This blog will feature a bracket adjusted for one of the most common ways a team pulls or avoids an upset in March Madness - an experienced point guard who creates points with assists and avoids turnovers. In the pressure of the tournament, a steady point guard able to do these two things greatly increases his team's chances of winning and advancing. This list includes 72 point guards because we posted it with UAB still playing for a bid and a few team on the bubble still having a chance at a bid.
Marquette and Purdue benefit from by far the two best point guards in this year's tournament.
Kam Jones edges Braden Smith by assisting on 38.7 percent of his teammates baskets while turning the ball over only 10.7 percent of the time, the second best at protecting the ball of all the point guards in the tournament particularly since he also scores 19.3 points per game in a power conference. Smith is just behind Jones with the highest assist rate of all point guards in the tournament (44.4 percent of teammates baskets) to fall just 1.2 points behind Jones due to turning it over a bit more (17.6 percent of the time he has the ball which is still good for a point guard). Smith also scores 16.1 ppg.
We do not factor for level of competition or points scored by point guards in this ranking. When you factor them in their is a bigger gap between Jones and Smith and the other great guards. Ryan Nembhard is third but a big behind those two as less of a scores (10.4 points per game) and he and the next three behind him do not go up against power conference defenders.
Here are the starting point guards for all 68 teams that will be in the tournament plus a few extra on the bubble.
| PG Rnk | Point Guard and Jersey # | School, Rank & Record | Ht & Yr | Ast | TO | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kameron Jones | 28 Marquette (23-10) | 6-5 205 Sr | 38.7 | 10.7 | 28.0 |
| 2 | Braden Smith | 19 Purdue (22-11) | 6-0 170 Jr | 44.4 | 17.6 | 26.8 |
| 3 | Ryan Nembhard | 9 Gonzaga (25-8) | 6-0 180 Sr | 41.7 | 18.5 | 23.2 |
| 4 | Bennett Stirtz | 57 Drake (30-3) | 6-4 180 Jr | 33.7 | 12.9 | 20.8 |
| 5 | Alvaro Cardenas | 50 Boise St. (24-10) | 6-1 182 Sr | 39.4 | 19.0 | 20.4 |
| 6 | Donovan Dent | 41 New Mexico (26-7) | 6-2 185 Jr | 36.0 | 15.8 | 20.2 |
| 7 | Zakai Zeigler | 5 Tennessee (27-6) | 5-9 172 Sr | 41.2 | 21.3 | 19.9 |
| 8 | Javon Small | 53 West Virginia (19-13) | 6-3 190 Sr | 35.2 | 16.1 | 19.1 |
| 9 | Augustas Marciulionis | 22 Saint Mary's (28-5) | 6-4 200 Sr | 33.5 | 16.3 | 17.2 |
