Ranking the Six Best Remaining Players From the East in the Sweet 16

The matchups are set for the Sweet 16.

In the East Region, it’s No. 1 seed Duke vs. No. 4 seed Virginia Tech and No. 2 seed Michigan State vs. No. 3 seed LSU. Each team is filled with all-conference talent and there are more than a few future NBA players who will compete in Washington D.C. this week for the chance to go to the Final Four.

Here are our rankings of the six best players in the East Region.

6. Kerry Blackshear Jr., Virginia Tech

Blackshear made kenpom.com’s five-player all-conference team for the ACC, and he was also named Second Team All-ACC.

The 6-10 junior isn’t the Hokies’ leading scorer, most efficient scorer or most accurate 3-point shooter, but he does almost everything well, while anchoring Virginia Tech inside as the team’s only rotation player taller than 6-6.

Blackshear is averaging 14.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game on 55 percent shooting on 2-pointers, 34 percent on threes and 73 percent from the free throw line.

His 121.9 offensive rating ranked eighth in ACC play, he’s an elite offensive rebounder and he excels at drawing fouls.

Justin Robinson might be the most well-known player on Virginia Tech’s roster and sophomore Nickeil Alexander-Walker is the team’s best NBA prospect, but there’s no one else on the Hokies’ roster who can do what Blackshear does at the “five.”

5. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech sophomore guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, an All-ACC Third Team selection, is projected as a mid-first round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft after his scoring average climbed from 10.7 points per game last season to a team-best 16.4 this year.

He’s efficient at all three levels, shooting 38 percent from three, almost 54 percent on twos and 77 percent from the free throw line. Alexander-Walker is converting on 62.6 percent of his attempts at the rim, where almost 40 percent of his shots are taken.

He has great size at 6-5, his 24.3 percent assist rate is nationally ranked on kenpom.com and he averages almost two steals per game.

4. Tremont Waters, LSU

On Saturday, Waters hit the game-winner against No. 6 seed Maryland in the second round. Last year, he hit a long 3-pointer to down Texas A&M. So he has some ice in his veins, as the saying goes.

The sophomore is the leading scorer on an SEC champion LSU Tigers team that’s 28-6 with wins over Tennessee, Kentucky and Auburn, so while the trio of freshmen – Naz Reid, Emmitt Williams and Javonte Smart – who were all ranked higher than he was coming out of high school have fueled a 10-win improvement from last year in Baton Rouge, Waters is the one who makes that team go.

Few perimeter players create more havoc on defense than Waters, the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, whose 5.2 percent steal rate ranks fourth nationally. He shares the wealth on offense; his 34.3 percent assist rate ranks 32nd in the country.

While his 3-point percentage dipped this season to 32 percent, he’s still incredibly efficient inside the arc (50.9%) and at the free throw line (80.5%).

3. Cassius Winston, Michigan State

If you’re a subscriber to kenpom.com, then you know that Winston ranks fourth nationally in the site’s 2019 Player of the Year standings, ahead of Duke’s RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson.

There’s so much more to the 6-0, 185-pound, headband-wearing point guard than meets the eye, especially when comparing him to clear-cut top-five NBA Draft picks like Williamson and Barrett. He’s second nationally (only to Murray State’s Ja Morant) in assist rate, which is a player’s assists divided by a team’s field goals when he’s on the floor, but he’s also scoring a team-high 18.9 points per game, which means that Michigan State’s offense quite literally runs through Winston.

He’s a 40 percent 3-point shooter on more than five attempts per game, but he still gets into the lane and draws contact, which is why he averages almost as many free throw attempts per game as he does 3-point attempts.

Among players who have played at least 40 percent of their team’s minutes and use at least 28 percent of their team’s possessions, Winston ranks second nationally in offensive rating with a rating of 122.5.

The only player with a higher offensive rating at that usage rate is listed at No. 1 below.

2. RJ Barrett, Duke

Has there ever been a leading scorer for a nationally ranked Duke team or a First Team All-American that’s been overshadowed in the way that Duke freshman forward RJ Barrett has? Barrett’s averaging a team-high 22.8 points, second-best 7.7 rebounds and second-best 4.1 assists per game this season, but you could make the case that he’s still under-appreciated given the attention teammate Zion Williamson receives.

Surely, college basketball fans and NBA draftniks know how good Barrett has been this season.

But just imagine him as the unquestioned No. 1 option on a different, but similarly talented, team.

The 6-7 forward isn’t perfect. He’s just a 31 percent 3-point shooter on 6.2 attempts per game, he’s only a 66 percent free throw shooter and you’d probably like a player who shoots almost 19 times per game to average more than six free throw attempts.

But his efficiency is still above-average while carrying an extremely high shot rate of 33.2, meaning he attempts roughly a third of Duke’s shots while he’s on the floor. Barrett was in the top 10 in assist rate during ACC play, so he was still able to create for his teammates while shouldering a heavy shot load

1. Zion Williamson, Duke

I’m a disciple of the Ryen Russillo theory that if you include the phrase “it’s not even close” to make your point in a debate, then odds are there’s actually a reasonable argument to be made against your point.

With that being said, Duke phenom Zion Williamson is the best player in the East Region … and it’s not even that close. Williamson had 32 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in Duke’s nail-biter of a win Sunday against No. 9 seed UCF.

He tied a season-high with three 3-pointers in the game. He drove right at UCF’s 7-6 center Tacko Fall, drawing an extremely important fifth foul on Fall. He fired a one-handed bounce pass past two defenders in transition that hit teammate Tre Jones in stride on his way to the basket. His other three assists set up 3-pointers, which means Williamson scored or assisted on 43 of Duke’s 77 points.

Williamson is one of the 10 most efficient scorers in college basketball and he’s in the top five in effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage, despite making just a third of his 3-point attempts.

It’s really hard to overstate his value and skill set even though he’s received as much media attention as any college basketball player… ever?

MORE: Previewing No. 1 Duke vs. No. 4 Virginia Tech: Date, Time, Location, Spread