Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and Tulane’s Jalen Cook were among last week’s top stars in college basketball.
Look, we all know what’s coming.
There’s less than a month remaining before Selection Sunday, but that is still plenty of time for players around the country to make a name for themselves. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what this group below has done.
You didn’t come here for my pontification and puffery, though. You want to know who the 15 standout performers were from last week. And who could blame you?
With that in mind, here is this week’s HC+ Honor Roll for the week of Feb. 6-12.
—Bracketology: Alabama gains No. 1 overall seed
GOLD STAR PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
- Averaged 43.08 gold points per game in wins over Rutgers and Michigan
- No. 2 overall player in the Gold Star Guide (37.00 gold points per game)
While everybody was ready to crown Purdue’s Zach Edey as the National Player of the Year before we had digested our Thanksgiving turkey, TJD is certainly putting up an admirable campaign of his own. Jackson-Davis started his week with a 20-and-18 outing to help the Hoosiers avenge their earlier loss to Rutgers. He followed that up with 28 points and 11 boards in a one-point win over Michigan. In addition to all his offensive fireworks, it’s worth pointing out that Jackson-Davis is also the Big Ten’s leader in conference-only defensive rebound rate (30.2 percent) and block rate (9.6), ranking top-30 nationally in both categories. The senior is averaging 21.8 points, 14.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in Big Ten play.
GOLD STAR PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Jalen Cook, Tulane
- Scored 53.08 gold points in OT win over Cincinnati
- No. 26 performance of the 2022-23 season
Cook only had one opportunity to shine last week, and he went off like a supernova against Cincinnati on Tuesday. The Tulane point guard tied a season high with 27 points and shattered his career best in assists with 14. He played all 45 minutes of the Green Wave’s pivotal overtime win over Cincinnati, and Tulane now sits in a second-place tie with Memphis. Cook has top-100 marks nationally in usage rate (29th), free throw percentage (29th), shot rate (53rd) and assist rate (66th), while sitting just outside that benchmark in steal rate (109th). Tulane hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1995, and while they don’t have an at-large profile, Cook is the kind of player who can take over in a conference tournament setting.
GOLD STAR RISER OF THE WEEK
Finn Sullivan, Vermont
- Increased gold point average by 1.94 points per game
- Rose 182 spots in Gold Star Guide from No. 522 to No. 340
Technically speaking, Sullivan actually had the best average score in the Gold Star Guide last week, slightly better than TJD’s week, according to the system. But he also qualified as having the biggest jump of the week after two dynamo performances against Maine and UMass-Lowell. After going for 20 points just twice in his first four collegiate seasons, Sullivan has now topped that threshold four times in the past six games — including both games last week. First, he had 21 against Maine while grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds for his first-ever double-double. In a key game against UML on Saturday, he had 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The fifth-year senior is playing the best ball of his career right now.
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