Since we’re a month into the season, we’ve acquired a decent sample size to start ranking and rating how various players have performed. Unfortunately for the sake of this exercise, a certain player from a certain team that is currently ranked number one in the country has been playing out of his freaking mind. Now that the suspense as to who will end up number one and the end of this list has been sufficiently lifted, here’s a brief look at how things stand according to the humble opinion of yours truly. Players #10 through #6 were ranked yesterday, so here’s a look at the top five.

• 5. Yogi Ferrell, Indiana: (16.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 6.5 APG, 85.1% FT, 49.6 % FG, 135.4 O-Rating) — The Hoosier narrative is that the team has under-performed, and it would be an easy, albeit lazy assumption, to point the finger at the senior point guard. But Ferrell has not been the problem for Indiana. He’s shooting about the same from deep, but he’s finishing at the rim at a significantly higher level. Per hoopmath.com, he’s taking 37 percent of shots at the rim and converting 61.7 percent of the time, compared to 30.8:52.0 percent one year ago. His rebounding, assist, and steals numbers also have gone up to career-high levels as well. Turnovers have been a bugaboo, but the senior floor general has a lower turnover percentage than Mike Gesell, Melo Trimble, and Bryant McIntosh.

Melo Trimble has Maryland rolling so far in 2015-16. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)

• 4. Isaac Haas, Purdue: (13.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.6 BPG, 63.3% FG, 129.8 O-Rating) — Purdue is number one nationally in overall defensive efficiency, defensive eFG percentage, and is holding opponents to the lowest two-point field goal percentage in all the land. Not to discredit the perimeter defenders that the team has, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Haas and AJ Hammons are a giant-sized reason why. Offensively, you have to figure in the fact the sophomore is putting up the numbers above while only playing 17.9 MPG. KenPom has the center as his number five player in the country in terms of efficiency, and Haas is arguably the most improved player in the conference.

• 3. Melo Trimble, Maryland: (15.8 PPG, 5.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 128.4 O-Rating) — It’s hard sometimes to get a true gauge on some of the numbers early on, because some of said numbers will inevitably drop some once the wars of conference play commence. In the three games Maryland has played against the heavyweights (Georgetown, North Carolina, and Connecticut), however, Trimble has averaged 24 points, six assists, and two steals. His passing has improved, and he still functions as a Big Ten version of James Harden in his ability at seemingly getting to the free throw line whenever he wants. Big Ten fans will be in for a treat on March 6 when Ferrell and Trimble meet up for the only time during the regular season.

No player has been better than Denzel Valentine this season. (MSU Athletics)

• 2. Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa: (19.6 PPG, 6.7 RBS, 2.8 BPG, 51.0% 3PT, 60.6% eFG) — Any casual fan who happened to watch the first half of the Iowa-Iowa State game had to come away thinking “who is that dude from Iowa doing a Larry Bird impression?” After having some nice moments as a complimentary piece during Iowa’s trips to the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, the senior has enjoyed a breakout campaign where he’s scored over 20 points in half of his team’s games. He’s also unique in his versatility, being equally adept scoring from outside or in the post. He also has blocked three or more shots five times, as he’s currently second in the league in blocks per game.
• 1. Denzel Valentine, Michigan: (18.6 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 7.2 APG, 45.7 Assist Rate) — Valentine made one heck of a gigantic statement early on when he went for the first of his two triple-doubles on the season against Kansas, leading a furious Michigan State rally against a potential Final Four team. The numbers are insane, but Valentine is the type who you would notice on the floor even if his stat lines weren’t jumping off the page. He’s leading the best team in the conference and the country right now, and doing so at an extremely high level.

Brendan Brody (307 Posts)

Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 at 1:31 pm by Brendan Brody and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: Denzel Valentine, feature, indiana, iowa, isaac haas, jarrod uthoff, maryland, Melo Trimble, michigan state, purdue, yogi ferrell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.