Assembling 60 percent of a
first-team All-America squad this season is a simple chore.
My mother knows that Adam Morrison, J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams are first-team
choices. And my mother is the kindest woman in the world but she has never
watched a college basketball game, ever, in person or otherwise.
Things get a bit dicey, though,
when one tries to assemble the rest of a first team and, in the case of the
Scout.com 2005-06 selections, a second, third and fourth team as
well.
After 3 ½ months, and a couple of a
March nights, to evaluate the possibilities, I’m ready to present the definitive
2005-06 college All-America team. Of course, reasonable minds can debate exactly
what “definitive” means. In this case, it means “mine”.
Each of the teams were constructed
to, at least loosely, contain two posts and three players who play mostly on the
perimeter.
And it doesn’t take “loosely” very
long to come into play because the first team also includes guards Brandon Roy (Washington) and Randy Foye (Villanova), players whom,
like Redick and Morrison, do the bulk of their scoring from the
perimeter.
Two teams, Duke and Villanova, had
a couple of selections apiece, with 14 of the choices coming from schools in the
Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences (four each), and the Southeastern and
Pac 10 conferences (three apiece).
The breakdown, by class: 10
seniors, three juniors, six sophomores and one freshman.
Scout.com 2005-06 All-America
Teams
(Statistics from games through
March 2)
FIRST
TEAM
Randy Foye (6-3, Sr.,
Villanova)
Stats: 20.2 points, 5.4
rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals per game (.417 FG%, .378 on
3’s)
Adam Morrison (6-8, Jr.,
Gonzaga)
Stats: 28.8 points, 5.6
rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals per game (.509 FG%, .438 on
3’s)
J.J. Redick (6-4, Sr.,
Duke)
Stats: 28.1 points, 2.0
rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals per game (.489 FG%, .426 on
3’s)
Brandon Roy (6-5, Sr.,
Washington)
Stats: 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.4
steals per game (.509 FG%, .397 on 3’s)
Shelden Williams (6-8, Sr.,
Duke)
Stats: 18.8 points, 10.3
rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.0 steals, 3.7 blocked shots per game (.589
FG%)
SECOND
TEAM
Rodney Carney (6-7, Sr.,
Memphis)
Stats: 17.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4
steals per game (.440 FG%, .397 on 3’s)
Terence Dials (6-9, Sr.,
Ohio
State)
Stats: 15.2 points, 8.1
rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.0 blocked shots per game (.577)
Nick Fazekas (6-11, Jr.,
Nevada)
Stats: 21.6 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1
steals, 1.5 blocked shots per game (.531 FG%)
Chris Lofton (6-2, So.,
Tennessee)
Stats: 17.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.1
steals per game (.490 FG%, .472 on 3’s)
P.J. Tucker (6-5, Jr.,
Texas)
Stats: 16.2 points, 9.0
rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.9 steals per game (.531 FG%)
THIRD
TEAM
Glen Davis (6-8, So.,
LSU)
Stats: 18.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3
steals, 1.0 blocked shots per game (.509 FG%)
Mike Gansey (6-4, Sr.,
West
Virginia)
Stats: 17.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.0
steals per game (.557 FG%, .426 on 3’s)
Rudy Gay (6-8, So.,
Connecticut)
Stats: 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.9
steals, 1.7 blocked shots per game (.461 FG%, .329 on
3’s)
Leon Powe (6-8, So.,
Cal)
Stats: 19.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists (.486
FG%)
Ronald Steele (6-3, So.,
Alabama)
Stats: 14.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.5
steals per game (.428 FG%, .421 on 3’s)
FOURTH
TEAM
Arron Afflalo (6-5, So.,
UCLA)
Stats: 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists per
game (.477 FG%, .360 on 3’s)
Maurice Ager (6-5, Sr.,
Michigan
State)
Stats: 19.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists per
game (.452 FG%, .368 on 3’s)
Tyler Hansbrough (6-8, Fr.,
North Carolina)
Stats: 18.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2
steals per game (.586 FG%)
Allan Ray (6-2, Sr.,
Villanova)
Stats: 18.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2
steals per game (.395 FG%, .371 on 3’s)
Craig Smith (6-7, Sr.,
Boston
College)
Stats: 17.1 points, 8.7
rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals (.571 FG%)
BOUNCING AROUND THE
COUNTRY
*The student body “Let’s rush the floor and
jump around and act excited, although we couldn’t differentiate between a zone
defense and the ozone layer”-act inspiring victories by Florida State, Texas
A&M and UAB this week over Duke, Texas and Memphis, respectively, gave a
nice adrenalin kick to those teams’ NCAA Tournament at-large hopes
But let’s hold off reserving three
of those precious 34 at-large selections for the Seminoles, Aggies and Blazers
until we see how they do against Miami, (on the road, Sunday), Texas Tech (in
Lubbock, Saturday) and Marshall (at home, Saturday), respectively, this
weekend.
