The Top 15 Big Men in College Basketball

15. Laurence Bowers, Sr., Missouri: After missing all of last season with a knee injury, Bowers has come back an improved player in his final season.  He’s 6-8 and not very strong for a PF, but he runs the floor really well and can score inside and out.  After not making a 3 in his junior year, he’s made 12 of 20 attempts this year.  He was also second in the Big 12 in blocks as a junior.  He’s leading the Tigers in scoring at 16 points a game, along with 6 rebounds.

14. Andre Roberson, Jr., Colorado: Inch for inch, Roberson is probably the best rebounder in the country.  At just 6-7, he’s 4th in the country in rebounding, at 11.9 a game.  Not an elite scorer (also 11.9 per game) but he has decent shooting range.  His real value comes in other ways, mainly the rebounding, but he also blocked two shots a game last year and is averaging 2.2 steals so far this season.

13. Brandon Davies, Sr., BYU: BYU hasn’t been great as a team so far this year, but it’s hard to blame Davies.  Take a look at their game Friday night:  they lost by 15 to Baylor but Davies had 26 points and 17 rebounds.  He fits BYU’s uptempo system perfectly, as a 6-9 PF that can really move up and down the floor.  He’s averaging 20 points/8 rebounds/2 blocks this year, with highlights also including 33 points (on 14-17 shooting) vs. Weber St. and 19 points in a loss to Florida St.

12. Mike Muscala, Sr., Bucknell: It’s hard to believe that a skilled, 6-11 center can end up in the Patriot League, but maybe even harder to believe that Muscala is only the second-best player in the league this year, thanks to C.J. McCollum at Lehigh.  Muscala is averaging 19 points/11 rebounds/3 assists/2.5 blocks so far this year, with some ridiculous stat lines: 29 points/19 boards vs. Columbia, 26 points/13 boards/5 blocks/4 assists/3 steals vs. Marist.  He hasn’t gone up against top competition, but he did post 27 points vs. a solid Kent St. team and 18 points/7 boards/6 assists vs. La Salle.  All of those aforementioned games being Bucknell wins.  Yes, undoubtedly one of the top 5 pure centers in college basketball is out of the PL.

11. Nerlens Noel, Fr., Kentucky: Wait, Kentucky is a total disappointment this year and Noel is a total bust, right?  Well, not quite.  Noel is no Anthony Davis and he’s not, as many expected, the best freshman in the country, but he’s still very, very good and a game-changer, especially at the defensive end.  In his second collegiate game he went up against Duke and put up 16 points/8 boards/4 steals.  He also had 16 rebounds and 6 steals vs. a strong Baylor frontcourt.  He ranks 5th in the nation with 3.9 blocks per game, to go along with his 11 points/9 boards/3 steals.  He’ll continue to improve through the season, before heading off to finish his development while getting paid.

10. Elias Harris, Sr., Gonzaga: Three years ago, Harris looked like he might be a one-and-done out of Gonzaga, as a 6-8 PF that could jump out of the gym and step out to the three-point line.  He elected to come back though, and went through a sophomore slump, getting tagged with an over-rated label.  He may never live up to those early expectations, but the high-flying German is still a force on the college level.  He hasn’t shown the outside shooting yet this year, but he’s averaging 15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, while showing a more diversified game because he’s on pace to nearly double his career-highs in assists and steals.

9. C.J. Leslie, Jr., N.C. State: There’s been a lot of hype around Leslie since he arrived at NC State, and a lot of the time you can absolutely see why.  He often looks like a future NBA All-Star with his athleticism and skill around the basket.  There’s just not many defenders that can match his size and quickness.  That being said, Leslie just cannot seem to turn the corner to being a consistent force.  Just this weekend he went off for 33 points vs. St. Bonaventure, but he’ll often go through long stretches of games as a non-factor.  Part of the problem is the sky-high expectations he’s had from Day 1, but given his ability, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be higher on this list than #9, here in his junior year.  He’s averaging 15 points/7.5 rebounds.

8. Alex Len, So., Maryland: Len garnered some very early (and premature) “Player of the Year” hype in November after he put up 23 points/12 boards/4 blocks vs. Kentucky in the first game of the season.  It turns out Kentucky isn’t as good as most thought at the time and Len hasn’t matched those stats since, but the 7-1, Ukrainian center is still one of the better post players in the country.  He’s turned in consistently solid performances since that opening game outburst, and is averaging 14.5 points/9 boards/2.5 blocks for the 10-1 Terps.

