My preseason All-America team
I had to send in my preseason All-America choices to The Associated Press recently. Here are the five players I voted for. The AP team will be announced later today.
Doug McDermott, Creighton: A no-brainer. He was a first-team All-American last March. He averaged 22.9 points and 8.2 rebounds last season. He will be playing for the best team in the Missouri Valley, a Top 25 team, this year.
Isaiah Canaan, Murray State: Another no-brainer. One of the best guards in the country, Canaan was a second-team All-American last season. He averaged 19 points and sank 98 treys last season, when his team was one of the surprise stories of the season. Odds are he will lead his team into the NCAAs again this season.
Cody Zeller, Indiana: The big man averaged 15.6 ppg and 6.6 rpg last season. He will be playing for one of the best teams in the nation this year.
Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State: He was the Mountain West player of the year last season, when he averaged 17.4 ppg and 7.9 rpg. He will be playing for a Top 25 team again this season.
For the last spot, I looked long and hard at Saint Mary’s point guard Matthew Dellavedova, who was the West Coast Conference player of the year last seaspm. The Olympian averaged 15.5 points and 6.4 assists last season, and his team will no doubt be in the NCAAs again this year.
I hated to leave him off the ballot, but I ended up going with UNLV’s Mike Moser for my fifth spot. Moser averaged 14 ppg and 10.5 rpg last season. He will no doubt lead his team into the NCAAs again this year.
October 29, 2012 - 12:30 PM
Mark, that is perhaps the most intensive analysis that anybody with a pre-season vote would ever give, but, absent, Zeller, 4 of you 5 could fall off of a cliff, regardless of how good they really are, and even Zeller could do that.
For guys from schools like Creighton, Murray State, UNLV and SDSU, it only takes a couple of crappy games to throw them completely off of the radar, kind of like the Heisman consideration for a superb player from any other non-BCS conference.
There will undoubtedly be some other B1G 10 player that will jump in, at least one SEC (the latest of those that Calipari paid the most money for), and probably somebody in the ACC that will bump 3 of those players (or maybe Zeller) – throw in a Pac 12/Big XII possibility, and I’d be surprised that those guys really make the cut, regardless of past performance.
As far as who made the actual AP team, three of the people I voted for made it — Zeller, McDermott and Canaan. The two Mountain West players did not. The rest of the team featured Deshaun Thomas of Ohio State and, in a tie for the fifth spot Michigan’s Trey Burke and Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum (a nice nod to the Patriot League star there). So three members of the six-man team were from outside the power conferences, while the other three spots went to Big Ten players.
Not disputing your picks, all very valid, all are very good players, but in the end, it will be a B1G 10, an SEC, an ACC, probably a Pac 12, a Big XII, and a Big East, or one extra from one of those or a 3rd world league.
One of those outside guys might slip in, because they are all very good (I watch way too much basketball), but they just don’t get the exposure, and the exposure is more important than how good they actually are. It will take an exceptional year, and a batch of mediocre play from the rest of the major contenders.
Zeller is probably the B1G 10 guy, but he has the most to lose – he has to be fairly good, because of how much he is seen, and if Thomas slips in, one of the other third world guys definitely drops off. The actual pre-season batch is a little B1G 10 heavy, in my opinion.
Pre-season picks are just predictions, I’m more about who will actually be there at the end. But, two Mountain West guys will not be there, nor will somebody from the Patriot League. That is just the way it is.
When the final vote comes down is what matters, but your picks are really good players, it just won’t happen that way, in my opinion.
For guys like McDermott and Canaan, any of the non-power conferece players, their teams have to do very well, along with their own performances. Good guys from last year – they get keyed on this year. That is where I think they don’t make it. Teams will look to shut them down.