NCAA Tournament Preview: Player Rankings

Below are our player rankings for this year's NCAA Tournament. Rankings are based on points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Points were awarded for each stat according to the rules of the annual March Madness Draft on RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today on Sirius/XM radio:

• PPG = 1 point
• RPG = 1.5 points
• APG = 1.5 points
• SPG = 2 points
• BPG = 2 points

Rankings are also based on possible games played. But because balancing those factors can be tricky — a player with a lower scoring average who is certain to play multiple games is a better pick than a higher-scoring player who is likely to play fewer games — possible games are based on seeds to eliminate guesswork.

Seeds 1-4 have the potential to play six games; seeds 5-7 likely won't advance to the Final Four, but could play four games; seeds 8-9 likely will only play two games because the top seeds are waiting in the second round; seeds 10-14 might be able to advance to the Sweet 16, but probably no farther (three games); and seeds 15-16 aren't likely to get out of the first round. No. 1 seeds were given slightly greater weight atop the list, with No. 16 seeds given slightly lesser weight at the bottom. Players on First Four teams were not given an extra game.

Now, if you think, for example, Abilene Christian is going to win the championship (and thus play six games), you'll want to give greater weight to Abilene Christian players in your personal rankings. This list is a starting point.

A few tips for using these rankings:

1. For leagues that only use points scored, click the "points rank" column to sort by points-only rankings.

2. One strategy for March Madness leagues is to back a specific team(s), much like in an NFL playoffs draft. With this strategy, the actual rankings become less important than just having a list of players and teams/seeds. Click the "team" column to sort by teams.

3. To target players from certain seeds, click the "seed" column to sort by seed. However, you should still consult the ranks column to account for player values. For example, if you're only targeting players in seeds 1-4, you wouldn't want to ignore Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham (No. 3 overall) just because he's listed 50-something spots down the order behind every 1-3 seed.

* = Check injury/suspension status. Players out with injury/suspension were eliminated, but the injury status for a number of players, including Michigan's Isaiah Livers, is uncertain as of this posting. For a good roundup of injured players to monitor, go here. Point it out in the comments if one slipped through.

Here's to March Madness.

(Click column headings to sort.)