College basketball week 5: 5 biggest takeaways

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Week 5 of college basketball featured some compelling matchups. Here’s a look at what we learned from them.

The middle of December is usually the slowest part of the college basketball season as schools take time off to prepare for finals, but last week still presented us with plenty of opportunities to see some of the nation’s best teams in action.

Here’s a quick look at what we took away from the week that was, including thoughts on the National Player of the Year race, UCLA, Xavier, Washington and Wichita State.

Dec 10, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) congratulates guard Luke Kennard (5) during a game against the UNLV Runnin /

1. The National Player of the Year race we expected is back! …Maybe

Before the season, Duke’s Grayson Allen and Villanova’s Josh Hart were pegged as the likely favorites to battle for National Player of the Year. Hart has done his part in living up to the billing by averaging 23.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per 40 minutes while posting a ridiculously efficient 69.0 true shooting percentage.

The 6-foot-5 guard continued his run of form this week by scoring a career-high 37 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the Wildcats’ win over Notre Dame on Saturday. Hart is the only major conference player since 2010 — as far back as the Sports Reference database will go — to compile more than 35 points and 10 boards on 70.0 percent shooting from the field in a game. Add in the fact that he did it against a ranked team on a neutral court and you’ve got the makings of a NPOY highlight reel performance.

Allen, on the other hand, has struggled to start the year as he’s dealt with nagging injuries. Sophomore guard Luke Kennard has also eaten into Allen’s production by taking over much of the scoring load for the Blue Devils. Allen, though, announced his return to the NPOY race on Saturday with a thunderous slam and 34 points in Duke’s 94-45 thrashing of UNLV.

Hart is almost certainly the frontrunner for the award at this stage, and others like Kennard and Kansas’ Frank Mason have made their own case to be included, but Allen is still capable of getting himself back in the conversation, something he showed on Saturday.