker (22), Gasser (50), Koenig (52)
NORTH CAROLINA
Paige (21), Johnson (30), Meeks (32), Tokoto (41), Jackson (43)
XAVIER
Stainbrook (53), Davis (57), Blueitt (62), Abell (68), Farr (76)
ARIZONA
Johnson (13), McConnell (14), Hollis-Jefferson (20), Ashley (25), Tarczewski (59)

NC STATE
Lacey (28), Barber (44), Turner (48), Abu (72), Freeman (77)
LOUISVILLE
Rozier (8), Harrell (17), Snider (63), Blackshear (65), Mathiang (78)
OKLAHOMA
Hield (10), Thomas (33), Spangler (46), Cousins (55), Woodard (60)
MICHIGAN STATE
Trice (34), Dawson (38), Valentine (40), Nairn (74), Schilling (79)

DUKE
Okafor (1), T Jones (11), Winslow (15), Cook (27), M Jones (73)
UTAH
Wright (7), Poeltl (36), Taylor (56), Loveridge (61), Reyes (80)
UCLA
Powell (23), Looney (29), Alford (47), Parker (58), Hamilton (66)
GONZAGA
Wiltjer (6), Pangos (16), Karnowski (39), Wesley (49), Bell (54)

[porkpa]

Personally I'd sooner have Justise on my team than Grant, Towns or Cauley-Stein.

[CDu]

Fun idea but I disagree with quite a bit on this list.

Overrated on the list:
Harrison 1 (26)
Harrison 2 (37)
Karnowski (39)
Spangler (46)

Underrated:
Cook (27)
Lacey (28)
Connaughton (35)
Valentine (40)
Tarczewski (59)
Woodard (60)

[BD80]

Paige @# 21 is underrated.

[OldPhiKap]

A strange but fascinating undertaking. Basically requires the writer to decide what skills he values most in a player, and prioritize accordingly.

Here is the breakdown per Sweet 16 team. The worst best starter is Xavier's Matt Stainbrook (#53). The best worst starter is Kentucky's Aaron Harrison (#37).

KENTUCKY
Cauley-Stein (4), Towns (5), Lyles (24), Andrew Harrison (26), Aaron Harrison (37)
WEST VIRGINIA
Staten (18), Williams (51), Holton (64), Miles (67), Browne (69)
NOTRE DAME
Grant (3), Jackson (31), Connaughton (35), Auguste (42), Vasturia (71)
WICHITA STATE
VanVleet (9), Baker (12), Cotton (45), Carter (70), Wessel (75)

WISCONSIN
Kaminsky (2), Hayes (19), Dekker (22), Gasser (50), Koenig (52)
NORTH CAROLINA
Paige (21), Johnson (30), Meeks (32), Tokoto (41), Jackson (43)
XAVIER
Stainbrook (53), Davis (57), Blueitt (62), Abell (68), Farr (76)
ARIZONA
Johnson (13), McConnell (14), Hollis-Jefferson (20), Ashley (25), Tarczewski (59)

NC STATE
Lacey (28), Barber (44), Turner (48), Abu (72), Freeman (77)
LOUISVILLE
Rozier (8), Harrell (17), Snider (63), Blackshear (65), Mathiang (78)
OKLAHOMA
Hield (10), Thomas (33), Spangler (46), Cousins (55), Woodard (60)
MICHIGAN STATE
Trice (34), Dawson (38), Valentine (40), Nairn (74), Schilling (79)

DUKE
Okafor (1), T Jones (11), Winslow (15), Cook (27), M Jones (73)
UTAH
Wright (7), Poeltl (36), Taylor (56), Loveridge (61), Reyes (80)
UCLA
Powell (23), Looney (29), Alford (47), Parker (58), Hamilton (66)
GONZAGA
Wiltjer (6), Pangos (16), Karnowski (39), Wesley (49), Bell (54)

Interesting. We are the only team with three in the top 15. Six teams do not have a single player in the top 15.

Of course, this whole thing is kinda silly. Great TEAMS beat great individual players. But still. an exercise to start discussion.

[sagegrouse]

I'd make sure that Matt Jones's #73 ranking was displayed in the Duke locker room.

[roywhite]

Interesting; thanks for posting.

I seriously doubt there are 14 players still playing in the tournament who are better than Justise Winslow.

[OldPhiKap]

I'd make sure that Matt Jones's #73 ranking was displayed in the Duke locker room.

I imagine it is bulletin board material for other teams, that will get more mileage out of it than we will.

[superdave]

I will take Willie Cauley-Stein #2 over Frank Kaminsky any day. Stein is Tyson Chandler in a college uniform. He creates way more havoc on the defensive end than Kaminsky does on both ends combined.

If Winslow keeps it up on the defensive end, he has to move up a few notches as well.

Also, I am looking forward to seeing Wright play vs us on Friday because I dont know much about him. Comparing him (7) to Grant (3) should be interesting.

[FerryFor50]

Fun idea but I disagree with quite a bit on this list.

Overrated on the list:
Harrison 1 (26)
Harrison 2 (37)
Karnowski (39)
Spangler (46)

Underrated:
Cook (27)
Lacey (28)
Connaughton (35)
Valentine (40)
Tarczewski (59)
Woodard (60)

Yea, not sure how Karnowski is ahead of Tarczewski at all.

[mattman91]

Fun idea but I disagree with quite a bit on this list.

