Duke star Patrick Ngongba II continues to be undervalued in returning player rankings

Value may be a relative construct, but let's not downplay what Patrick Ngongba II means to this Duke Blue Devils program. During his sophomore season at Duke, he averaged 10.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game in 21.9 minutes per contest. He made 28 starts in 32 games, but missed a handful of games down the stretch due to injury. He is valuable to Duke, but keeps being overlooked...

Here is who cracked the top 10 of college basketball's best returning performers on The Field of 68.

1. Florida Gators forward Thomas Haugh
2. Vanderbilt Commodores guard Tyler Tanner
3. Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
4. UConn Huskies guard Braylon Mullins
5. Alabama Crimson Tide forward Amari Allen
6. Miami Hurricanes forward Shelton Henderson
7. BYU Cougars guard Robert Wright III
8. Arizona Wildcats center Motiejus Krivas
9. Duke Blue Devils center Patrick Ngongba II
10. Michigan Wolverines guard Elliot Cadeau

If you needed a visual representation for that, The Field of 68 has you covered with this post on X.

As you can see, Ngongba cracked the top 10 on The Field of 68's list at No. 9. Although he is the only Duke player who finds himself inside the top 10, or inside the top 25 for that matter, Dame Sarr and Caleb Foster ended up making the top 50 in the back-half of this ranking. Sarr came in at No. 34, while Foster was a handful of spots after him at No. 41. Duke having three top-50 returnees is a good thing.

For a bit more context, here is who Busting Brackets has as its 10 best players in college basketball.

1. St. John's Red Storm guard Tounde Yessoufou
2. Florida Gators forward Alex Condon
3. Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
4. UConn Huskies guard Braylon Mullins
5. Arizona Wildcats center Motiejus Krivas
6. Vanderbilt Commodores guard Tyler Tanner
7. Florida Gators forward Thomas Haugh
8. Michigan Wolverines guard Elliot Cadeau
9. Former Iowa State Cyclones forward Milan Momcilovic
10. Duke Blue Devils center Patrick Ngongba II

Once again, Ngongba is the only Duke player to crack the top 10, as he only barely did in this ranking.

There are a few players ranked ahead of Ngongba that do not offer the same kind of value as he does.

Patrick Ngongba II could make his doubters eat their words next season

One stat that can prove Ngongba's value even more so than just your basic metrics would be that of BPM. Per Bart Tovik, Ngongba's Box Plus Minus of 9.4 is better than that of UConn's Braylon Mullins (5.4), Alabama's Amari Allen (6.8), Miami's Shelton Henderson (4.2), and BYU's Robert Wright III (5.2). BPM is not everything, but it is something. Ngongba's doubles Henderson's, and nearly does the rest.

While Duke does recruit better than most teams coming out of high school, the fact they have several key players coming back in Foster, Ngongba, and Sarr should really be a feather in the cap for Jon Scheyer. Veteran teams tend to go further in the NCAA Tournament than in years past. This is why Michigan ended up winning it all, as well as why Florida looks to be such a strong program in the SEC.

Read more: Surprising team surges past Duke (and Florida) in updated preseason CBB rankings

At this time, Ngongba's value can, in fact, be quantified. Yes, there may be other players in college basketball with higher ceilings than him, but having a motivated and productive player returning as an upperclassman with a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder should only be a good thing for Duke. The big question is if he is ready to be the team leader Duke needs him to be. They will need that for sure.

For now, we can only hope that Ngongba uses every possible slight as motivation ahead of next year.

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