Before we get to The Athletic’s preseason All-America teams, it should be noted that we’re not especially good at this. Nobody is. We’re not terrible, mind you, just ineffective at telling the future.
Half of our preseason All-Americans last year, including four first-teamers, ended up on the Associated Press’ postseason first or second team. Not bad. But we didn’t see Alabama freshman Brandon Miller coming. We didn’t properly account for Jalen Wilson becoming Bill Self’s latest slow-build star. We somehow managed to leave Zach Edey off completely, while including Nick Smith Jr. and Caleb Love — although, to be fair, who could’ve predicted their seasons going soap-opera sideways?
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This year’s team is a reflection of the continuing trends in college basketball: It is very old, and very big. There are six seniors, two juniors and zero freshmen on this list. There are also six 7-footers (or close to it). We also have a six-man second team because there was a tie for the last spot and, as much as we prefer these to look like semi-viable actual basketball teams, it’s all in good fun.
First team
Zach Edey, senior center, Purdue
Scariest thing about the reigning national player of the year and the only guy to get a first-team vote on every one of our ballots here? The Boilermakers’ 7-foot-4, 285-pound behemoth is probably going to be even better this season. At least if his trajectory continues. Edey jumped from 8.7 to 14.4 to 22.3 points per game in his three previous college seasons. From 4.4 to 7.7 to 12.9 rebounds. He led the nation last year in total rebounds, offensive rebounds, player efficiency rating, Win Shares and offensive plus/minus. He also led the Big Ten in scoring, field-goal percentage and free throws attempted and made. All that despite, apparently, surprisingly low self-confidence.
“How can’t you believe in yourself when you are the consensus national player of the year, right?” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “But he doesn’t have those experiences where he was 8, 9, 10 years old (and) is the best player. So the confidence thing for him is so important. This is his seventh year of organized basketball. He is at a different learning curve and growth than normal people at age 22 and playing college basketball.”
NBA teams want to see just how much better. They want to be able to more clearly envision where a guy with zero career 3-point attempts might fit in a league dominated by the deep ball.
“It’s not a post-up game in the NBA anymore, but I still think he is an NBA player,” Painter said. “He has to prove that. He has to knock down that threshold. It’s no different than buying a house. There’s just not a lot of comps out there for him. Normally, when you buy a house, you find the five comps and get your price. Well, he doesn’t have that. It would really help if somebody like Shaquille O’Neal was in the NBA and everybody had to have two or three guys on a roster to guard him.”
The good news for Edey – and bad news for everybody else this season – is there’s very much still a place for Shaq in the college game.
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Tyler Kolek, senior guard, Marquette
He made waves last year at Big East media day when asked about the Golden Eagles being picked to finish ninth in the league. “F— ‘em,” he said. Then, after he won Big East tournament MVP, asked on live television to revisit that prediction, Kolek said it again: “F— ‘em.” Then, earlier this month, he posted on Instagram a picture of him posing with the team’s Big East regular-season and tournament trophies, his league player of the year trophy and a championship ring — on his fully extended middle finger.
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An outsized personality with the game to back it up? Yes, please. Kolek has become appointment viewing. He averaged 12.9 points, 7.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and shot 40 percent from 3-point range last season as Marquette enjoyed its best season in a decade — a 29-7 record and all that hardware before bowing out in the NCAA Tournament second round.
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Kolek has led the Big East in assists the last two years, led the league in steals last season and recorded three double-doubles with at least 20 points and 10 assists.
“I’m an older guy,” Kolek said. “People like to say ‘finished product’ if you’re a senior. But I feel like I can always evolve and I can always get better.”
Anybody who doubts that? F— ‘em.
Hunter Dickinson, senior center, Kansas
Did someone say outsized personalities? My gawd, that’s Dickinson’s music! The most accomplished transfer in the modern history of college basketball, a 7-foot-2, 255-pound, three-time All-Big Ten selection (and 2021 consensus All-American) at Michigan, Dickinson made the Jayhawks an instant favorite to win Bill Self’s third national championship. And what does he think of being preseason No. 1?
“I like people knowing it,” he said, “because I want them to know we’re better than them.”
Not only is Dickinson the most willing villain in the game, playing to the crowd (both his own and the opponent’s) like a WWE superstar, but he’s also one of the hardest guards in the sport. He averaged 18.5 points, 8.8 boards, 1.9 assists and 1.7 blocks over the last two years with the Wolverines. He shot 56 percent from the field and a solid 37.2 percent from 3-point range on 121 attempts.
“He is, I would say, the most skilled and most talented offensive player that I’ve had from a center,” Self said. “There’s a lot of things he’s got to get better at defensively, guarding ball screens and protecting the rim. He’s got to become much better to become whole. But from a shooting (perspective), aggressiveness, passing, playing out of doubles, he probably is as advanced as anybody I’ve ever been around.”
