Traditional big men can still dominate college basketball — but, in recent years, it’s become harder than ever for them to solidify themselves as desirable NBA prospects because of the way the game is played at the highest level of the sport. The byproduct of that is that they largely get pushed back to college. And the byproduct of that is that the list of CBS Sports preseason All-Americans is filled with frontcourt players for the second straight October.
Purdue’s Zach Edey, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Duke’s Kyle Filipowski were all voted CBS Sports Preseason First Team All-Americans, which means 80% of our First Team stands 6-foot-11 or taller. That’s obviously unusual and possibly unprecedented but really just a sign of the times.
Edey was a unanimous choice.
The 7-4 center is the reigning CBS Sports National Player of the Year after averaging 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game last season while leading Purdue to the Big Ten regular season title and Big Ten Tournament title. The Canadian is the favorite to repeat as the Wooden Award winner and if he does it, will be the first back-to-back Wooden Award winner since Ralph Simpson in 1982 and 1983.
The only guard on the First Team?
That’s Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, the reigning Big East Player of the Year who averaged 12.9 points, 7.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds last season while leading the Golden Eagles to the Big East regular-season title and Big East Tournament title. His return to Milwaukee is among the reasons Marquette is ranked fifth in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.
Our three All-America teams consist of 15 players from six different leagues — the Big East, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. Edey, Bacot and Dickinson are the only repeat preseason All-Americans. The lone player who was a preseason All-American last season, returned to school, but did not make any of our…
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