Overrated on the list:
Harrison 1 (26)
Harrison 2 (37)
Karnowski (39)
Spangler (46)

Underrated:
Cook (27)
Lacey (28)
Connaughton (35)
Valentine (40)
Tarczewski (59)
Woodard (60)

I would say Justise at #15 is a bit underrated as well, but maybe I'm just biased?

[subzero02]

Interesting; thanks for posting.

I seriously doubt there are 14 players still playing in the tournament who are better than Justise Winslow.

I agree and I think he will show that to be true again this weekend. I hope coming home has a positive impact on his play. I expect him to be focused from the start( ie, not like the first 24 minutes of the notre dame game).

[JNort]

A bunch of under and over rated people but to me Abu is the most underrated one in the list. The man has been a beast. Cat Barbee got a little hosed too.

[firstpost]

Interesting; thanks for posting.

I seriously doubt there are 14 players still playing in the tournament who are better than Justise Winslow.


OR Hollis-Jefferson. He is my fav non-Duke player in the tournament. Would love that guy on our team.

[NashvilleDevil]

Fun idea but I disagree with quite a bit on this list.

Overrated on the list:
Harrison 1 (26)
Harrison 2 (37)
Karnowski (39)
Spangler (46)

Underrated:
Cook (27)
Lacey (28)
Connaughton (35)
Valentine (40)
Tarczewski (59)
Woodard (60)

The Harrison's have been perpetually overrated.

[Edouble]

13 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks... #15 player? Lol, that's a good one. Justise is the best two way player left in the tournament.

[JasonEvans]

The Harrison's have been perpetually overrated.

I think folks forget how accurate the above statement is. Coming out of high school, the twins were both considered top 5-7 prospects in the class. Parker, Wiggins, and Randle were ahead of them, but they were in the next clump of 5 or so players. The expectation was that both of them would be lottery picks after one year.

Well, here we are at the end of their soph seasons and the smart move would be for them to come back to school because I'm not even sure they would get drafted if they came out at this point. Andrew appears in many mock drafts as a late 2nd rounder. Aaron's stock is lower than that and he would seem very likely to go undrafted.

You know, for all the pub Cal gets for getting kids drafted, he's had a fair share of kids who went from sure-fire lottery to non-guaranteed contract dudes. Poythress, the Harrisons, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee. Archie Goodwin was supposed to be a certain lottery pick coming to Kentucky but went with one of the last picks in the 1st round and has been truly unremarkable with Phoenix. Marquis Teague was also barely a first rounder and he didn't even make it to a third season in the NBA before being sent packing. James Young has probably spent as much time with the Celtic's D-League team as he has with the NBA club this season.

Sure, Cal has had some very successful Kentucky kids who became stud NBA players (Wall, The Brow, Brandon Knight, Boogie), but his track record includes a lot of kids who were top 10 recruits who never came close to becoming the players everyone thought they were destined to be.

-Jason "hmmmm, I feel like there is an exposé here or something like that" Evans

[BD80]

... You know, for all the pub Cal gets for getting kids drafted, he's had a fair share of kids who went from sure-fire lottery to non-guaranteed contract dudes. ...his track record includes a lot of kids who were top 10 recruits who never came close to becoming the players everyone thought they were destined to be.

-Jason "hmmmm, I feel like there is an exposé here or something like that" Evans

ESPN is planning to tackle that issue as soon as they wrap up their expose on the unc academic fraud rumor.

[nmduke2001]

I guess that this is as good of place as any to put this. Titus from Grantland has a question and answer regarding the NCAA tournament. His response to the Justise question is pretty interesting.

"question - I don’t think anyone can talk me out of comparing Justise Winslow to Andre Iguodala — lockdown defense, dominance on the boards, massive chase-down blocks, a wrecking ball in transition, and excellent passing. He’s the type of player that Duke hasn’t had since Luol Deng and I think he can take Duke to the promised land.
—Kent

answer - You forgot the second rule of basketball comparisons: Left-handers always have to be compared to other left-handers.6 Otherwise, I agree. Winslow is an animal right now. He’s got my vote for player of the tournament so far. Speaking of which: What if Winslow really is the best player in the tournament? With D’Angelo Russell seemingly bowing out of the race for the top spot in the NBA draft with a turd of a performance against Arizona, I suspect that basketball fans will have to choose between Team Okafor or Team Towns before the end of June. But what about Team Winslow? Why is everyone arguing over which big man should be the top pick when the 3,459 best players in today’s NBA play on the perimeter? If Winslow keeps this up and Duke wins the national title, we have to talk about him going first overall, right?"

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/titus-ncaa-tournament-sweet-sixteen-mailbag-duke-justise-winslow-wisconsin-frank-kaminsky-kentucky-john-calipari-wichita-state-shockers-notre-dame-jerian-grant/

[jipops]

Interesting; thanks for posting.

I seriously doubt there are 14 players still playing in the tournament who are better than Justise Winslow.

I fully agree. Justise has been dominant in almost every facet of the game so far in this tournament. Defense, rebounding, distribution, rapid coast-to-coast drives, half-court drives, strong finishes, etc... Any scouts watching the SDSU game had to be blown away by him. He should be ranked ahead of Tyus right now and IMO be in the top 10 on this list.

It's kind of bitter sweet that he is playing at such a high level right now, because he is oh so gone...

[kcarson]

Yeah, I can't believe Barber is in the lower half. Justise is top 10 too, IMO.