7. James Michael McAdoo, So., North Carolina: There are a lot of reasons to not have McAdoo this high on this list:  his team has been somewhat disappointing, he’s averaging over 3 turnovers (a ton for a big man), and he’s come up pretty small in the team’s biggest games this year.  But I just can’t ignore the pure ability he has as a chiseled, 6-9 PF that can move like a guard.  If he were to come back for a junior season (which he won’t), he would be a POY candidate in the ’13-’14 season.  He’s having to make a big adjustment from 8th man last year to The Man this year, but he’s still putting up 15 and 8 a game and will continue to improve all the way to March.  Maybe the biggest disappointment is that a guy with his skill-set somehow has just three blocked shots through 12 games.

6. Jack Cooley, Sr., Notre Dame: Patrick Ewing, Derrick Coleman, Alonzo Mourning, Emeka Okafor, DeJuan Blair, John Wallace.  A lot of really good big men have come through the Big East, and maybe Cooley will be the very last of them.  He’s often compared to another one of them: Luke Harangody.  Cooley could barely get off the bench for two years before being named the league’s Most Improved Player last year.  He’s taken his game up another notch this year, averaging 15 points while shooting 64% from the field, and ranking 6th in the nation in rebounding, at 11.3 a game, for the 12-1 Irish.

5. Anthony Bennett, Fr., UNLV: Cooley has taken three years to become one of the top big men in America.  Bennett took about three minutes.  Bennett came in highly-touted, but he’s well surpassed any expectations.  At 6-8 with a dominant inside game and a reliable jump shot with range, he looks every bit like a lottery pick.  He’s averaging 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds, while also shooting 12-34 from 3, good for 35%.  He’s had two of his biggest games against the best opponents he’s played, with 25 points/13 boards vs. Cal and 22 points/10 boards vs. Oregon.

4. Jeff Withey, Sr., Kansas: Withey’s career has been a lot like Cooley’s.  He didn’t play for two years before finally getting his chance last year.  He really put his name on the national map this past March by setting the record for blocks in an NCAA tournament, with 31 in the team’s six games.  He’s shown that was absolutely no fluke, as that average of 5 blocks a game he had in the tournament is exactly his average through 11 games this season.  But he’s not only a defensive presence, with his scoring average up to 14, and his FG percentage up to .573.  He’s also a 7-foot shot-blocker than can knock down free throws at nearly 80%.

3. Cody Zeller, So., Indiana: Sort of by default, Zeller seemed to have been anointed as the “face” of college basketball coming into the year.  He is the best player on what just MAY be the best team in the country, so if you have to choose someone, he’s a good pick.  But the fact is there really is no face of the sport this year, and there may be a handful of players better than Zeller.  That being said, he is an awesome collegiate center that should also be very solid, if maybe not an All-Star, at the next level.  He’s averaging 16 points/8 boards for the Hoosiers, as they try to chase down a national title before he bolts for the League.

2. Doug McDermott, Jr., Creighton: McDermott is an anomaly on this list because he is not only a “capable” 3-point shooter, he is one of the best in America.  He projects as a “tweener” forward at the next level, and I’m not sure he’ll be all that good there, but in college he is a match-up nightmare as a 6-8 PF that is shooting a smooth 51% (28-55) from 3 this year, and averaging 23 points, good for 3rd in the country.  He will be on the short list all season for the Player of the Year award.

1. Mason Plumlee, Sr., Duke: That “best player on the best team” rationale I mentioned for Zeller above?  Well, it turns out, at least through December, that that player is Plumlee.  He’s yet another guy on this list that has improved by leaps and bounds.  He made a big jump last year and has made an even bigger one into his senior season.  He features a combination of size, agility, and skill that make him the best post player in America.  He’ll command double-teams all season long.  He’s averaging 19 points and 11.5 rebounds, which is good for 5th in the country.  He’s led his team to an 11-0 record through the toughest schedule in the country.  He had 20 points/17 boards vs. a really good Minnesota team and 21 points/17 boards vs. an even better (if a little thin in the post) Ohio St. team.

Honorable Mentions:

Mike Moser, UNLV:  Would be on the list but may be out for the year with an injury

Gorgui Dieng, Louisville:  Like Moser, would probably be on the list if not for an injury

Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee:  Looks like an All-Pro defensive end playing college ball

Isaiah Austin/Cory Jefferson, Baylor:  Austin may be a lottery pick, Jefferson has matched his production.

Reggie Johnson, Miami:  Would be on the list if he could get in shape

Christian Watford, Indiana:  6-9 and a lights-out shooter

Tony Mitchell, North Texas:  Been kind of disappointing this year, even if he does get double and triple teamed every time he touches the ball

Jackie Carmichael, Illinois St.

Murphy Holloway, Ole Miss

Ed Daniel, Murray St.