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Jalen Brunson, Villanova junior

The Wildcats might be as good as the team that won a national title in 2016, largely because Brunson still is running the show. This is now entirely his squad after captains Kris Jenkins and Josh Hart graduated.

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Grayson Allen, Duke senior

No more on-court tripping incidents (we hope) means Allen can take his place again among the game's elite players. He was a national player of the year candidate last year for the No. 1 team in the country in the preseason poll — and he's in that spot again.

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Bonzie Colson, Notre Dame senior

Villanova’s Jalen Brunson (1) plays during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Seton during the Big East men’s tournament Friday, March 10, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) ORG XMIT: NYFF1

Undersized at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, but Colson's a double-double machine and one of the toughest players to guard in college basketball. Few posts possess his combination of skill, strength and basketball IQ.

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Miles Bridges, Michigan State sophomore

The consensus favorite to be named national player of the year, the 6-7 Bridges ignored the one-and-done talk and returned to the Spartans to give coach Tom Izzo perhaps his most talented team ever.

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Michael Porter Jr., Missouri freshman

The recent trend of hot-shot freshmen and eventual No. 1 overall picks not leading their teams to the NCAA tournament (see Ben Simmons in 2016 and Markelle Fultz in 2017) could end with this Porter kid.