Other than those three high-profile
upsets, among them, UAB, FSU and Texas A&M have just one other victory
against a team that seems likely to be in the NCAA Tournament – the Aggies’
73-61 decision over Northwestern State in College Station on Dec.
31.
In other words, without those three
wins this week, we’re not even talking about at-large bids for the Blazers,
Seminoles or Aggies right now.
*How about that chest bump Tubby Smith
laid on guard Brandon Stockton immediately after the buzzer in
Kentucky’s had-to-have-it 80-78 victory at
Tennessee Wednesday
night?
Coach Smith, obviously, considered
it a significant win.
Let’s see how much of that momentum carries
over into the Wildcats’ regular-season finale in
Lexington against Florida Sunday.
*Saint Mary’s goes into the West
Coast Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed but is easily host
Gonzaga’s biggest threat in a likely third consecutive championship meeting
Monday night.
The Gaels are 16-11 but have won six in a row
and eight of their past nine games – the only loss in that stretch a
62-61decision in Spokane on Feb. 7.
Look for Saint Mary’s coach
Randy Bennett to be a hot commodity among athletic directors once the
Gaels’ season is over.
*UCLA’s 67-58 victory at
Cal Thursday night – in which the Bruins scored
the final 12 points in overtime – extended an interesting streak for Bruins’
coach Ben Howland.
His Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh teams won conference championships in his
third years with those programs, and the Bruins – in Howland’s third season in
Westwood – clinched a share of the Pacific 10 Conference title with the win in
Berkeley Thursday. They can take it outright with a
victory at Stanford Saturday, or with a Washington loss in Tucson against Arizona.
*If the North Carolina Tar Heels knock off
Duke in Durham Saturday evening, it’s going to be very
difficult to push my national Coach of the Year support anywhere but to
Chapel
Hill for Roy Williams.
That would cap a remarkable close to the
regular season for a UNC team that has won nine of its past 10 games since a
four-point home loss to Boston College on Jan. 25.
The Tar Heels have lost just one
road game in the Atlantic Coast Conference this
season.
But, let’s face it: How tough will
it be to topple the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium on the occasion of the
final home game for J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams? The answer:
Extremely difficult.
*On the subject of “Senior Days”, here’s my
favorite statistic of the weekend, courtesy
University of Arizona Associate Media Relations Director
Richard Paige: During the Wildcats’ past five Senior Days,
Lute Olson’s teams have won by an average margin of 27.8
points.
Just a hunch: The University of
Washington Huskies will stay within 27.8 points of the Wildcats
Saturday.
*Syracuse, five days after losing by 15 points at
Georgetown, was pummeled by 39 points Thursday night by
a DePaul club that took a 4-10 Big East record into the
game.
Earth to Syracuse players: Do you know realize there’s
something called an NCAA Tournament at-large bid at
stake?
Or, more accurately, there was a tournament bid at
stake.
That’s
mind-blowing.
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of
Fame last April, Frank Burlison is Scout.com’s national basketball expert and is
also a columnist for the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram. He can be reached at
frank.burlison@presstelegram.com. Read more of Burlison’s pieces at
www.collegehoops.scout.com