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Player of the Year Power Rankings: Barrett, Zion still top the list

Eastern Michigan v Duke

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 14: RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils react during the second half of their game against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 14, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

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The season is now two weeks hold, and there hasn’t been all that much that has changed in terms of the Player of the Year race.

R.J. Barrett is still sitting at the top of the list. Carsen Edwards has been awesome. So has Rui Hachimura and Grant Williams. There have been a few names that have popped up on the list thanks to some magical early-season performances, and it will be awesome to see if they last.

Here is this week’s Player of the Year Power Rankings:

1. and 2. R.J. BARRETT, Duke (Last Week: 1) and ZION WILLIAMSON, Duke (2)

It’s tough to parse between these two. I think they have definitively been the two best players in college basketball this season, and they are doing it for the best team in college basketball. I’ll stick with Barrett since he was my preseason pick.

Is anyone else ready for Duke to take on Auburn today?

3. CARSEN EDWARDS, Purdue (6)

Edwards has been everything that we expected him to be this season. Through the first five games, he is averaging 26.6 points and 4.0 assists. He hasn’t scored fewer than 23 points in any game this season, he’s shooting 41.5 percent from three on more than 10 (!!!) 3-pointers attempted per game and he’s doing it on a Purdue team that looks like it is going to be a bit better than some people expected.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that Edwards will be one of the five-most entertaining players in college basketball this year. Someone that is capable of putting up 30 on any given night, who makes threes from 30-feet and who can also do this?

You have to tune in.

4. RUI HACHIMURA, Gonzaga (5)

The competition that Hachimura will kick up a notch this week, as the Zags will square off with Arizona in the Maui Invitational semifinals before taking on either Duke or Auburn on the final day of the event. Hachimura has been impressive through the first four games of the season -- he’s averaging 22.8 points on the season and 20.5 points in wins over Illinois and Texas A&M -- but that’s not exactly a murderer’s row we’re talking about.

We are going to learn a lot about him, and this Gonzaga team as a whole, in the next two days. Then we’ll see the Zags take on Creighton, Washington, Tennessee and North Carolina. Credit to Mark Few. He didn’t shy away from anyone this year.

5. ETHAN HAPP, Wisconsin (UR)

Happ has been an absolute machine this season. He opened the year with a triple-double in a win over Coppin State and over the weekend he had 15 points, 12 boards and six assists as the Badgers took down Houston Baptist. In between those two performances, Happ turned into Kevin McHale, going for 30 points, 12 boards and five assists as the Badgers landed an impressive win at Xavier.

6. GRANT WILLIAMS, Tennessee (t-9)

Williams has been a force to be reckoned with this season. In two games against Division I competition -- Georgia Tech and a Louisiana team that gave Kansas fits in Allen Fieldhouse -- he is averaging 26.5 points, 9.0 boards and 3.0 assists. He gets Louisville and, basketball gods willing, Kansas this week.

7. NICKEIL ALEXANDER-WALKER, Virginia Tech (UR)

Alexander-Walker has been one of the pleasant surprises of the young season. A borderline five-star prospect coming out of high school, Alexander-Walker was a guy that had some NBA buzz entering his freshman season. It never really came to fruition, as Alexander-Walker struggled with his playmaking and profiled as something of an ambidextrous slasher with some concerns about the consistency of his perimeter stroke.

Fast forward a year, and he is tearing up college hoops. Through the first two weeks of the season, he has grown into Virginia Tech’s best player, averaging 21.8 points, 5.8 boards and 4.5 assists while shooting 40 percent from three. He was terrific in their win in the Charleston Classic, which included a 25 point performance in a come-from-behind win over Purdue in the title game.

8. CAMERON JOHNSON, North Carolina (8)

I’m not going to go all-in on the Cam Johnson takes until I see UNC play some better competition, but it is worth mentioning that, two weeks into the season, he not only looks healthier and more athletic than he was a season ago, but he is UNC’s leading scorer, their second-leading rebounder and the team leader in steals while shooting 93.3 percent from the free throw line and 56.5 percent from three.

9. TY JEROME, Virginia (7)

Same as Cam Johnson. Jerome has been awesome -- 17.0 points, 5.7 assists, 4.3 boards, 68.8 percent from three -- but UVA has not yet played a team of their caliber.

10. LAGERALD VICK, Kansas (10)

Vick’s performance against Vermont was from another planet. The 6-foot-4 senior scored 32 points in a game where Kansas struggled early, making all eight of the threes that he attempted. He also made two threes in that game that came with his toe on the 3-point line, meaning that he was roughly six inches from going 10-for-10 from three.

Watch it. It was ridiculous:

And here’s the craziest part: That might not have been his best, or his most important, performance of the week. Vick went for 33 points in a win over Louisiana in which Kansas had to erase a 12 point first half deficit. He shot 7-for-12 from three in that win. I don’t imagine that Vick will keep shooting at this rate, but the threat of the three-ball will help to open up space in the paint for Bill Self’s talented frontline of Dedric Lawson and Udoka Azubuike.

Dropped Out: 3. C.J. Massinburg (Buffalo), 4. Chuma Okeke (Auburn), t-9. Markus Howard (Marquette)