Sporting News 2012-13 AA teams

[diveonthefloor]

Seth, 2nd team
Mason, no mention

Wonder if it's a coincidence that TSN is now published out of Charlotte?

[FerryFor50]

Seth, 2nd team
Mason, no mention

Wonder if it's a coincidence that TSN is now published out of Charlotte?

Uh, WTF????

No mention at all????

[CDu]

Strange list. Withey and Zeller both made it over Mason. I'd have put Mason over either guy (as Mason had better numbers than either guy).

I don't think any of the real lists will leave Mason completely off the top-15. I don't know if he'll end up on 1st Team, but there's no logical argument that I can make for him not being a top-15er.

[MulletMan]

Seth, 2nd team
Mason, no mention

Wonder if it's a coincidence that TSN is now published out of Charlotte?

Horse$!+. That list is a joke. Basically, TSN appears to have watched college basketball for the last two weeks through highlights on SportsCenter and made thir list. Ridiculous.

[diveonthefloor]

I think Decourcy is their college hoops editor.

[Olympic Fan]

Weird that the top ACC vote-getting on that team (the only one in the top 10) didn't even make first-team All-ACC.

Larkin make third team.

[vick]

Agreed, strange list.

Apart from Mason, I'd like to register my annoyance with the elevation I've seen of Marcus Smart to potential first-team all-American status, here but also elsewhere. Really? He's been great in conference play, no doubt--I'm perfectly fine with the notion that he is Big XII player of the year (I can't say that I've watched enough to say he should be above McLemore or Withey, but seems like he'd clearly be in the discussion). But he hasn't exactly been a model of efficiency, especially in the non-conference schedule--games like 5-15 against VT (in a loss!) ought to hurt. Even today he only has an offensive rating, per Kenpom, of 103.9 while with 27.8% usage (compare with Zeller posting 121.9 with 26.4% of possessions). He's somewhat turnover prone (assist to turnover of just 1.3) and not a great shooter (eFG% of 46.1%, 29.1% 3P%). I don't see how he belongs in the discussion for top 10 players in the country when you take the whole season into account.

[CDu]

Agreed, strange list.

Apart from Mason, I'd like to register my annoyance with the elevation I've seen of Marcus Smart to potential first-team all-American status, here but also elsewhere. Really? He's been great in conference play, no doubt--I'm perfectly fine with the notion that he is Big XII player of the year (I can't say that I've watched enough to say he should be above McLemore or Withey, but seems like he'd clearly be in the discussion). But he hasn't exactly been a model of efficiency, especially in the non-conference schedule--games like 5-15 against VT (in a loss!) ought to hurt. Even today he only has an offensive rating, per Kenpom, of 103.9 while with 27.8% usage (compare with Zeller posting 121.9 with 26.4% of possessions). He's somewhat turnover prone (assist to turnover of just 1.3) and not a great shooter (eFG% of 46.1%, 29.1% 3P%). I don't see how he belongs in the discussion for top 10 players in the country when you take the whole season into account.

Yeah, that raised eyebrows with me too. Especially because TSN did use some more detailed metrics occasionally in their list (assist rate per basket scored for Burke; effective fg% for Oladipo; fg% against BCS schools for Olynyk) and then ignored efficiency altogether when discussing Smart.

I think Smart is worth being in the discussion, but I'd not have put him on the first team. Of course, there are a lot of guys who wouldn't have made the list that TSN included.

[nmduke2001]

Per Duke Blue Planet:

Mason is averaging
17.2 PPG
10.3 RPG
2.0 APG

Last 17+/10+/2+ ACC player was Tim Duncan in 1997.

In 1999, E. Brand was namde NPOY averaging 17.7 PPG, 9.8 RPG. Mason at 17.2, 10.3 and has 21 more assets than EB had that season.

[CDu]

Per Duke Blue Planet:

Mason is averaging
17.2 PPG
10.3 RPG
2.0 APG

Last 17+/10+/2+ ACC player was Tim Duncan in 1997.

In 1999, E. Brand was namde NPOY averaging 17.7 PPG, 9.8 RPG. Mason at 17.2, 10.3 and has 21 more assets than EB had that season.

I think if Duke makes a deep tourney run (and if Mason plays well in doing so), he'll be 1st Team and in the NPoY conversation. If Mason is just okay and/or if Duke loses early, he'll fall. But I don't see any way he isn't on one of the first 3 teams. He has just been too good for too long this season.