Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova have made it difficult to come up with a ranking of the top 25 players at the 2022 men's Final Four.
It turns out that all four blue bloods play really short rotations. That was true even before we learned that, sadly, Villanova's Justin Moore will miss the Final Four because of a torn Achilles. Moore's regrettable absence shrinks the pool of players further still.
As a result, pulling together 25 names is a challenge. Nevertheless, we've done our level best, and we'll even get this exercise rolling with some learned forecasting on the 2022 Most Outstanding Player race. Who will take home this coveted honor?
The first answer there is simply, "a member of the national championship team." Every year since 1984, the MOP has been on the team that wins it all.
Your MOPs in the regionals were Paolo Banchero, Armando Bacot, Remy Martin and Jermaine Samuels. They are all prime candidates for the same honor at the Final Four, certainly. The same might be said of no-brainer possibilities Ochai Agbaji and Collin Gillespie, the reigning Big 12 and Big East players of the year, respectively. Nor would it be shocking to see Caleb Love take home this particular honor.
Finally, here are three additional names to watch in this respect: Brady Manek, Jeremy Roach and Mark Williams. Why? Read on.
One reminder: Top 25 headquarters wishes for you to tell all your friends with itchy social media-posting fingers that this is a ranking of performance in the tiny sample called the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament. It is not a mock draft.
Here are the top 25 players in the NCAA tournament so far: