Emeka Okafor: SI's Player of the Year Emeka Okafor's three-year career at Connecticut (he will forgo his senior season and enter the NBA Draft) is worth remembering, but his junior year was unforgettable. • Click here for more. (Un)Sportsmanlike Conduct Three examples of good behavior -- and bad behavior -- during the 2003-04 college basketball season. • Click here for more. How they stack up Five other player-of-the-year candidates Player Team Pts. Rebs. Asts. Of Note J. Nelson St. Joe's 20.6 4.7 5.3 95 steals J. Childress Stan. 15.7 7.5 2.7 30-2 record D. Harris Wisc. 19.5 4.3 4.4 Big Ten POY T. Allen Okla. St. 16.0 5.5 3.1 50.4% FGs J.J. Redick Duke 15.9 3.1 1.6 102 3s

What you had, in the end, was a choice between two guys, two terrific college basketball players who both happened to be feel-good stories as well. The NCAA couldn't have paid for better advertising this year than Connecticut's Emeka Okafor and Saint Joseph's Jameer Nelson, a big guy and a little guy, two crowd-pleasers who stayed on campus, took their teams to the top of the land and (gasp) both stand to graduate this year. To learn why Okafor is Sports Illustrated's college hoops player of the year, check out this week's issue of the mag. To learn why Nelson is my choice for the top slot, read my arguments for him (and the next four runners-up) below.

Jameer Nelson, Saint Joseph's

All credit to Okafor for leading the Huskies to the national title, but ask yourself this question: Where would UConn and Saint Joseph's have been this year without their star players? While UConn likely would have ended up in the Final Four anyway, Saint Joseph's would have been a bubble team at best without Nelson, the do-everything point guard who guided the Hawks to an undefeated regular season and a breathtaking run to the Elite Eight. No college player in recent memory has been more entertaining than Nelson, whose unpredictable shake-and-bake moves not only kept us on the edge of our seats but actually helped his team win games -- including many that the Hawks, without an effective attacking big man, pulled off with smoke and mirrors.

Josh Childress, Stanford

So dangerous was the high-haired Childress that it's easy to forget he missed the season's first month with a foot injury. At 6-foot-7 with arms that just keep going and going, Childress was the classic definition of the phrase matchup problem -- a guy who can hit from 3, attack the rack and rebound like a madman on the offensive and defensive ends. (Nor did it hurt that he could lock down opposing guards and forwards on D.) Just as important, Childress was an ideal fit for Stanford's version of "team ball." Instead of throwing his teammates off upon his return at Christmastime, Childress blended right in, and the Cardinal didn't miss a beat.

Devin Harris, Wisconsin

Fine, the Big Ten was down this year, but not the Big Ten Player of the Year, who could be relied on for nearly all of Wisconsin's baskets when it counted. As a guard who could create from the outside and post up with alacrity down low, Harris fit in perfectly with Badgers coach Bo Ryan's "Swing" offense, in which the whole point is to make defenders ill at ease while guarding talented players all over the floor.

Tony Allen, Oklahoma State

National media folks (that means me) should be embarrassed for waiting too long to notice Allen, the slashing two-guard whose deft floor game was the basis for OSU's Final Four run. One of the college game's biggest holes these days is a general lack of big guards who use fearlessness and smarts to get to the hole for buckets or kick-outs, but Allen was the exception to the rule.

J.J. Redick, Duke

When it came to Duke players, observers couldn't get enough of Chris Duhon ("What a man!") and Luol Deng, but I was partial this season to Redick. You can't help but love the guy's stroke (from 3-point range and the free throw line), and he developed a nice little floor game as well to keep defenders off balance. Plus he did it all while enduring more fan abuse than all the other Blue Devils combined, which is enough to earn him a spot on this list.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl covers college basketball for the magazine and SI.com.