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Daily Dribble: All-American Thoughts
October 20th, 2008
by Shawn Siegel
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CHN released its official Preseason All-American list this morning, as voted on by CHN staffers. Here's my own personal take on the selections, and who should be given more or less respect.
CollegeHoops.net Preseason Player of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough (UNC)
- No brainer here. Any site or publication that suggests otherwise is just being silly.
CollegeHoops.net First Team All-American
|
Darren Collison |
UCLA |
SR |
G |
|
Stephen Curry |
Davidson |
JR |
G |
|
Tyler Hansbrough |
North Carolina |
SR |
F |
|
Luke Harangody |
Notre Dame |
SR |
F |
|
Blake Griffin |
Oklahoma |
SO |
F |
- Griffin is getting too much hype this season. Not that he's bad in the slightest, but I think Patrick Patterson could supplant him on this list by season's end. Even Jon Brockman is arguably better, but just on a team lacking any surrounding talent. Harangody didn't make some other publications' First Teams. I don't see how the reigning Big East Player of the Year could lose out to someone like Harden or Griffin. Stephen Curry's bandwagon is overflowing (rightfully so), but it will be interesting to see what happens when Davidson finishes outside of the Top 25.
CollegeHoops.net Second Team All-American
|
Ty Lawson |
North Carolina |
JR |
G |
|
AJ Price |
UCONN |
SR |
G |
|
James Harden |
Arizona State |
SO |
G |
|
Tyler Smith |
Tennessee |
JR |
F |
|
Patrick Patterson |
Kentucky |
SO |
F |
- Lawson is arguably no better a player than guys like Flynn, Pargo, Maynor, Rice, Calathes, or Mills. But you can't argue with the starting PG on the country's best team winning this honor. Harden is as good as advertised, but I think ASU is getting overhyped and their lack of success compared to expectations might hinder his ability to win big-time awards. If you count Patterson as a center, he might end up putting up the best numbers of any BCS big man in the country.
CollegeHoops.net Third Team All-American
|
Tyrese Rice |
Boston College |
SR |
G |
|
Jack McClinton |
Miami |
SR |
G |
|
Chase Budinger |
Arizona |
JR |
F |
|
Terrence Williams |
Louisville |
SR |
F |
|
Hasheem Thabeet |
UCONN |
JR |
C |
- Tyrese Rice, to me, is the most underrated player out there. When he averages 23-24 ppg this year, he'll get the recognition he deserves. Louisville might be the 2nd best team in the country, but guys like Williams and Clark aren't getting much respect nationally. Thabeet is one of only two or three pure post-players on this whole All-American list (BJ Mullens & AJ Ogilvy being the others). Budinger's development stalled last year, but he'll end up leading the Pac-10 in scoring and should be helped by Lute Olson's return.
CollegeHoops.net Fourth Team All-American
|
Nick Calathes |
Florida |
SO |
G |
|
Gerald Henderson |
Duke |
JR |
G |
|
Sam Young |
Pittsburgh |
SR |
F |
|
Damion James |
Texas |
JR |
F |
|
Kyle Singler |
Duke |
SO |
F |
- By pure numbers alone, Calathes could end up as a 1st team All-American. He was underrated last year, but will get more hype now that Florida will return to the NCAA Tournament. Do not be surprised to see him finishing ahead of Lawson, Price, etc on end of season All-American lists. Henderson to me is overrated here, as I can think of a dozen other guys more deserving of such respect. Singler on the other hand is the real deal.