| 10 | Tayton Conerway | 98 Troy (23-10) | 6-3 186 Sr | 36.9 | 19.8 | 17.1 |
| 11 | Jeremy Fears | 8 Michigan St. (27-6) | 6-2 190 Fr | 40.4 | 23.3 | 17.1 |
| 12 | Steven Ashworth | 36 Creighton (24-9) | 6-0 175 Sr | 35.8 | 21.3 | 14.5 |
| 13 | Elijah Hawkins | 7 Texas Tech (25-8) | 5-11 160 Sr | 33.3 | 18.9 | 14.4 |
| 14 | JJ White | 156 Nebraska Omaha (22-12) | 6-2 180 Sr | 29.1 | 15.7 | 13.4 |
| 15 | Hassan Diarra | 35 Connecticut (23-10) | 6-2 195 Sr | 36.3 | 23.1 | 13.2 |
| 16 | Nick Boyd | 46 San Diego St. (21-9) | 6-3 175 Sr | 27.5 | 14.5 | 13.0 |
| 17 | Bobby Pettiford | 85 High Point (29-5) | 6-0 195 Sr | 29.4 | 16.9 | 12.5 |
| 18 | Milos Uzan | 2 Houston (29-4) | 6-4 190 Jr | 26.6 | 14.3 | 12.3 |
| 19 | AJ Hoggard | 50 Vanderbilt (20-12) | 6-4 220 Sr | 31.7 | 19.5 | 12.2 |
| 20 | Chucky Hepburn | 23 Louisville (27-6) | 6-2 190 Sr | 32.0 | 20.1 | 11.9 |
| 21 | Ja'Kobi Gillespie | 11 Maryland (25-7) | 6-1 186 Jr | 27.6 | 15.7 | 11.9 |
| 22 | Quadir Copeland | 59 McNeese (27-6) | 6-6 200 Jr | 37.8 | 26.7 | 11.1 |
| 23 | Dajuan Harris | 21 Kansas (21-12) | 6-2 175 Sr | 29.0 | 18.0 | 11.0 |
| 24 | Lamont Butler | 16 Kentucky (22-11) | 6-2 208 Sr | 29.1 | 18.3 | 10.8 |
| 25 | Elliot Cadeau | 33 North Carolina (22-13) | 6-1 180 So | 36.9 | 26.2 | 10.7 |
| 26 | Wade Taylor | 17 Texas A&M (22-10) | 6-0 180 Sr | 29.5 | 19.0 | 10.5 |
| 27 | Josh Hubbard | 32 Mississippi St. (21-12) | 5-11 190 So | 18.2 | 8.2 | 10.0 |
| 28 | Robert Wright | 29 Baylor (19-14) | 6-1 183 Fr | 27.5 | 17.8 | 9.7 |
| 29 | Tavari Johnson | 99 Akron (28-6) | 5-11 160 Jr | 28.7 | 19.3 | 9.4 |
| 30 | Mark Sears | 6 Alabama (25-7) | 6-1 190 Sr | 25.2 | 16.0 | 9.2 |
| 31 | Bez Mbeng | 74 Yale (21-7) | 6-4 185 Sr | 29.5 | 21.3 | 8.2 |
| 32 | Jaylen Murray | 25 Mississippi (22-11) | 5-11 165 Sr | 21.3 | 13.3 | 8.0 |
| 33 | Dayvion McKnight | 43 Xavier (21-11) | 6-0 190 Sr | 23.6 | 15.6 | 8.0 |
| 34 | Ray'Sean Taylor | 217 SIUE (22-11) | 6-1 180 Sr | 24.1 | 16.1 | 8.0 |
| 35 | Deivon Smith | 13 St. John's (29-4) | 6-0 175 Sr | 24.8 | 16.8 | 8.0 |
| 36 | Joe Anderson | 83 Lipscomb (25-9) | 6'0 175 Sr | 22.8 | 15.1 | 7.7 |
| 37 | Elijah Stephens | 237 American (22-12) | 5-9 165 Sr | 26.8 | 19.5 | 7.3 |
| 38 | CJ Hines | 279 Alabama St. (18-15) | 6-2 185 Sr | 18.4 | 11.1 | 7.3 |
| 39 | Donovan Newby | 104 UNC Wilmington (27-7) | 6-1 185 Sr | 19.6 | 12.5 | 7.1 |
| 40 | Walter Clayton | 4 Florida (28-4) | 6-3 195 Sr | 23.6 | 16.9 | 6.7 |
