In one ankle-rolling instant this past Saturday, the race for men's college basketball National Player of the Year changed drastically.

Up until that point, Auburn's Johni Broome was the relatively clear favorite to win the Wooden Award. But as we wait to find out when he'll be able to return to the court, Duke's Cooper Flagg has taken the reins as the star to beat.

However, there's plenty of strong competition on Flagg's tail, including a point guard trying to make it three consecutive Wooden Award winners for Purdue.

In this ranking of NPOY candidates, we'll include every player who was part of the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List that was released a little over a week ago. We're also going to start out with a few players who are still worthy of consideration, even without having appeared in that top 25.

Players need not appear on that list in order to be eligible for the Wooden Award at the end of the year, and there have been several instances of players ending up as consensus first-team All-Americans after not being in that top 25 in mid-January. So, yes, they legitimately can still be counted as candidates here.

One crucial thing to keep in mind when it comes to National Player of the Year candidates is that team success is a major component of the criteria for consideration. The Wooden Award winner almost always comes from a team that earns a No. 4 seed or better in the NCAA tournament.

As such, you're going to encounter a few honorable mentions who are putting up incredible numbers on teams going nowhere fast.

Don't shoot the messenger, Dylan Harper fanatics. He might win Freshman of the Year and might be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, but history suggests he won't be a factor for NPOY if Rutgers continues to struggle in spite of his (and Ace Bailey's) heroics.

Statistics current through the start of play on Wednesday, Jan. 15.

Players Not in Wooden Watch Midseason Top 25 Who Are Worth Mentioning

Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn—If Johni Broome misses an extended period of time during which Auburn doesn't experience any sort of drastic fall from grace, either Baker-Mazara or freshman Tahaad Pettiford is going to start soaking up a lot of the national spotlight. And with a season-high 20 points against Mississippi State on Tuesday night, Baker-Mazara is out to an early lead.

LJ Cryer, Houston—The Cougars are darn near the No. 1 team on KenPom, yet they weren't represented in the top 25. Even though "relentless team defense" is Houston's brightest star, it sure feels like an oversight to not have either Cryer or Emanuel Sharp on the list.

Graham Ike, Gonzaga—At better than 31 points and 14 rebounds per 40 minutes played, Ike has been a monstrous force in the paint for the Zags. But it's somewhat understandable that Gonzaga only has one representative and that it's Ryan Nembhard, who's averaging nearly 10 assists per game.

Curtis Jones, Iowa State—Both Tennessee and Rutgers put two players in the top 25, but Iowa State really should have, too. A sixth-man extraordinaire, Jones is leading the Cyclones in scoring and could easily overtake Keshon Gilbert as both their top candidate for NPOY and possibly the favorite for Big 12 POY.

Caleb Love, Arizona—Both Love and Arizona had a brutal run through nonconference play. As the Wildcats skyrocket back up the projected seed list, though, it's getting easier to see him sneaking back into this mix.

Norchad Omier, Baylor—For the fifth consecutive year, Omier is averaging a double-double. He's already north of 2,000 career points and is approaching 1,500 career rebounds. He has bounced in and out of the top 10 for KenPom Player of the Year.

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest—The Deacs have been disappointing, but they're creeping into the at-large mix with Sallis leading the way. Games against Duke on Jan. 25 and March 3 will be gigantic opportunities for this senior to make a statement.

Javon Small, West Virginia—As with Omier, you would think they would have at least checked KenPom POY rankings before putting out the top 25, yeah? Small is averaging roughly 20 points, five boards and five dimes for a West Virginia team that is drastically exceeding expectations.

Danny Wolf, Michigan—Literally and perhaps figuratively the biggest miss of the top 25, this 7-foot Wolverines center has been stuffing the stat sheet for what might be the best team in a league destined for 10-plus bids. Through five Big Ten games (all wins), Wolf is at 15.4 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 4.4 APG and 2.6 BPG while shooting 39 percent from three.

Players in Wooden Watch Midseason Top 25 Who Aren't Quite Top NPOY Candidates

Ace Bailey, Rutgers—Likely to be a top-three draft pick, but Bailey isn't even the best NPOY option from a team that is looking very unlikely to dance.

RJ Davis, North Carolina—The Heels are a bubble team, and freshman Ian Jackson may have supplanted RJ Davis as the MVP of this middling squad.

Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma—The Sooners have come crashing back to earth from their 13-0 run through nonconference play, and so has this dynamite freshman point guard, who has more turnovers than made field goals during their 0-3 start in SEC play.

