We at CBS Sports published in October our annual list of the Top 100 And 1 college basketball players, which is more or less a list of the 101 players we expect to make the biggest impact in the sport in the upcoming season. It featured Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis, SMU's Kendric Davis, and Detroit's Antoine Davis. But it did not include Wisconsin's Johnny Davis.
That's looking like a mistake.
Davis' latest great performance — and his greatest to date by far — came Monday night, when he led Wisconsin to a 74-69 victory at Purdue. The sophomore guard took 24 shots, made 13 of them and finished with a career-high 37 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in a massive road win over a team that was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll just four weeks ago.
"I just went out and played my game," Davis told reporters afterward. "My teammates did a really good job getting me the ball in the right spots."
There are lots of things that make college basketball interesting — the rivalries, the incredible on-campus environments, so on and so forth. But one of my favorite things is how, just about every season, there's a returning player who breaks out in a way literally nobody saw coming.
Davis is that guy this season.
The 6-foot-5 guard was ranked 164th in the Class of 2020, according to 247Sports, before averaging a modest 7.0 points and 4.1 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game last season as a freshman. There was no obvious reason to think he was about to become a legitimate national player of the year candidate — but that's precisely what he's become. Davis is now averaging 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 34.6 minutes per game. He's the main reason the Badgers are off to an 11-2 start featuring wins over Purdue, Houston, Indiana, Saint Mary's and Texas A&M -- and, it should be noted, that one of Wisconsin's two losses, last month's loss to Providence, came while Davis was sidelined. So the Badgers have only lost once this season with their best player in the lineup.
Thanks to Monday night's big win, Wisconsin is up to No. 10 in Tuesday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. That jump, combined with Purdue dropping to No. 11 after another uneven performance, caused Houston, Texas Tech, Arizona, Ohio State, Tennessee, Providence, Texas, Colorado State, Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall, Kentucky, Alabama and LSU to drop one spot each, no fault of their own.
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Top 25 And 1 rankings
| Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -- | 2-1 | |
James Akinjo finished with 16 points and three assists in Saturday's 77-72 win at Iowa State. The Bears' next game is Tuesday against Oklahoma.
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| 2 | -- | 2-1 | |
Paolo Banchero finished with 23 points and eight rebounds in Wednesday's 76-65 win over Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils are currently on a COVID pause.
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| 3 | -- | 2-1 | |
Jamie Jaquez finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds in a 67-56 win at Marquette on Dec. 11. The Bruins are currently on a COVID pause.
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| 4 | 1 | 2-0 | |
Julian Strawther finished with 15 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 93-63 win over North Alabama. The Zags are currently on a COVID pause.
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| 5 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Christian Braun finished with 14 points and six assists in Saturday's 76-67 win over George Mason. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday at Oklahoma State.
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| 6 | 1 | 2-1 | |
Gabe Brown finished with 20 points and two blocks in Sunday's 73-67 win at Northwestern. The Spartans' next game is Wednesday against Nebraska.
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| 7 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Walker Kessler finished with 16 points, 11 blocks and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 70-55 win over LSU. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday at South Carolina.
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| 8 | 1 | 2-0 | |
Boogie Ellis finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in a 67-53 win over Georgia Tech on Dec. 18. The Trojans are currently on a COVID pause.
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| 9 | 1 | 2-0 | |
Iowa State missed 13 of the 14 3-pointers it attempted in Saturday's 77-72 loss to Baylor. The Cyclones' next game is Wednesday against Texas Tech.
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| 10 | 15 | 3-0 | |
Johnny Davis finished with 37 points and 14 rebounds in Monday's 74-69 win at Purdue. The Badgers' next game is Thursday against Iowa.
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| 11 | 7 | 3-0 | |
Trevion Williams was held to single-digits in points for the second straight outing in Monday's 74-69 loss to Wisconsin. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday at Penn State.
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| 12 | 1 | 2-1 | |
Fabian White finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds in Sunday's 66-61 win at Temple. The Cougars' next game is Wednesday at South Florida.
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| 13 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Davion Warren finished with 15 points and two steals in Tuesday's 75-53 win over Alabama State. The Red Raiders' next game is Wednesday at Iowa State.
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| 14 | 1 | 2-0 | |
Bennedict Mathurin finished with 27 points and six rebounds in Monday's 95-79 win over Washington. The Wildcats' next game is Thursday against Colorado.
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| 15 | 1 | 2-0 | |
Malaki Branham finished with 35 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 87-79 overtime win at Nebraska. The Buckeyes' next game is Thursday at Indiana.
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| 16 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Tennessee was without two of its top three scorers in Wednesday's 73-68 loss at Alabama. The Vols' next game is Wednesday against Ole Miss.
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| 17 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Al Durham finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 70-53 win at DePaul. The Friars' next game is Tuesday at Marquette.
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| 18 | 1 | 2-1 | |
Marcus Carr finished with 20 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 74-59 win over West Virginia. The Longhorns' next game is Tuesday at Kansas State.
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| 19 | 1 | 3-0 | |
David Roddy finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in a 66-63 win over Mississippi State on Dec. 11. The Rams are currently on a COVID pause.
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| 20 | 1 | 2-2 | |
Collin Gillespie finished with 21 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 73-67 win at Seton Hall. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against Creighton.
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| 21 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Xavier missed 17 of the 23 3-pointers it attempted in a 71-58 loss at Villanova on Dec. 21. The Musketeers' next game is Friday at Butler.
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| 22 | 1 | 1-2 | |
Seton Hall allowed Villanova to offensive rebound 44.8% of its own missed shots in Saturday's 73-67 loss to the Wildcats. The Pirates' next game is Tuesday at Butler.
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| 23 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Kellan Grady made seven 3-pointers and finished with 23 points in Friday's 92-48 win over High Point. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday at LSU.
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| 24 | 1 | 3-0 | |
Noah Gurley finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 73-68 win over Tennessee. The Crimson Tide's next game is Wednesday at Florida.
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| 25 | 1 | 2-0 | |
LSU missed 23 of the 29 3-pointers it attempted in Wednesday's 70-55 loss at Auburn. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday against Kentucky.
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| 26 | -- | 3-0 | |
Braden Norris scored 18 points and finished with nine assists in a 69-58 victory at Vanderbilt on Dec. 10. The Ramblers are currently on a COVID pause.
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