Can Oscar Tshiebwe repeat as national player of the year? Here’s his top competition.

It has been 39 years since someone earned consensus national player of the year honors in consecutive college basketball seasons.

Could Oscar Tshiebwe end that streak?

Kentucky has the reigning national player of the year back on campus going into the 2022-23 campaign. He’s the first such player to choose to return to college since North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough swept the major awards in 2008 and stayed in Chapel Hill for another season. Hansbrough didn’t repeat as the nation’s top player — Oklahoma freshman Blake Griffin earned all of those honors in 2009 — but the veteran forward did lead the Tar Heels to a national championship in his return season.

Tshiebwe has stated that a national title is his ultimate goal over the next few months, but he should also be in the thick of things for a second wave of player of the year trophies. Virginia big man Ralph Sampson was the last repeat winner of a majority of the top awards, doing so at the end of the 1982-83 season. Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Sam Perkins were among the other top stars that season, and Tshiebwe will also have plenty of talented rivals this time around.

Here’s a look at 10 players that will give the Kentucky star a run for player of the year honors.

1. Drew Timme, Gonzaga

There’s no doubt that Drew Timme goes into the season as Tshiebwe’s top competition. Timme was the only other unanimous choice to the Associated Press preseason All-America team, and some publications have even named him their preseason player of the year despite Tshiebwe’s return. Timme was also a front-runner for top player honors going into last season, and he ended up averaging 18.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for a Gonzaga team that started and finished the 2021-22 campaign as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.

Tshiebwe and Timme will meet on the court on Nov. 20 in Spokane.

2. Armando Bacot, North Carolina

A McDonald’s All-American out of high school, Armando Bacot has improved markedly from year to year and he averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds as a junior last season, leading the Tar Heels on an epic run that ended with a loss to Kansas in the national title game. Bacot averaged 15.3 points and 16.5 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament — topping 20 rebounds in both the Elite Eight and Final Four games — and rolls into this season off that momentum. UNC starts the campaign as the No. 1 team in the AP rankings, and Bacot will have returning starters Caleb Love (a possible national player of the year candidate himself), RJ Davis and Leaky Black back alongside him for another run at the title.

3. Marcus Sasser, Houston

Marcus Sasser missed most of last season following surgery on his left foot, but he has shown enough in the past to warrant preseason AP All-America honors going into his fourth year of college. Before his injury, Sasser was averaging 17.7 points, 2.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game while making 43.7 percent of his three-point shots and hitting 45 total threes in just 12 games. He’s an elite two-way player and arguably the best guard in all of college basketball. Houston starts the season No. 3 in the rankings after a run to the Elite Eight — despite major injuries — last season and making the Final Four in 2021.

4. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana

Like the rest of the previously mentioned AP preseason All-Americans, Trayce Jackson-Davis is a four-year college player. The former McDonald’s All-American ranks top 15 all-time in points, rebounds and blocked shots for his home-state Hoosiers, who begin the season ranked No. 13 nationally in the AP poll. Jackson-Davis averaged 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season, blocking 81 shots. The 6-foot-9 forward goes into the season as the final pick in ESPN’s NBA mock draft for 2023, the second-oldest player on that list. (Oscar Tshiebwe is the oldest).

5. Nick Smith Jr., Arkansas

Only once in the past 10 seasons has a freshman earned consensus national player of the year honors. Duke’s Zion Williamson did it after the 2018-19 season. Kentucky’s Anthony Davis was the last newcomer to do it before that. Might Nick Smith Jr. be next? If any freshman is going to do it, Smith is the most likely choice going into the season. He’s a 6-5 guard who can heat up in a hurry offensively, and he’ll be playing in an Arkansas system that should both perfectly suit his style and make him a featured player. The Razorbacks will boast plenty of talent around Smith this season, but he has the ability to reach superstar status on a team that is ranked No. 10 nationally and — according to the Southeastern Conference media preseason poll — will be Kentucky’s top competition in the league. 247Sports ranked him as the No. 1 recruit in the 2022 class, and ESPN projects him as the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft.

6. Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA

Jaime Jaquez Jr. has started 89 games over his three-year UCLA career, helping the Bruins make an improbable run to the Final Four as an 11 seed in 2021. Last season, the 6-7 wing averaged 13.9 points, a team-high 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and he already ranks in the top 50 on UCLA’s star-studded all-time scoring list. He’s also earned Pac-12 all-defensive team honors the past two seasons. Jaquez will once again have a ton of talent around him — including returning guard Tyger Campbell and star recruits Amari Bailey and Adem Bona — but another big step in his game could vault him into the player of the year conversation. UCLA is ranked No. 8 in the preseason AP poll.

7. Kendric Davis, Memphis

Perhaps the nation’s most-coveted transfer this offseason, Kendric Davis ended up staying in the American Athletic Conference, jumping from SMU to Memphis. Last season, the 5-11 guard averaged 19.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game for the Mustangs, earning AAC player of the year honors and ending up at the top of the transfer rankings when he put his name in the portal. He averaged 19.0 points and 7.6 assists per game the season before that. Now, he’ll be the featured player for Penny Hardaway, who is expected to turn Davis loose at the point guard position. Memphis is not ranked in the preseason, but the Tigers’ newcomer could put up some major numbers in his fifth season of college basketball.

8. Hunter Dickinson, Michigan

Michigan just missed the Final Four two seasons ago and took a step back — but still sneaked into the NCAA Tournament and made it to the Sweet Sixteen — in 2022. The Wolverines start this season ranked No. 22 in the AP poll, and Hunter Dickinson should be the star of a team with plenty of upside. The 7-1 center averaged 18.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He’ll be the Big Ten’s returning leader in both of those categories. He’ll also get a matchup with Oscar Tshiebwe on an international stage. Kentucky plays Michigan in London on Dec. 4.

9. Zach Edey, Purdue

Sticking with Big Ten giants, Zach Edey is a 7-4, 290-pound center who put up big numbers for Purdue last season — 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds — despite playing just 18.9 minutes per game as he shared the frontcourt with fellow star Trevion Williams, who is now off to the pros. That departure should give even more of the spotlight to Edey, who has the potential to increase his numbers with added playing time and experience. Purdue is just outside of the top-25 rankings to begin the season, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Boilermakers work their way onto the list in the early going. According to Purdue, he is the only player in the last 30 years to average 14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocks in under 20.0 minutes per game.

10. Baylor Scheierman, Creighton

This is a bit of a wild-card pick, but Baylor Scheierman was perhaps the most-buzzed-about player to hit the transfer portal over the offseason. The 6-7 guard — or point forward, or whatever positional designation you want to place on him — was the Summit League player of the year at South Dakota State last season, averaging 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He also shot 46.9 percent from three-point range. He was the only player in Division I basketball to lead his conference in rebounds and assists, and he’ll now play for a Creighton team ranked No. 9 in the AP preseason poll and viewed as a legitimate Final Four threat. Scheierman might not even be the best player on this Bluejays squad, and the Big East will bring an entirely new challenge. But, if he lives up to the hype and plays up to his new competition level, he could be a featured all-around player on one of the best teams in the country.

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