NCAA Basketball: Top 5 Wooden Award candidates

The 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, the top award in men's college basketball, were recently revealed. Among them are four freshmen, two sophomores, four juniors and five seniors.

Here is a list of those 15 players, the schools they play for, their classifications, and their positions.

Deandre Ayton -- Arizona Wildcats, freshman forward

Marvin Bagley III -- Duke Blue Devils, freshman forward

Mohamed Bamba -- Texas Longhorns, freshman forward

Keita Bates-Diop -- Ohio State Buckeyes, junior forward

Trevon Bluiett -- Xavier Musketeers, senior guard

Mikal Bridges -- Villanova Wildcats, junior guard

Miles Bridges -- Michigan State Spartans, sophomore guard

Jalen Brunson -- Villanova Wildcats, junior guard

Jevon Carter -- West Virginia Mountaineers, senior guard

Carsen Edwards -- Purdue Boilermakers, sophomore guard

Keenan Evans -- Texas Tech Red Raiders, senior guard

Devonte' Graham -- Kansas Jayhawks, senior guard

Jock Landale -- Saint Mary's Gaels, senior center

Luke Maye -- North Carolina Tar Heels, junior forward

Trae Young -- Oklahoma Sooners, freshman guard

Here is a list of the top five candidates out of these 15 finalists to win the award.

5. Deandre Ayton -- Arizona Wildcats, freshman forward

Deandre Ayton will likely end up being the #1 overall pick in this year's NBA draft following his lone season as a member of the Arizona Wildcats, and he will likely get there after finishing in the top five in voting for the Wooden Award.

There is certainly some controversy surrounding the Pacific-12 Player of the Year after a recording surfaced of Arizona head coach Sean Miller discussing paying Ayton, the #3 recruit on the 2017 ESPN 100, $100,000 to commit to Arizona. However, the odds that this ends up affecting his position in the Wooden Award voting are not super high.

The 7'1", 250-pound forward is averaging 19.9 points per game, 11.4 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game, 1.9 blocks per game and 0.5 steals per game on a 61.6% shooting percentage, a 34.4% three-point field goal percentage, and an 74.7% free throw percentage as he leads the Wildcats into the Pacific-12 conference tournament as the #1 seed.

4. Marvin Bagley III -- Duke Blue Devils, freshman forward

Marvin Bagley III reclassified to 2017 so that he could play for the Duke Blue Devils this season, and that was a move that has paid huge dividends for both he and Duke as the postseason gets underway.

Bagley is a surefire lottery pick in this year's NBA draft barring injury. His historically great season made him just the second player in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to be named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year, a first team All-ACC selection, and an All-Freshman team selection.

The other player to pull off this historic feat was Jahlil Okafor in the 2014-2015 season before Duke went on to win the national championship over the Wisconsin Badgers.

The 6'11", 234-pound forward is averaging 20.7 points per game, 11.2 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game, 1.0 block per game and 0.9 steals per game on a 60.4% shooting percentage, a 36.0% three-point field goal percentage, and an 62.1% free throw percentage as he leads the Blue Devils into the ACC tournament as the #2 seed.

3. Trae Young -- Oklahoma Sooners, freshman guard

For the first half of the season, Trae Young looked like a lock to win the Wooden Award. However, after that, his opponents began to focus solely on stopping him, and the Oklahoma Sooners took a turn for the worse and ended up finishing in 9th place out of 10 teams in the Big XII conference with an 8-10 conference record as a result of it.

After a 12-1 start to the season, the Sooners struggled mightily down the stretch and failed to win a game in the Big XII conference tournament. They finished the regular season with an 18-13 record as a bubble team for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

That said, Young still put up amazing numbers. Averaging 27.5 points per game, 3.9 rebounds per game, 8.9 assists per game, 0.3 blocks per game and 1.7 steals per game on a 42.3% shooting percentage, a 35.9% three-point field goal percentage, and an 85.9% free throw percentage, the 6'2", 180-pound guard is on pace to become the first player ever to lead the nation in average points and assists per game.

