Carmelo Anthony averaged 22 points and 10 boards in his one season at Syracuse, leading the Orange to the 2003 national title. But he wasn’t an AP Preseason All-American.
Neither was Greg Oden. Or Kevin Durant. Or Michael Beasley, John Wall, and any other freshman to ever play college basketball.
Maybe I’m not being clear. A freshman has never been an AP Preseason All-American until today, as North Carolina freshman small forward Harrison Barnes made the cut. Here’s the team (with the number of votes, out of 67, that they received):
- Kyle Singler, Duke, Sr. (65)
- Jacob Pullen, Kansas State, Sr. (53)
- Jimmer Fredette, BYU, Sr. (49)
- JaJuan Johnson, Purdue, Sr. (46)
- Harrison Barnes, UNC, Fr. (17)
That’s high praise for Barnes, who was also picked by Gary Parrish to be the national player of the year, as he was selected over talents like Nolan Smith, LaceDarius Dunn, Shelvin Mack, and Elias Harris.
Keep in mind, preseason all-americans don’t always become postseason all-americans. Look at last year’s team: Sherron Collins, Kyle Singler, Patrick Patterson, Luke Harangody, and Cole Aldrich.
Were any of them first-team all-americans at season’s end? (Hint: no.)
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.
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- Carl - Nov 2, 2010 at 12:54 AM
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This is crap, the kid was ranked third or worse until he signed with North Carolina then he jumped to #1. Typical east coast ACC bias. If Brandon Knight had signed with Duke he’d be a pre-season all american.
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- steve - Nov 2, 2010 at 1:20 PM
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Actually, he was ranked #1 or 2 for quite some time before signing with Carolina. Recruiters saw that several players were better than Brandon Knight, which is why he dropped from a position he never should have been in the first place.
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- Dave - Nov 3, 2010 at 3:23 PM
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None of that hype matters. We will see what happens when the ball get toss in the air.
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- Mark - Nov 3, 2010 at 10:04 PM
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Brandon Knight wasn’t recruited by UNC, and wasn’t needed by Duke.
He’ll be a star in an inferior conference, and once again, UK will lose in the NCAA to a team that doesn’t turn over it’s roster every year.
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- buy hoodia gordonii - Nov 9, 2010 at 9:29 AM
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I’ve been saying that for a while
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