NCAA Basketball: Top 5 Wooden Award candidates

Jalen Brunson

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.