LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It’s 18 days, 3 hours and 17 minutes until Selection Sunday. Are you happy with the state of your favorite college basketball program?
Enjoy these college basketball notebook items as you consider what a strange season continues to unfold.
1. Next week will be the final week of the regular season in the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern and Big Ten conferences. Awards ballots will be collected soon.
Actually, the organizers of the John Wooden Award, which will be presented to the national player of the year in April, asked its national selectors for their 15 finalists Monday.
I’ll share my 15 names at the end of this column, and then I’ll duck.
But what if I told you that three of the strongest candidates for the all-ACC first team failed to earn even 3 stars as high school recruits?
It’s true.
Louisville guard Carlik Jones, Pittsburgh forward Justin Champagnie and Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma have performed like top 5-10 guys all winter. None came within shouting distance of the McDonald’s all-American game.
Jones earned zero recruiting stars at Aiken High School in Cincinnati. The hometown Bearcats did not offer a scholarship. Neither did Xavier even though Jones attended some of Chris Mack’s camps when Mack coached the Musketeers.
Jones took the one Division I offer he could count on from Radford — and excelled. After a redshirt year and three remarkable seasons, Jones took his degree and announced his intention to become a graduate transfer.
Skeptics wondered if a zero-star recruit could succeed in the ACC the way he did in the Big South, where he averaged 20 points.
Jones has succeeded. He leads Louisville in scoring and assists while contributing more than five rebounds per game.
Alluma was another zero-star phenomenon. He played two seasons for Mike Young at Wofford, averaging seven points and seven boards as sophomore in 2019. He followed Young to Virginia Tech, sitting out the required season.
Could a 6-foot-8-inch forward who averaged seven points in the Southern Conference do better in the ACC?
Yes.
Aluma has ranked in the top 10 in points (15.5) and rebounds (8.0) for the Hokies, who have exceeded expectations as the third-place team in the ACC.
Champagnie, a 6-foot-6-inch forward, had a more compelling recruiting profile than Jones or Alume. But not much. He ranked No. 207 in the Class of 2019 at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn.
His recruiting profile showed a final five that included Dayton, Cincinnati, Fordham, Hofstra and Pittsburgh. He took his only ACC opportunity and has reigned as the league’s top scorer (18.8) and rebounder (11.4) all winter.
Over the last four seasons, ACC programs signed 41 guys ranked in the Top 50 in their classes by 247Sports. Of the 41, 19 are playing in the NBA or G-League this season. One works in Europe. Two transferred. That left 19 Top-50 guys in the league. Of those 19, two have a strong shot at making the all-ACC first team: Duke forward Matthew Hurt and Florida State guard M.J. Walker.
Chances are the 5-stars will be outnumbered by the zero-stars.
That’s terrific.
2. Here are my picks in the ACC, SEC and Big Ten:
- ACC All-League: Champagnie, Pitt; Jones, Louisville; Hurt, Duke; Walker, FSU; Jay Huff, Virginia.
- ACC Player of the Year: Champagnie, Pitt.
- ACC Freshman of the Year: Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville.
- ACC Coach of the Year: Leonard Hamilton, Florida State. The Seminoles lost three starters from a championship team — and just keep rolling.
- SEC All-League: Herbert Jones, Alabama; Cameron Thomas, LSU; Moses Moody, Arkansas; Tre Mann, Florida; Scotty Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt.
- SEC Player of the Year: Jones, Alabama.
- SEC Freshman of the Year: Thomas, LSU
- SEC Coach of the Year: Nate Oats, Alabama. No wonder the Crimson Tide just extended his contract through the 2027 season.
- Big Ten All-League: Luka Garza, Iowa; Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois; Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana; Kofi Cockburn, Illinois; Trevion Williams, Purdue.
- Big Ten Player of the Year: Dosunmu, Illinois.
- Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Michigan.
- Big Ten Coach of the Year: Juwan Howard, Michigan. If not for unbeaten Gonzaga and Baylor, the Wolverines would be the talk of college basketball.
3. My Wooden Award Final 15:
- Jared Butler, Baylor
- Champagnie, Pittsburgh
- Cockburn, Illinois
- Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State
- Dosunmu, Illinois
- Garza, Iowa
- Collin Gillespie, Villanova
- Hurt, Duke
- Jackson-Davis, Indiana
- Jones, Louisville
- Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
- Evan Mobley, USC
- Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga
- Drew Timme, Gonzaga
- Williams, Purdue
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