College Basketball’s Dream Team: The Mid-Season Version

Over the summer, Raphielle Johnson and I put together a college basketball dream team. But that was before the season started and before we got a chance to see just how good some of the freshmen are and just how much certain players improved — or didn’t improve — during the offseason.

With that in mind, seeing as we’re right around the midway point of the season, here is our new and improved college basketball dream team.

A couple of notes before you dive in: 

- We built this team on the premise that Rick Pitino will still be the head coach. That means we wanted athletes, players that could defend, shooters, and some lineup versatility. 

- This isn’t necessarily meant to be an all-american team. Some of our picks were made with the idea of building a “team”. For example, we both wanted Marshall Henderson here. But with Jamaal Franklin and Russ Smith already on the roster, Henderson got cut.

- We want feedback. Tell us in the comments what you think we got wrong, but don’t simply say “Player X should be on there”. Let us know who should have gotten cut instead.

PG Trey Burke, Michigan: Burke is the perfect fit for us offensively. He’s a distributor at the point that can create for the scorers that will join him on the perimeter. But he’s also capable of taking over a game. If Ohio State has done anything this season, they have proven that Burke is the most valuable player in the country.

SG Victor Oladipo, Indiana: Frankly he’s one of the best on-ball defenders in the country, and this team is going to need a perimeter stopper. Add to that the fact that he’s improved offensively in each of his season at Indiana and this is a pretty easy choice to make.

SF Ben McLemore, Kansas: He’s a big, athletic guard that can defend, rebound and bury an open three. His demeanor and willingness to allow the game to come to him makes him a perfect fit on this team.

PF Doug McDermott, Creighton: Having a versatile scorer at the four is something you need to be successful in international play (if that’s where we’re taking this group). Enter McDermott, who’s shooting 56.8% from the field and 50.7% from beyond the arc, and he’s a good rebounder as well.

C Jeff Withey, Kansas: We wanted to go with defense and rebounding in the middle, and no one is as good of a defender at the rim as Withey.

Bench:

PG Phil Pressey, Missouri: Pressey is the best distributor in the country and a terrific on-ball defender. Simply the perfect fit for this system.

SG Russ Smith, Louisville: “Russdiculous” has calmed down some this season and in turn has become a better player. Still averaging 18.9 points per game, Smith is shooting 42% from the field and is also averaging 2.3 steals per game. Guards off the bench should be able to supply energy and be a nuisance for 94 feet defensively. Russ can do that.

SG Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State: Smart can do a little bit of everything: he’s a point guard in a shooting guard’s body that can defend multiple positions. He’s also a leader and a winner, and more importantly, a great teammate. He’s a perfect fit for this kind of team.

SF Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State: He’s not the best perimeter shooter (26.9% 3PT) but that’s fine given what else Franklin can do offensively. He’s a bit of a volume shooter so he’ll help more off the bench in that role, and he’s also averaging 10.1 rebounds per game to go along with the 18.4 ppg.

PF Anthony Bennett, UNLV: With his build and athletic ability Bennett can be a game changer for this team off the bench. He’s got range out to the three-point line but perimeter shooting won’t be needed in this role; hit the boards, attack the rim and be an athletic mismatch for whoever opponents place in front of him on both ends of the floor.

C Mason Plumlee, Duke: At the end of November Plumlee was the frontrunner for national Player of the Year honors in many circles. Still on track to be a first team All-American, the senior has the strength and athleticism needed to be productive on both ends of the floor.

C Nerlens Noel, Kentucky: Withey may be the best defensive presence around the rim, but Noel isn’t all that far behind him, and he’s much more versatile of a defender.

Those who didn’t make it this time around: Well, four of the five starters from the original team back in December didn’t make it this time around. Moser’s issue was injury-related, as the dislocated elbow shelved him for a couple weeks and he’s still working his way back to being the versatile offensive threat who took the Mountain West by storm last season. Zeller’s seen a lot more attention from opponents this season, but with the perimeter scorers on this team (not to mention McDermott) we’re leaning a little more towards a defender in the middle. Craft’s a great defender at the point but in Burke and Pressey this new group has a point who can score in addition to getting teammates involved (Burke) and arguably the best distributor in the game (Pressey). As for Canaan, he’s been very good for the Racers (they’ve been ignored some nationally) but we can go a bit bigger at the two with one of the best defenders around in Oladipo.

As for the reserves from that December group, McCollum suffered a broken foot and Tony Mitchell hasn’t performed as well as expected for the Mean Green. As for that Pac-12 trio, Hill’s been good but we can get more scoring from players such as Franklin and Bennett without losing much in the way of versatility and there’s enough shooting to make up for Crabbe’s omission. Muhammad? With Franklin and Smith on this team there are only so many volume shooters a team can afford, so he misses out this time around.