The Top 15 Point Guards in College Basketball

15) Juan Fernandez, SR, Temple: OK, so I put Fernandez in the last spot on last year’s list, too.  I can’t possibly claim 100% objectivity, but I don’t see why he doesn’t deserve a spot on this list.  I think he nailed down a spot with a 23 point game vs. Rice the other day.  As announcers will constantly point out, he’s slow but extremely “crafty”.  He’s a good, not great, shooter, with an incredible feel for the game and how to get the ball into the hoop and into the right people’s hands at the right time.

14) Peyton Siva, JR, Louisville: Siva can’t shoot a lick, but he’s played a very key role for the undefeated, 4th-ranked Cardinals.  He’s very quick and strong defensively, with 70 steals last year.  He’s averaging 10 points and just under 7 assists.

Bill Self hasn't always been happy with his point guard.

13) Tyshawn Taylor, SR, Kansas: It’s been a disappointing career at KU for this North Jersey native, mostly because of a poor attitude and a seeming unwillingness to be coached and play within Bill Self’s system.  That being said, he probably needs to be on this list just based on pure talent alone.  He is putting up 15 points and 5 assists a game for the 12th-ranked Jayhawks, but he’s been a turnover machine, which is especially disappointing for a senior with his amount of experience.  His outside shot has shown improvement this year too, so he very well may find a place in the NBA next year, but he still has a long way to go in a lot of ways.

12) Marquis Teague, FR, Kentucky: Hard for me to say where to put Teague on this list.  On the one hand, he’s a supreme talent that has pretty ably handled PG duties for a top team.  On the other hand, I just haven’t been very impressed with him, and how hard is it rack up some assists when you’re tossing the ball to guys like Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis?  He’s clearly got high level quickness and good size, but his decision-making has been pretty poor a lot of the time.  He doesn’t appear to be a Brandon Knight or a John Wall, but he should improve a good bit as the season goes on.

11) Damian Lillard, SR, Weber St.: It’s probably an understatement to say that Lillard is a “shoot-first” point guard, considering he’s leading the nation in scoring at over 25 points a game.  I won’t compare him to Jimmer Fredette, but if there is a Jimmer in college hoops this season, he may be it.  He’s shooting 46% from 3, even while attempting 8 per game.  He put up 36 points against a strong St. Mary’s team and followed that up with 41 vs. San Jose St.

10) Travon Woodall, JR, Pitt: A classic NYC point guard: short but strong and very quick.  In his first year as a starter, he’s averaging 14 points and 8 assists.  He’s also shown some shooting ability that he did not show the last couple years, shooting 46% from long range so far.  He’s hurt right now and has missed the last five games, but Jamie Dixon has another solid PG from NYC, following in the footsteps of Levance Fields and Carl Krauser.

9) Maalik Wayns, JR, Villanova: It’s been a disappointing season so far for Nova (which is awesome), but it’s pretty hard to put any of the blame on Wayns.  He’s averaging 17 points/5 assists and even in Nova’s two Big 5 losses he’s played very well.  He put up 19 pts/4 ast/0 turnovers vs. St. Joe’s and 23 pts/7 ast/2 turnovers vs. Temple.  He should stop shooting so many 3’s but, other than that, he’s becoming an elite college point guard.

8. Erving Walker, SR, Florida: He’s probably about 5’6″ but he’s got a ton of experience as an SEC point guard that can do a little bit of everything on the offensive end: pass, drive, and shoot.  He’s averaging 14.5 points/5 assists for the 11th-ranked Gators.

7) Casper Ware, SR, Long Beach State: Ware’s team has played an unbelievably hard schedule so far and they picked up a win over Xavier a few days ago (though Xavier was without two starters) to go along with their November defeat of Pitt.  Ware is undersized but put up 28 points in that win at Pitt and scored 29 in a loss at UNC a couple weeks ago.  As Bry has mentioned, LBSU will be a team to watch out for in March.

6) Shabazz Napier, SO, UConn: Napier is the only player on this list that can say he started for a national championship team.  He never really wows you with anything he does, but often you look at the box score after the game and his stat line is full, like when he had 22 points, 13 assists, 12 boards vs. Coppin St. this year.  He also hit 6 3’s, scoring 26 points, against Florida St., a strong defensive team.  He’s averaging 15.5 points and 7 assists for the 10-1 Huskies.

5)  Scott Machado, SR, Iona: I’m gonna go ahead and put a guy I’ve never seen play into the Top 5.  Machado is averaging 14 points and over 10 assists a game.  His season highlights include 33 points/10 assists vs. a solid St. Joe’s team, 14/11 vs. Purdue, 15/15 vs. Maryland, and 13/15 vs. Richmond.  Iona is 10-2 and the odds-on favorite in the MAAC.

4) Aaron Craft, SO, Ohio St.: When you play with as much talent as Craft has in his two years at OSU, it makes playing point guard a lot easier.  But he’s also had to handle the pressure of quarterbacking one of the nation’s top teams and has never looked anything but very capable of handling it.  He may never score a ton, but he can do it when he needs to.  He’s only scored in double-figures in 6 of 13 games this year, but he’s done it in all three of their games against ranked teams, including 17 points/8 assists vs. Duke.  He’s also an elite defender and ranks 7th in the nation in steals, with just under three a game.

3) Kendall Marshall, SO, North Carolina: Can a guy that only averages 5 points a game really be the third-best PG in the country?  Well, for one, this isn’t a particularly strong year for college point guards.  But also, Marshall is such an incredibly gifted passer and fits so perfectly with what his team needs that it’s hard to rank many guys ahead of him.  He can start the break with a pass as well as anybody, he can make the obvious, simple pass that so many guys just don’t make, and he can make the spectacular pass in the halfcourt offense that leave you shaking your head.  If you like passing, you love watching Kendall Marshall play.  His 10.1 assists average ranks second to Machado in the nation.

2) Jordan Taylor, SR, Wisconsin: Coming into the season, Taylor would’ve easily been #1 on this list, but it’s been a big adjustment for him following the graduation of Jon Leuer and a couple other solid players.  There’s a lot of pressure on him to score and pass and his shot just hasn’t been there so far.  He averaged 18 points and shot 43% from 3 last year, and those numbers are 12 per game and 31% so far this year.  But the Badgers are still 10-2.  He should get it going soon though, and his assists are actually up a bit from last year and he’s a great rebounder for his size, averaging over 4 a game over the last two years.

1) Tu Holloway, SR, Xavier: The reigning A-10 Player of the Year has firmly established himself as the top PG in the country.  He puts up numbers in an array of categories: points, assists, rebounds, steals.  But he’s also shown this year that he steps it up when it really matters, hitting big shots at the end of comeback wins over Vanderbilt and Purdue.  Holloway is averaging 18 points, 5 assists, and 2.5 steals for the Musketeers.

Honorable Mentions: Myck Kabongo (Texas), Joe Jackson (Memphis), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Seth Curry (Duke), Lewis Jackson (Purdue), Matthew Dellavedova (St. Mary’s)