The Top 300 Returning Players

Adjusted Efficiency (ADJeff):This is the peak productivity per possession qualifying season a player has had in their career, adjusted for strength of schedule. 22+ minutes a game or 14+ppg to qualify.

These are the proven efficient, productive players returning in college basketball that we know of. I set the qualifiers for this list at 22+ minutes per game or 14ppg. If a player hit that marks they are playing larger roles in minutes or usage and I think they deserve to be in the rankings.  The only two players that scored more than 14 points a game and didn’t play 22+ minutes are DJ Burns who won the Big South Player of the Year, and Zach Edey who averaged 14.4ppg and 7.8rpg in 19 minutes a game. When you have 34.4% usage like Edey you are making my list, sorry. They are clearly deserving forces, and Edey had one the best per-possession seasons in college basketball history.

There are many other players that were playing slightly fewer than 22 minutes a game that were highly productive or efficient in those minutes but that were not in those key minute or usage role. This however is not a small sample and these are players in many cases that can and will play larger roles next year so they will be included in a sleepers list in the menu to be on the lookout for scaling up those stats.

I choose peak seasons where they had the greatest statistical impact, adjusted for sos. The reason I did this is because once you show a ceiling I’m going to believe you can return there at least if not exceed it. Some notable examples are Marcus Carr, Tre Mitchell, and Dylan Disu who have played bigger roles before and are still capable IMO of more. This is why it’s important to use the best reasonable recent seasons with in reason. We aren’t going back to 2019 and there is an awareness if the production dropped because of a major injury and you may not be that player anymore. I see no obvious cases of that thankfully.

Post players dominate these efficiency rankings for the most part and I will separate in future list into the best guards and wings. This is not to say it’s not reality because I do believe that’s appropriate and accurate. Those players have value and impact the game with close shots, efficient scoring, rim defense, rebounds that while always available you need to get etc. Bigs or players that play big, are important and have been forever in the game. You need close shots and what they typically do. There are fewer talented ones available which always makes them in demand.