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Kyle Filipowski, sophomore forward, Duke
Not a lot of top-five recruits who become immediate stars for a blue blood stick around for a second season these days. Then again, not many people could win ACC Rookie of the Year while playing through significant hip pain, knowing all the while that surgery awaited after the season. Filipowski is different. After averaging 15 and 9 as a freshman at Duke and winning ACC tournament MVP, he announced in April he was returning to school and then had an arthroscopic procedure on both hips. Now, he says he’s stronger, quicker and more flexible, ready to chase something even bigger in Year 2.
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“What makes him so special is what he can do off the bounce … and what he can do posting up … and his defensive presence,” teammate Jeremy Roach said. “I mean, obviously now he’s got two hips, so I’ve seen more athleticism, the lateral movement side-to-side. But (also) just how humble he is. He’s not one of those cocky guys who is like, I need the ball.”
Maybe not, but he’s going to get it a bunch. He averaged almost 20 points and shot 67 percent from the field during Duke’s run through the ACC tournament. The 7-footer made at least one 3-pointer in 21 games, two-plus in seven games, and now he’ll try to improve on his 28 percent accuracy beyond the arc while also drawing the attention of a marked man.
Tyrese Proctor, sophomore guard, Duke
He and Filipowski are probably the two best NBA prospects in the ACC, and that 1-2 punch gives the Blue Devils realistic national championship hopes. Proctor, a 6-foot-5 Australian, started 34 of 36 games as a freshman and earned ACC All-Freshman honors, but things didn’t click for him until the back half of the schedule. Over his final 20 games, Proctor averaged 11 points, 4.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, shot 37 percent from 3-point range and 87 percent from the free-throw line. In five postseason appearances (three ACC, two NCAA tournament games), he shot 43 percent from deep and had 27 assists with just five turnovers.
“Just seeing what he was able to produce for us at the end of last year, it’s very promising (as) to what we can get out of him this year,” Filipowski said. “He just looks so much more poised and comfortable out on the court and knows what he’s doing. It’s great to have that in a point guard. He really reminds me a lot of Jamal Murray, just with how he’s moving out there on the court.”
The Athletic’s NBA draft expert, Sam Vecenie, believes Proctor might have the highest upside of any guard in college basketball this season. He’s described Proctor as a “pick-and-roll machine” who might’ve gone in the first round of the 2023 draft if he’d come out. Now, he might play his way into a top-10 pick. Showing off his newfound assertiveness could solidify that.
“He’s probably been the most demonstrative, in terms of challenging other players on the team,” Scheyer said. “He’s not afraid to say anything to anybody. That’s very much needed.”
Second team
Ryan Kalkbrenner, senior center, Creighton
Marquette coach Shaka Smart calls him “one of the best defensive players I’ve ever coached against – and he’s gotten better and better on the offensive end.” The 7-foot-1, 270-pound Kalkbrenner was a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (top center) and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year last season, when he averaged 15.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and shot 66 percent from the field in 14 games against ranked opponents. He also dropped 31 points in an NCAA Tournament game and helped Creighton get within seconds of reaching the Final Four.
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The two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year is just shy of 1,200 points, 600 boards and 200 blocks in his career, and is still evolving. Last year, 75 percent of his shots came at the rim, just 19 percent were two-point jumpers and only 6 percent were 3-point tries. He’s made just 9 of 33 from deep in his career. Although his career field-goal percentage (.668) would rank top-five in NCAA history, the big man wants to prove he can still hit at a high clip when he steps out away from the basket.
“Going through the draft process, part of it was they want to see me shoot the ball more,” he said. “A big thing for me is I always had a decent touch shooting it, (but) I just wasn’t comfortable shooting it live. I’m just getting a lot more comfortable this year, just trying to add something to my game.”
Armando Bacot, super senior center, North Carolina
We have a new Perry Ellis, folks. The new face of That Guy’s Still There?! He’s started 131 games for the Tar Heels, turns 24 before the next NCAA Tournament and is already UNC’s all-time leader in rebounds (1,335) and double-doubles (68). Bacot and Sam Perkins are the only two players in school history with at least 1,800 points, 1,000 boards and 150 blocks. In 2023, it’s tough to be an old-school center with NBA aspirations, but it’s great to be an old-school center for a college blue blood with a strong NIL apparatus.
“For somebody as accomplished as Armando and the character that he brings off the court, that is a coach’s dream,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.
Now the question is whether Bacot and the Tar Heels will rediscover the magic of two years ago, when he averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds and UNC made the national championship game, or slog through another disappointing season like the last one, when Bacot’s numbers dipped to (still very good!) 15.9 points and 10.4 boards and the Heels went from preseason No. 1 to missing the tournament altogether.
Wade Taylor IV, junior guard, Texas A&M
He’s been a central figure in the rise of the Aggies under Buzz Williams, helping A&M reach consecutive SEC championship games, the NIT title game two years ago and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018 last season. His next challenge: handling sky-high expectations. He’s the SEC preseason player of the year and the Aggies are picked to finish second in the league, ranked No. 15 nationally to start the season.