|
Honorable Mention |
|
|
|
|
Jeff Adrien |
UCONN |
SR |
F |
|
DeJuan Blair |
Pittsburgh |
SO |
F |
|
Jon Brockman |
Washington |
SR |
F |
|
Dionte Christmas |
Temple |
SR |
G |
|
Earl Clark |
Louisville |
JR |
F |
|
Sherron Collins |
Kansas |
JR |
G |
|
Demar DeRozan |
USC |
FR |
G |
|
Eric Devendorf |
Syracuse |
JR |
G |
|
Wayne Ellington |
North Carolina |
JR |
G |
|
Jonny Flynn |
Syracuse |
SO |
G |
|
Jrue Holiday |
UCLA |
FR |
G |
|
Kalin Lucas |
Michigan St |
SO |
G |
|
Eric Maynor |
VCU |
SR |
G |
|
Jerel McNeal |
Marquette |
SR |
G |
|
Patrick Mills |
Saint Mary's |
SO |
G |
|
Raymar Morgan |
Michigan St |
JR |
G |
|
BJ Mullens |
Ohio State |
FR |
C |
|
AJ Ogilvy |
Vanderbilt |
SO |
F |
|
Jeremy Pargo |
Gonzaga |
SR |
G |
|
Scottie Reynolds |
Villanova |
JR |
G |
|
Robert Vaden |
UAB |
SR |
G |
- I'd take a team of Eric Maynor, Wayne Ellington, Raymar Morgan, Jon Brockman, and BJ Mullens any day. In fact, that five looks no worse than our Second Team All-Americans. While this year's freshman class is obviously not nearly as good as the last, BJ Mullens could be the one guy who dominates from day one. As mentioned earlier, Brockman would be higher on a better team. When he finishes the season averaging 20 and 12, there's no way he's not a Second or Third team guy. Kalin Lucas is probably the least accomplished of all these guys, but when Michigan State reaches the Final Four, you'll understand why he's on here.
The biggest omissions I see are Greivis Vasquez (how is Henderson a 4th Teamer and Vasquez not even an Honorable Mention guy?), Dominic James (yes, he's not a good shooter, but he's a heck of a college ballplayer), Devan Downey (the biggest omission to me), DaJuan Summers (watch him have a monster year), and Jeff Pendergraph.
Lastly, besides everyone named above, some potential sleeper All-Americans of mine include: Wink Adams (UNLV), Toney Douglas (FSU), Curtis Jerrells (Baylor), Tasmin Mitchell (LSU), Ahmad Nivins (St. Joseph's), and Chris Warren (Ole Miss).
Comments
Scottie
Submitted by MainLineBehind (not verified) on Tue, 2008-10-21 11:16.
When Nova finishes Top 20 and reaches the Sweet 16 again, Reynolds will be a 2nd team all american. book it.
Vasquez
Submitted by TerpDog (not verified) on Wed, 2008-10-22 23:07.
how does a guy who will average almost 20 points and maybe 8 assists in the ACC get no love???? come on
Can't argue
Submitted by Shawn Siegel on Thu, 2008-10-23 11:40.
Agreed. I'm a big Vasquez fan. If he was on a Top 25 team, you'd hear about him 10 times as much.
Hummel?
Submitted by Mike (not verified) on Mon, 2008-11-10 17:41.
No Robbie Hummel? This has got to be a joke.
The horror!
Submitted by JoPa (not verified) on Tue, 2008-11-11 00:54.
Oh my god, the horror! Go PSU!
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About Shawn Siegel
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Shawn Siegel - CHN President & Head Editor
Contact
shawn@collegehoops.net
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CHN Editor
Shawn Siegel is the self-proclaimed "hardest working man on the internet." He created CHN back in the summer of 2002, and it has since grown into the web's largest independent college basketball site. Besides designing and maintaining the site, Shawn also deals with advertising, marketing, editing.. and virtually all other aspects of running the site. Shawn's college basketball and NBA Draft commentary has appeared across the web, print, and radio media. Please email him with any and all media requests.
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yo
Hey Shawn,
you getting ready for the season...going to be awesome
Western Carolina has some solid players this year (Brandon Giles, Mutombo's nephew haha) They will be participating in the Alaska Shootout and might just win it... Anyway, are you going to let me write about Western Carolina or the Southern Conference or anything to help you out...
Thanks
Justin Glover
Media Relations
Western Carolina University