College Hoops All-Americans: Two-Thirds Edition
I know that we’re a bit more than halfway through the college basketball season but I wanted to throw out my mid-season All-American teams. So we’ll call this the All-American Team, Two-Thirds edition:
First Team:
Scotty Reynolds, Villanova
Wayne Chism, Tennessee
Damion James, Texas
Sherron Collins, Kansas
Wesley Johnson, Syracuse
Skinny: Not sure how you can argue against any of these guys. I know that the Kentucky Kool-Aid drinkers will be screaming bout John Wall being on the list. But 1) you have to play competition to get my attention and 2) who are you going to eliminate to get Wall on? I believe that either Johnson or Reynolds has been the Player of the Year as I feel like they are the star players, clutch players, and unquestioned leaders on the two best teams in the nation. Collins does have an argument. Because, to be honest, if you take Collins away from the Jayhawks I think that they would be in a little bit of trouble. Chism might be a name that surprises some people. But if you have watched this Vols team he absolutely carried them through the suspensions and all of the off-court issues that his team has had.
Second Team:
Jon Scheyer, Duke
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Devan Downey, South Carolina
John Wall, Kentucky
Evan Turner, Ohio State
Skinny: Turner may be one of the five best players in the country. But to this point he has to be dinged a bit because he missed the month of December with the injured spine. He’s got a great chance to move up with a great February. I am going to put Wal on this list but I really don’t think that he’s even the best player in the SEC. I think that Chism, Downey, and even Tasmin Mitchell are all better than the freshman at this point. But the kid has so much hype on him that he’s going to end up as an AA. Downey has been incredible. He’s accounting for about one-third of all of South Carolina’s offense and I’ve yet to find a player that can stop him – or even slow him down – man-to-man. And after losing the No. 2 and No. 3 players on the USC team he’s single-handedly keeping this team afloat. Harangody is just a manimal. He’s the country’s leading scorer playing in the country’s best conference. It’s tough not to put him on the first team and he’s another guy that could elevate (over Damion James). Scheyer has just done it all for Duke: scoring, handling, distributing, closing games with free throws, and providing a steadying presence for what is a young team at spots.
Third Team:
Klay Thompson, Washington State
James Anderson, Oklahoma State
Epke Udoh, Baylor
Jarvis Varnardo, Mississippi State
Trevor Booker, Clemson
Skinny: Honestly, there are about 20 guys that you can make an argument for in these spots. Udoh has put up pretty good numbers but you need to have watched Baylor play over the last two years to appreciate the difference that he’s made and all of the little things that he does for this team. Varnardo is in a similar situation. The guy just dominates every game that he plays whether the numbers suggest it or not. Booker is kind of in the same situation as Harangody in that he has just been so good for so long and does so much for his team that it’s impossible not to recognize him. Klay Thompson has really had a breakout year this season. You may think that his numbers are inflated because of Wazzou’s new offensive scheme but he really hit the ground running this year and hasn’t slowed down. Anderso is a future Top 15 pick and is just a guy that can do everything on the floor.
