Quick, name the Most Outstanding Player of the South Region.
Officially speaking, that honor belongs to Ben Richardson of Loyola-Chicago.
Meanwhile, in the West Region, your 2018 MOP is none other than Charles Matthews of Michigan.
See how this works? The most outstanding player is the individual who is having the best tournament for the team that's still playing.
Well, if the NCAA can do it, we can too. Here are the top 25 players at the Final Four. Taking a page from MOP selection protocol, these rankings are based on tournament performance alone.
Watch for these tournament standouts this weekend in San Antonio, and keep in mind, a "low" ranking among a group so plainly overpopulated by peak performers is no slight whatsoever. In the immortal words of Troy McClure, "If you ask me, they're all winners."
1. Malik Newman, Kansas Jayhawks
Newman's incredible tournament is being represented in some quarters as a player-development triumph scored by Bill Self. That is perhaps a backhanded way of saying the sophomore wasn't setting the world on fire at the beginning of the season, which is a valid assertion.
Still, wherever the credit for this rather stunning performance rightfully resides, let's not overcomplicate what we're seeing. Newman has made more 3-pointers in the tournament (13) than any other player in San Antonio. He is shooting 45 percent from out there, and he's hitting better than half of his 2s, as well. The evaluators who saw the erstwhile Mississippi State star as a potential one-and-done candidate back in 2015-16 might have been on to something after all.
2. Jalen Brunson, Villanova Wildcats
Back in October, of course, we all knew that Loyola-Chicago would make the 2018 Final Four and that Brunson, a 6-foot-2 point guard, would single-handedly resurrect the sport's previously moribund post-up game. (Right? Anyway, that's our story.) Jay Wright's junior is giving opponents fits by backing them down in the paint. Thanks in part to Brunson's tournament-long tribute to Jahlil Okafor, the Wildcats beat a No. 3 seed by double digits, even though they shot 4-for-24 on their 3s.
3. Ben Richardson, Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
On paper, Richardson is a pass-first combo guard and, again on paper, that's pretty much what he has been in the tournament. But forget paper -- just look at the results over the past four games. The 6-3 senior is hitting his shots (draining 44 percent of his 3s), distributing the ball and even pitching in on the defensive glass. His 23-point performance against Kansas State gave the Ramblers their first comfortable win of the tournament.
4. Charles Matthews, Michigan Wolverines
Matthews is the highest-ranked player on this list to have fouled out of a game in this tournament. It happened against Houston, and the sophomore was limited to 11 points in a game the Wolverines very nearly lost. Conversely, when Matthews is available for the entire game, he's averaging 18 points per outing and Michigan is winning without the last-second heroics of Jordan Poole.
5. Mikal Bridges, Villanova
If Bridges is ranked this high after tying the mark for the worst perimeter shooting performance of his entire career (0-for-5) against Texas Tech, he must have other qualities. True enough: Bridges is still, incredibly, hitting 46 percent of his frequent tournament 3-point attempts, even after his oh-fer against the Red Raiders. If you're Kansas, you're rightly concerned about the 6-7 junior returning to form in his next game.
6. Devonte' Graham, Kansas
This portion of the list is reserved for great players coming off poor shooting performances. In the tournament, Graham has converted just 32 percent of his 3s and 36 percent of his 2s. Yet he's way up on this list, rightly, because he has been doing what he always does: Self's point guard has shot as many free throws as 3s (and hit 80 percent of those tries at the line), while dishing the assists and, yes, the hockey assists that have freed up the likes of Newman and Svi Mykhailiuk for open looks beyond the arc.
7. Clayton Custer, Loyola-Chicago
Like his team, Custer has been slightly turnover-prone in the tournament, and, again like his team, the 6-1 junior is in the Final Four anyway. Apparently, the giveaways were nothing that great shooting from both sides of the arc and a few assists couldn't overcome. Not to mention it was Custer's winner against Tennessee that picked up the thread from Donte Ingram's winner against Miami and passed it along to Marques Townes' winner against Nevada.
8. Moritz Wagner, Michigan
Wagner was 0-of-7 from 3-point range in the regional final, but the 6-11 junior showed his true capability when he dropped 21 points on Texas A&M in just 30 minutes. Having a career 39 percent 3-point shooter as your 5-man complicates things for opposing defenses, even when that 5-man's shots aren't falling.
9. Udoka Azubuike, Kansas
Self might need to slightly adjust the sport's customary foul clock with Azubuike's playing time. While the 7-foot sophomore is somewhat foul-prone, he is a dominant force of per-possession nature who shoots 41 percent at the line and air-balled a free throw against Duke. In other words, if Azubuike fouls out around the last media timeout in a close game with a bunch of offensive boards and about 30 minutes already under his belt, what's not to like?