Taylor averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and shot 36 percent from 3 on 6.3 attempts per game last year, when he was first-team All-SEC and honorable mention AP All-American. He led the league in free throws made and percentage (.875). He dropped 28 points in a late-season win over No. 2 Alabama, had 25 and four steals in a win over Tennessee, went for 25 against red-hot Vanderbilt in the SEC semifinals, after which Williams described him this way:
“He understands time, score and momentum arguably as good as any fourth-semester college player in the country. Not just because he’s the point guard. I think he has an elite feel. Yes, I understand he can score. Yes, I understand he’s fun to watch. But what makes him so special is he is comfortable on that invisible line of: Should I shoot? Should I create for someone else? Should we go faster? Should we go slower? He has an innate feel for what is best for the team.”
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Donovan Clingan, sophomore center, Connecticut
Not many guys who average 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds and start zero games the year before would be a preseason All-American the next. But Clingan, and his situation, are unique. The 7-foot-2, 265-pound homegrown “SportsCenter” highlight machine (he’s from Bristol, Conn.) was battling the Big East’s leading scorer and rebounder and eventual NCAA Tournament MOP Adama Sanogo for playing time. Even so, Clingan delivered 35 points, 30 rebounds and 11 blocks in just 75 minutes during UConn’s six-game run to the national championship — which translates to a cool 18.7 points, 16 boards and 5.9 blocks per 40 minutes.
He had 20, 10 and 5 in just 21 minutes against Marquette last season. Had 16, 8 and 3 in 19 minutes at Florida; 15 and 10 in 18 minutes against Iowa State. So how good can he be now as The Man for the Huskies? Coach Dan Hurley says he has “a chance to be a dominant player for us — not just a really good player or even great player, but a dominant player that changes things on both ends.” When he was on the floor last season, teams only scored 89.9 points per 100 possessions, compared to 103.1 when he was off.
One catch: Clingan was in a walking boot last week at Big East media day, the result of a foot injury he suffered in late September. He has described it as a strained muscle and slight stress fracture, and the hope was he could return by the season opener. The Huskies would do well not to rush him; he’s the key to their chances of going back-to-back.
Terrence Shannon Jr., senior wing, Illinois
Brad Underwood said he hasn’t seen a player improve so dramatically in an offseason since Ayo Dosunmu leaped all-league as a sophomore to All-American as a junior. Shannon is 6-6, 210 pounds and shredded, a terrific athlete whose skills are catching up to his body. After starting for a Sweet 16 team at Texas Tech in 2022, he posted career highs in points (17.2), rebounds (4.6), assists (2.8) and steals (1.3) last season for the Illini and was named first-team All-Big Ten.
He had several star turns last season, scoring 18-plus points 14 times, including a 29-point, 10-rebound game in a win over UCLA — when he hit a school-record 8-of-9 3s — and Underwood believes he’ll be even better this year.
“His midrange game is better, his decision-making is better. We’ve got him playing off two feet much more than he did last year,” Underwood said. “He’s a guy who can get (a bucket) any time. He’s always had the ability to be a bull and get downhill. I think he’s going to be one of the top guys in the country in terms of free-throw attempts … but he’s really become successful at his midrange. You start scoring at all three levels like that …”
Bryce Hopkins, junior forward, Providence
It’s hard to believe that the former top-50 recruit couldn’t get himself unglued from Kentucky’s bench as a freshman, when he averaged just 6.5 minutes per game. That jumped to 34.9 minutes last season with the Friars, when the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Hopkins led the team in points (15.8), rebounds (8.5) and double-doubles (10) and was named first-team All-Big East.
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In two games against league champion Marquette, he averaged 24 points, 16.5 boards and 3.0 assists while making 17 of 30 shots. In two games against Creighton, he averaged 20 and 10. He shot 36.4 percent from 3 on 2.3 attempts per game. Now he’s noticeably slimmed down — Hopkins says he’s lost about a dozen pounds — and feels quicker. New coach Kim English says he plans to use Hopkins some as a small-ball five to create mismatches, an idea he calls “fun and exciting.”
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Hopkins has also had an entire offseason to stew over the ultimate motivational moment: getting shut down by and losing to his former team, Kentucky, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Others receiving votes: Tyson Walker, Michigan State (1 first, 3 seconds); Max Abmas, Texas (2 firsts), Justin Moore, Villanova (a first and second); Boogie Ellis, USC (3 seconds); DaRon Holmes II, Dayton (2 seconds); Trey Alexander, Creighton (2 seconds); Aidan Mahaney, Saint Mary’s (2 seconds); Boo Buie, Northwestern (2 seconds); Isaiah Collier, USC; Kevin McCullar Jr., Kansas; Oso Ighodaro, Marquette; Dajaun Harris Jr., Kansas;, Jamal Shead, Houston; RayJ Dennis, Baylor; Tristan da Silva, Colorado (1 second each).
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos of Zach Edey and Tyler Kolek: Justin Casterline and Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)