Tre Johnson, Texas—Sensational freshman scoring machine who went for 26 in a recent loss to Tennessee. But thriving for what might be the 13th-best team in the SEC is going to keep him from seriously contending here.

Derik Queen, Maryland—There are nights where this freshman big man looks like he can get a bucket or a rebound whenever he darn well pleases. But he's a bit too inconsistent and a bit too sloppy with the turnovers.

Maxime Raynaud, Stanford—At around 21 points and 11 rebounds per game, what Raynaud is doing for the Cardinal is rather ridiculous. But until Stanford becomes an even remotely viable at-large candidate, it's not going to matter here.

Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M—Less of a relentless force than he was last year, plus he has missed some games recently without Texas A&M missing him too dearly, beating Oklahoma and almost beating Alabama. If anyone is going to vault back into the conversation with a 40-burger against a projected No. 1 seed, though, it's probably Taylor.

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee—Great veteran leader on both ends of the floor, but there's really no question that Chaz Lanier is Tennessee's most likely NPOY candidate.

Honorable Mentions Who Just Missed the Top 10

Walter Clayton Jr., Florida—As the points and assists leader for a candidate for a No. 1 seed, Clayton is the likeliest player from this tier to find his way into the NPOY mix. Keeping him narrowly out of the top 10 for now is the fact that his three least productive games of the season happened to come in Florida's three biggest wins to date. But he's one gem against a team like Auburn, Alabama or Tennessee away from becoming a legitimate threat.

Eric Dixon, Villanova—Dixon isn't just leading the nation in scoring average. He has a nearly 10 percent cushion above his closest challenger, Northern Arizona's Trent McLaughlin, at 22.8 PPG. Villanova is going to need to get into the at-large picture before we can legitimately consider Dixon a top-10 candidate, though. And after Tuesday's loss at Xavier, that's looking extremely unlikely.

Dylan Harper, Rutgers—Harper has been every bit as special as advertised heading into his brief college career, though battling an illness in early January caused his per-game numbers to take a serious hit. Rutgers would have to win the next four games on its schedule just to become a serious at-large candidate, though, and missing the NCAA tournament will almost certainly keep Harper from being named NPOY.

Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State—Hubbard was solid as a freshman for a No. 8 seed Mississippi State team, but now he's borderline elite for a Bulldogs squad in the mix for a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, averaging four assists per turnover and scoring more efficiently. He might be a top-10 player in the country and also might not even be named first-team All-SEC.

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton—"Kalk" might lead the Big East in blocks for a third consecutive season, and the big man has emerged as a more legitimate perimeter weapon, even hitting a trio of triples in a key win at Butler last week. However, he is the third-best NPOY candidate from the Big East at most, and he won't be a candidate at all if Creighton doesn't get off the bubble in a positive way.

Alex Karaban, Connecticut—At nearly 60 percent on two-point attempts and well north of 40 percent from the perimeter, Karaban probably should be more assertive on offense and would be a much stronger candidate if he was averaging closer to 20 points per game. All the same, if UConn manages to get back up to a top-five candidate to win it all, Karaban's quest for a three-peat would be worth a fair amount of NPOY buzz.

Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga—Loved Nembhard's chances when he was averaging better than 10 assists per game. But after a combined line of 18 points, eight assists and nine turnovers in the recent wins over Pepperdine and Washington State, it sure is starting to feel like Graham Ike is the better option from Gonzaga. Should the Zags do their thing and run the table against the WCC, though, someone from this team will likely be a top-10 candidate.

Nos. 10-6: Kasparas Jakucionis, Keshon Gilbert, PJ Haggerty, Chaz Lanier, Mark Sears

10. Kasparas Jakucionis, Illinois (16.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 42% 3PT)

Previous Rank: Honorable Mention

The do-it-all freshman from Lithuania recently missed some games with an arm injury, and it was clear in the loss to USC how badly they need him at full strength to even sniff their ceiling in March. Few players are more dangerous from the triple-threat position than Jakucionis.

9. Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State (16.1 PPG, 4.7 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.5 SPG)

Previous Rank: 5

Gilbert's efficiency has taken a bit of a dive in recent weeks, both in the field-goal percentage and turnovers departments. However, the bigger reason why he slipped from No. 5 to No. 9 is that teammate Curtis Jones has been awesome and is on the verge of supplanting Gilbert as the MVP of the Cyclones. (If he hasn't already.)

If Iowa State continues to excel and secures a No. 1 seed, though, it's plausible both of those guards will be in the All-American conversation.