10. Eric Paschall, Villanova
With the exception of the aforementioned Azubuike, Paschall has had the best tournament of any player in San Antonio in terms of offensive rebounding. That ability turned out to be huge for a perimeter-oriented Villanova team that was incapable of making perimeter shots in the regional final. With Paschall and Omari Spellman on the floor to clean up misses, Wright's uncannily accurate offense has a margin for error on the rare occasions when it is less accurate.
11. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Michigan
Among the players at the Final Four, only the legendary iron man of Lawrence, Kansas, himself (that would be Graham) has been on the floor for more tournament minutes than Abdur-Rahkman. Apparently, John Beilein finds him indispensable. The senior that Michigan fans refer to simply as MAAR showed off his versatility during a 24-point, seven-assist outburst against Texas A&M in the Sweet 16.
12. Lagerald Vick, Kansas
There are three players in San Antonio who have reached double figures for made 3s in the tournament: Newman (13-of-29), Bridges (11-of-24) and Vick (10-of-21). The 6-5 junior was supposed to be the best option for opposing defenses looking desperately for a Jayhawk who could briefly be left unattended on the perimeter. Someone forgot to tell Vick.
13. Aundre Jackson, Loyola-Chicago
Porter Moser likes to bring Jackson in off the bench and limit his minutes above and beyond what mere foul trouble would dictate. You can't argue with results. When the 6-5 senior is on the floor, he carries the tournament's highest possession-usage rate of any player at the Final Four. If anything, he should shoot even more often: Jackson is ripping through tournament opponents to the tune of 66 percent 2-point shooting.
14. Omari Spellman, Villanova
Spellman might have something special in store for the Final Four. The 6-8 redshirt freshman is hitting his 3s when he's not faking shots from beyond the arc and driving defenders into the paint. He also is taking care of business on the glass at both ends of the floor, while dueling Azubuike for the honor of being the best tournament rim-defender in San Antonio.
15. Svi Mykhailiuk, Kansas
Opponents try to get Mykhailiuk to do his shooting inside the arc, and with good reason. (He's hitting just 42 percent of his 2s in the tournament.) When that strategy fails, however, the senior will make you pay. It was Mykhailiuk's 3 with 26 seconds remaining in regulation against Duke that set the stage for KU's win in overtime.
16. Cameron Krutwig, Loyola-Chicago
He is the Azubuike of Rogers Park, or maybe it's the Jayhawk who is actually the Krutwig of Lawrence. Neither player has attempted a 3-point shot in his young career, making both true oddities in 2018. Krutwig's outstanding season-long 2-point success rate might have triggered schedule-related skepticism, but now that he has converted 56 percent of his tries inside the arc against Miami, Tennessee, Nevada and Kansas State, you best be believing.
17. Donte DiVincenzo, Villanova
There have been moments during the tournament in which DiVincenzo has seemed like a turnover about to happen. Nevertheless, he's hitting his shots and, with Brunson busy in the paint, DiVincenzo actually boasts the Final Four's highest tournament assist rate adjusted for playing time.
18. Duncan Robinson, Michigan
Robinson logs consistently heavy minutes coming off the bench, and he hits his 3s. That was true during the regular season (26 minutes a game, 39 percent 3-point shooting) and it has been true in the tournament (26 minutes, 41 percent).
19. Marques Townes, Loyola-Chicago
After transferring to Loyola from Fairleigh Dickinson, Townes has recorded significant improvement in his shooting both from the line and beyond the arc. In addition to draining what turned out to be the game-winning 3 with 6.3 seconds remaining against Nevada, the junior had a great all-around game against the Wolf Pack, posting 18 points to go along with five assists.
20. Phil Booth, Villanova
Booth hasn't had much luck with his 3s since returning from a hand injury in late February, but the junior has, as always, been a capable distributor, while serving as a surprisingly active defensive rebounder in the tournament.
21. Donte Ingram, Loyola Chicago
It was Ingram who got this whole "thrilling 40th-minute Rambler victory" thing off the ground with his game winner from well beyond the 3-point line against Miami. (That seems like a long time ago.)
22. Zavier Simpson, Michigan
In a Final Four conspicuously short on Jevon Carter-type perimeter defenders, Simpson could be your best bet to see a takeaway in the making. The sophomore has recorded 11 steals over the past three games, including six against Texas A&M alone.
23. Lucas Williamson, Loyola-Chicago
A year ago, Williamson was playing for Whitney Young High in Chicago. Now he's one of just a handful of freshmen who will see significant minutes at the Final Four. If his 3s fall the way they did during Missouri Valley Conference play, look out.
24. Silvio De Sousa, Kansas
For this penultimate spot, a spirited competition erupted between no fewer than five players, all of whom average between 11 and 14 minutes per tournament game: De Sousa, Isaiah Livers and Jon Teske for Michigan, and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Collin Gillespie for Villanova. De Sousa gets the nod here for his 10-rebound effort in 26 high-pressure minutes against Duke.
25. Jordan Poole, Michigan
Yes, Poole has logged just 30 total minutes in the tournament. Still, Michigan wouldn't be here without him. Ask Houston.