LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – There are plenty of more pressing things on our collective minds right now, I know.
But, dang, this should be Day III of the NCAA Tournament with the field having been lopped by four after the Round of 68 games Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Dayton.
Yep . . .
Anyway, here’s my BurlisonOnBasketball All-American team for the 2019-20 that will forever be marked with an *asterisk:
Obi Toppin of Dayton is an easy choice the Player of the Year, even the spectacular senior seasons turned in by the three seniors I tabbed among my five-member “first team”.
The Flyers were 29-2, winning their final 20 games.
The last of those, 78-76 in overtime on Dec. 21 and in Chicago, came by way of a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by the University of Colorado’s D’Shawn Schwartz.
Their only other loss was also in overtime – to the team that would have almost certainly been the overall No. 1 seed when the NCAA Tournament’s 68-team bracket was unveiled this past Sunday evening.
On Nov. 27 in Lahaina, the University of Kansas Jayhawks knocked them off, 90-84, in the title game of the Maui Invitation.
They were locks to be one of the four regional No. 1 seeds.
Toppin, who turned 22 on March 4 (he attended a prep school after leaving high school in New York) had a strong red-shirt freshman season (14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game) but became a high-profile NBA prospect after being the most impressive college player at the Nike Academy in Southern California last August.
There wasn’t a college player who combined his flair for the spectacular (dunks-galore) with efficiency – 20.0 ppg on 63 percent from the field).
He’s a near-certainly to be the first “non-freshman” among the college players selected in the 2020 NBA Draft – whenever that is held.
The complete selections . . .
FIRST TEAM
Udoka Azubuike 7-0 Sr. Kansas
Luka Garza 6-10 Jr. Iowa
Obi Toppin 6-9 So. Dayton
Payton Pritchard 6-2 Sr. Oregon
Markus Howard 5-11 Sr. Marquette
SECOND TEAM
Saddiq Bey 6-8 So. Villanova
Yoeli Childs 6-8 Sr. BYU
Filip Petrusev 6-11 So. Gonzaga
Malachi Flynn 6-3 Jr. San Diego State
Cassius Winston 6-1 Sr. Michigan State
THIRD TEAM
Vernon Carey Jr. 6-10 Fr. Duke
Devon Dotson 6-2 So. Kansas
Jordan Nwora 6-7 Jr. Louisville
Myles Powell 6-2 Sr. Seton Hall
Nick Richards 6-11 Jr. Kentucky
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