8. PJ Haggerty, Memphis (22.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.9 SPG, 42% 3PT)

Previous Rank: 9

It's a bit unfair, but the big question at this point with Haggerty is whether people are going to pay enough attention to Memphis the rest of the way against an otherwise uninspiring AAC. He has been dominant, making a living at the charity stripe just as he did last season with Tulsa. But while he's beating up on Florida Atlantic, North Texas and East Carolina, other NPOY candidates are getting infinitely more attention against the likes of Florida, Texas and North Carolina.

The longer the Tigers last without suffering a league loss, though, the more interesting they become as a title contender and the more legitimate Haggerty becomes as an NPOY contender.

7. Chaz Lanier, Tennessee (19.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.3 SPG, 44% 3PT)

Previous Rank: 4

Lanier slips a little bit after a tough road trip in which he had a combined 20 points and shot 6-for-27 from the field against Florida and Texas. He doesn't do enough else in the box score to avoid taking a hit in the rankings after back-to-back shooting performances like that.

He's still one of the top three-point weapons in the nation, though, and he will be under plenty of spotlight the rest of the way to potentially make a run at No. 1. If he catches fire in the upcoming gauntlet of Miss State, Auburn, Kentucky and Florida, look out.

6. Mark Sears, Alabama (18.6 PPG, 4.5 APG, 3.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 35% 3PT)

Previous Rank: 7

Prior to a tough night in a loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday, Sears had been on quite the tear, scoring at least 20 points in seven of his previous eight games. That includes the first points-assists double-double of his career in Alabama's SEC opener against Oklahoma.

If you wrote him off as an NPOY candidate after the scoreless dud against Illinois back in mid-November, now would be a good time to recalibrate.

5. Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Season Stats: 15.8 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.5 SPG

Signature Performance: 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, zero turnovers vs. NC State (Dec. 14)

Previous Rank: 8

For some reason, the NPOY betting markets are all the way out on Hunter Dickinson. He's currently +20000 on DraftKings and +25000 on FanDuel.

Heading into play on Wednesday, though, the KenPom POY rankings had Dickinson as the top player not named Cooper Flagg or Johni Broome.

So, what's up with that?

Dickinson entered Wednesday's showdown with Iowa State averaging 17.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks over his last seven games. And Kansas is sitting pretty as a likely No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

Maybe we're a tad high on him at No. 5, but it's tough to fathom how the books don't even view him as a top-10 candidate, as he's very much on the short list of legitimate options if it's not Flagg or Broome.

It's not like he's sneaking into the conversation out of nowhere, either. Dickinson was one of the top NPOY candidates before the regular season began, and he promptly went for 20 and 10 against North Carolina, as well as 28 and 12 against Michigan State within the first 10 days of the campaign, staking quite the claim as the early front-runner.

He did go through a bit of a rough patch in December—aside from the ridiculous performance against the Wolfpack noted above—but he has been back with a vengeance on both ends of the floor and could make this race a lot more interesting if that continues.

4. Braden Smith, Purdue

Season Stats: 15.0 PPG, 9.2 APG, 4.6 RPG, 2.1 SPG, 42% 3PT

Signature Performance: 24 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, two steals vs. Maryland (Dec. 8)

Previous Rank: 6

Never in Wooden Award history has one school produced the winner in three consecutive years. There's a real chance Braden Smith could change that.

Purdue's junior point guard has put up some absurd stat lines this season. The game above against Maryland was arguably his best given the quality of the opponent, but he also went for 17-10-6 in the win over Alabama, 18-11-6 in the dramatic victory over Ole Miss and he entered Wednesday's game against Washington averaging 20.0 PPG and 11.4 APG over his last five games, all of which were Purdue wins.

Aside from maybe Kam Jones at Marquette, Smith might be the most singularly important player on a team with viable Final Four aspirations.

Purdue is a perfect 10-0 this season when Smith goes for a combined total of at least 22 points and assists, as well as 12-0 when he posts an O-rating of 110 or greater. He is almost leading the nation in assists per game, narrowly behind Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard and Louisiana Tech's Sean Newman, and KenPom has him down for the best assist rate in the country.

For all the talk of Purdue being a three-man show, Smith sure has made the most of what's around him.

Let's not overlook the defense, either. Purdue has virtually no rim protection this season and Smith has nearly three times as many steals as his closest teammate, and yet the Boilermakers have been more than passable on that end of the floor. They entered Wednesday's game against Washington ranked among the top 50 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

For Smith to really make a run at this thing, Purdue probably needs to play its way up into the No. 1 seed conversation. If he shines brightly in a road win over Oregon this weekend, that would be a huge step in the right direction.