Young, another surefire lottery pick in this year's NBA draft barring injury, earns the #3 position in these rankings despite his historic season given how badly Oklahoma struggled down the stretch.

As a result, it's hard to see him winning the award. Had the Sooners won a few more games throughout the season and looked like a more legitimate contender, Young would likely win the award hands down.

2. Jalen Brunson -- Villanova Wildcats, junior guard

With the departure of guard Josh Hart, who was in the Wooden Award discussion late last season after an amazing senior year, Jalen Brunson has stepped into the role as the catalyst for the Villanova Wildcats' offense, and he has thrived in that role as a junior.

It was initially unclear if Brunson would return to Villanova for his junior season, but he ultimately decided that it would be better to do so. It has been better for both he and his team throughout this season.

The 6'3", 180-pound guard is averaging 19.0 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game, 4.8 assists per game, 0.0 blocks per game and 0.8 steals per game on a 52.8% shooting percentage, a 40.5% three-point field goal percentage, and an 80.6% free throw percentage as he leads the Wildcats into the Big East conference tournament as the #2 seed.

It appears as though Brunson has the Wildcats poised for another deep run past the Sweet 16 in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which is something that they have only been able to pull off once since the 2009 season when they went to the Final Four.

That one occurrence, however, took place in the 2016 season when the team won their first national championship since the 1985 season over the North Carolina Tar Heels and Brunson was just a freshman. He has developed into a star since then.

1. Devonte' Graham -- Kansas Jayhawks, senior guard

Devonte' Graham, who was my preseason pick to win the 2018 Wooden Award, is in a great position to find himself winning it when it is all said and done after his stellar season stepping into the role as the catalyst for the Kansas Jayhawks' offense.

Kansas guard Frank Mason III won the Wooden Award last season while Graham played a smaller role as a junior. However, taking a backseat to Mason before Mason graduated last year has paid off for the senior guard, as he may very well become the second straight Kansas guard to win the award.

The 6'2", 185-pound guard is averaging 17.6 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, 7.2 assists per game, 0.1 blocks per game and 1.6 steals per game on a 40.5% shooting percentage, a 42.3% three-point field goal percentage, and an 83.0% free throw percentage as he leads the Jayhawks into the Big XII conference tournament as the #1 seed.

There were doubts that this Kansas team would be able to win the Big XII conference championship and that their 13-year streak of winning at least a share of the regular season conference championship, which was tied for the all-time record with the 13-year streak of the UCLA Bruins from the 1966-1967 season to the 1978-1979 season, would come to an end.

The Jayhawks, who pride themselves on their homecourt advantage, struggled early in the season, dropping two home non-conference games before getting blown out in their Big XII conference home opener at Allen Fieldhouse to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

At that point in, the Red Raiders, the West Virginia Mountaineers, the TCU Horned Frogs and the Oklahoma Sooners were all extremely hot. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks simply were not. They ended up dropping yet another home Big XII conference game to the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

However, on the back of Devonte' Graham, the Jayhawks rode to their 14th consecutive Big XII conference regular season championship, which is the new all-time record for consecutive regular season conference championships won.

The Jayhawks actually ended up winning it by two whole games as well, as they finished with a 13-5 conference record while the Mountaineers and Red Raiders finished tied for 2nd place with 11-7 conference record.

Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan State Spartans — Keita Bates-Diop

Here are my rankings of the other 10 candidates that are among the 15 finalists for the Wooden Award.

6. Keita Bates-Diop -- Ohio State Buckeyes, junior forward

7. Trevon Bluiett -- Xavier Musketeers, senior guard

8. Jevon Carter -- West Virginia Mountaineers, senior guard

9. Miles Bridges -- Michigan State Spartans, sophomore guard

10. Mikal Bridges -- Villanova Wildcats, junior guard

11. Jock Landale -- Saint Mary's Gaels, senior center

12. Luke Maye -- North Carolina Tar Heels, junior forward

13. Carsen Edwards -- Purdue Boilermakers, sophomore guard

14. Keenan Evans -- Texas Tech Red Raiders, senior guard

15. Mohamed Bamba -- Texas Longhorns, freshman forward

Who will end up winning the award when it is all said and done?