Top Five Men's College Basketball Players to Watch Ahead of March Madness

All college teams are currently in conference tournament play, but selection Sunday is rapidly approaching. Every year, March Madness gives us breakout stars, cinderella stories, and moments that make players and teams immortalized in college basketball lore. This year will be no different. America always loves a great underdog story, but it’s the stars that draw the allure.

Here are the top five men's college basketball players to watch ahead of March Madness.

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5. Mark Sears, Alabama

2024-25 stats: 19.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 5.0 APG, 41.2 FG%, 35.3 3P%

After starting the season relatively slowly, Sears recently elevated his game, scoring 20+ in each of his last five games and 30+ in three contests. He is the team's lead initiator, commanding the game when needed. Alabama is the top-scoring team in the country per Team Rankings, with Sears leading the way as the team's leading scorer. Coming off breaking the Alabama single-season scoring record last season to follow up the next season, leading the SEC in scoring?

He will be a one-on-one nightmare for his opponent.

4. Braden Smith, Purdue

2024-25 stats: 16.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 8.7 APG, 44.6 FG%, 40.6 3P%

Smith is a quintessential point guard who makes his teammates better. He’s the only player in college basketball this season, averaging 16+ points and 8+ assists and shooting better than 40% from three, per StatHead. He doesn’t post gaudy stats, but he’s more than capable of taking over a game, being one of 10 Boilermakers to record 30+ points and shoot at least 50% from the field and 40% from three in a single game.

The Big Ten Player of the Year favorite is one of three Boilermakers (Carsen Edwards, 2019; E’Twaun Moore, 2011) to do it more than once in the same season.

3. Kameron Jones, Marquette

2024-25 stats: 18.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 6.0 APG, 48.6 FG%, 30.5 3P%

Jones carried more of an offensive load this season for the Golden Eagles (28.5 USG %) than at any point in his career. He’s been just as good, if not better, with more workload, averaging a career-best 18.5 points per game and being a pick-pocket with 1.5 steals per game. He’s averaging three times as many assists (6.0) this season as last (2.4), displaying immense improvement as a distributor.

2. Johni Broome, Auburn

2024-25 stats: 18.0 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 3.3 APG,  2.4 BPG, 50.4 FG%, 28.6 3P%

At one point earlier in the season, Broome looked like the National Player of the Year. Unfortunately, he has cooled off, scoring 10 or fewer points in his last two games. He has battled some injuries but has still been dominant on both ends of the court this season, leading the SEC in rebounds (10.7) and blocks (2.4). Broome is the only player in college basketball averaging 18+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 2+ blocks per game, shooting 50% or better from the field.

The Tigers will need him to perform at his best to make a run to win their first national championship in program history.

1. Cooper Flagg, Duke

2024-25 stats: 19.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 49.7 FG%, 38.2 3P%

Anointed as the prohibitive favorite to go No.1 in the NBA Draft. Who else would the top spot go to? Flagg has lived to the massive hype on him coming into the season. He is a two-way Swiss army knife who does everything on the court. He is in the National Player of the Year race between him and Broome, and he is only 18!

Flagg is one of four freshmen (Jarvis Lang 1991, Shareef Abdur-Rahim 1996, Kevin Durant 2007) in NCAA history to average 19+ points, 7+ rebounds, 1.5+ blocks, and over a steal per game on at least 45% shooting or better from the field.

He’s a phenom.