3. Kam Jones, Marquette

Season Stats: 19.6 PPG, 6.7 APG, 5.0 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 32% 3PT

Signature Performance: 32 points, six assists, four steals, two rebounds, zero turnovers vs. Wisconsin (Dec. 7)

Previous Rank: 2

When Johni Broome suffered his ankle injury about an hour after Cooper Flagg finished off his 42-point special against Notre Dame, everyone rushed to crown Flagg as the new runaway favorite for NPOY.

But don't go forgetting about Kam Jones, y'all.

Marquette's star lead guard had a rough shooting night in the overtime game against DePaul this week, going just 1-for-10 from three-point range. Nevertheless, he was absolutely massive for the Golden Eagles, finishing with 18 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, three steals and just one turnover, helping them avoid what would have been a brutal loss.

That was just another night at the office for Jones, though. He now has 114 assists against 26 turnovers (4.4 AST/TO), and he has yet to give the ball away more than three times in a game all season.

Jones has also scored in double figures in all 17 games played, although, it has taken him 118 field-goal attempts to score 112 points through six Big East games. It's a good thing he's so efficient with the assists and turnovers.

Jones' triple-double against Purdue in mid-November first put him on the national radar as a serious threat to win the Wooden Award. Another triple-double against Connecticut or St. John's could be the ticket to making this a tight race once more.

2. Johni Broome, Auburn

Season Stats: 17.9 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.7 BPG

Signature Performance: 21 points, 20 rebounds, six assists, three blocks, zero turnovers vs. Ohio State (Dec. 14)

Previous Rank: 1

Not since Zion Williamson's broken shoe has a rolled ankle generated as many rapid-reaction articles and emergency podcasts as the one Johni Broome suffered last weekend at South Carolina.

After an MRI revealed a sprain that will not require surgery, it's now a question of how many games the double-double machine will end up missing—and how well Auburn can tread water while he's out.

On the latter front, the Tigers are off to a mighty impressive start. They narrowly held on to beat South Carolina—that game was a nail-biter long before Broome got hurt with about 13 minutes remaining—and then drilled Mississippi State by 22 on Tuesday night. They are still indisputably the No. 1 overall seed as things currently stand.

As far as the number of games missed is concerned, Williamson missed six games, including the one in which the injury occurred, and he still managed to win all of the National Player of the Year awards.

Not exactly apples to apples, of course. Williamson was a bona fide phenomenon that we talked about on a daily basis. Broome is very, very good, but he isn't that. And Broome was already in a competitive race with Cooper Flagg, while Williamson had already unofficially won the race by a landslide before the injury occurred.

But if Broome comes back in 2-3 weeks and looks no worse for wear, game on.

We already had a fantastic head-to-head battle between Broome and Flagg in which each star put up a 20-point double-double. We could still be headed for what would be the tightest battle for NPOY since Buddy Hield and Denzel Valentine practically played to a draw in 2015-16.

1. Cooper Flagg, Duke

Season Stats: 18.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 35% 3PT

Signature Performance: 42 points, seven assists, six rebounds vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 11)

Previous Rank: 3

By no means did Cooper Flagg struggle through the first five weeks or so of his college career. The then-17-year-old put up 26 against Kentucky, 24 at Arizona, 22 in the marquee win over Auburn and 20 in a road win over Louisville that just looks better by the day. He also had at least 11 rebounds in three of those four performances.

But he was a bit inconsistent. A bit inefficient at 1.19 points per field-goal attempt. Occasionally turnover prone. And not quite the once-in-a-generation, best-thing-since-sliced-bread instant sensation we were promised.

Now that he's 18, though, things have changed, and he's starting to pull away from the pack in this race.

Over his last five games, Flagg has amassed 122 points on 62 field-goal attempts (1.97 P/FGA), which is ludicrous scoring efficiency. He has also averaged 7.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists while continuing to anchor one of the most efficient defenses in the nation.

If you were one of the masses complaining about Flagg's lack of highlight-reel moments or signature performances, feel free to throw that drum you were banging straight into the garbage. Between the steal-turned-poster dunk against Pittsburgh and the slam he threw down during his 42-point explosion against Notre Dame, Flagg had the whole college basketball world buzzing to such a degree over the past 10 days that he may well have overtaken Johni Broome as the favorite for NPOY even without Broome's ankle injury.

As is, it's looking like Flagg's trophy to lose in a conference that might be wholly incapable of doing anything to slow him down.