| 41 | Tahaad Pettiford | 3 Auburn (28-5) | 6-1 175 Fr | 22.8 | 16.3 | 6.5 |
| 42 | Anthony Robinson | 15 Missouri (22-11) | 6-3 180 So | 25.9 | 19.4 | 6.5 |
| 43 | Corey Tripp | 121 Wofford (19-15) | 6-3 195 Sr | 23.3 | 17.3 | 6.0 |
| 44 | Dallin Hall | 24 BYU (24-9) | 6-4 200 Jr | 26.7 | 21.8 | 4.9 |
| 45 | Kamari McGee | 12 Wisconsin (26-8) | 6-0 181 Sr | 15.7 | 11.2 | 4.5 |
| 46 | Hayden Gray | 39 UC San Diego (29-4) | 6-4 190 Sr | 19.1 | 14.7 | 4.4 |
| 47 | Colin Porter | 62 Liberty (27-6) | 5-10 170 Jr | 21.4 | 17.1 | 4.3 |
| 48 | Tre Donaldson | 26 Michigan (24-9) | 6-3 195 Jr | 23.7 | 19.9 | 3.8 |
| 49 | Sion James | 1 Duke (30-3) | 6-6 220 Sr | 20.4 | 17.2 | 3.2 |
| 50 | Money Williams | 157 Montana (25-9) | 6-4 200 So | 21.8 | 18.8 | 3.0 |
| 51 | Kobe Elvis | 37 Oklahoma (20-13) | 6-1 180 Sr | 22.6 | 19.7 | 2.9 |
| 52 | Jordan Pope | 44 Texas (19-15) | 6-2 175 Jr | 13.0 | 10.7 | 2.3 |
| 53 | Jackson Shelstad | 31 Oregon (24-9) | 6-0 180 So | 15.6 | 13.4 | 2.2 |
| 54 | Zeb Jackson | 30 VCU (27-6) | 6-5 190 Sr | 16.9 | 14.8 | 2.1 |
| 55 | Kasparas Jakucionis | 20 Illinois (21-12) | 6-6 205 Fr | 26.1 | 24.9 | 1.2 |
| 56 | Jaden Bradley | 14 Arizona (22-11) | 6-3 200 Jr | 18.3 | 17.2 | 1.1 |
| 57 | Tamin Lipsey | 10 Iowa St. (24-9) | 6-1 200 Jr | 17.8 | 17.1 | 0.7 |
| 58 | Tyrese Hunter | 52 Memphis (28-5) | 6-0 180 Sr | 18.7 | 18.2 | 0.5 |
| 59 | Sebastian Mack | 27 UCLA (22-10) | 6-3 200 So | 16.0 | 16.5 | -0.5 |
| 60 | Christian Ings | 180 Norfolk St. (24-10) | 6-2 180 Sr | 21.3 | 22.2 | -0.9 |
| 61 | Chase Hunter | 18 Clemson (27-6) | 6-4 202 Sr | 14.8 | 15.7 | -0.9 |
| 62 | D.J. Wagner | 40 Arkansas (20-13) | 6-4 195 So | 18.5 | 19.6 | -1.1 |
| 63 | Kyan Evans | 42 Colorado St. (25-9) | 6-2 175 So | 20.7 | 22.2 | -1.5 |
| 64 | Riley Parker | 311 Saint Francis (16-17) | 6-2 195 Jr | 20.1 | 22.0 | -1.9 |
| 65 | Deyton Albury | 51 Utah St. (26-7) | 6-2 190 Sr | 15.8 | 17.9 | -2.1 |
| 66 | Xavier Lipscomb | 250 Mount St. Mary's (22-12) | 6-2 195 Sr | 23.4 | 25.7 | -2.3 |
| 67 | Ja'Borri McGhee | 102 UAB (22-11) | 6-1 205 Jr | 18.2 | 20.6 | -2.4 |
| 68 | Myles Rice | 47 Indiana (19-13) | 6-3 185 So | 18.3 | 21.1 | -2.8 |
| 69 | DJ Smith | 139 Robert Morris (26-8) | 6-0 160 Jr | 20.2 | 23.8 | -3.6 |
| 70 | Rafael Pinzon | 149 Bryant (23-11) | 6-6 195 Sr | 11.3 | 15.6 | -4.3 |
| 71 | Tyrin Lawrence | 34 Georgia (20-12) | 6-4 200 Sr | 17.6 | 22.4 | -4.8 |
| 72 | Makaih Williams | 97 Grand Canyon (25-7) | 6-2 185 So | 18.6 | 23.7 | -5.1 |
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