2008 Men’s College Basketball All-Americans and Individual Awards

All-American teams are selected wrong. Plain and simple. Most All-American teams were chosen a week or 2 ago. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the season end only 2 nights ago? Why are people picking the best players for the year when the year isn’t completely over? Because they are chosen too early, players like

Certain players are going to be on any list, like Tyler Hansbrough and Kevin Love for example. Both had great seasons and helped their teams to the Final Four. But players like Eric Gordon and D.J. White of Indiana aren’t so lucky since they couldn’t get the Hoosiers past the 1^st round. I also can’t include someone like Darren Collison of UCLA. Collison went 1-for-9 in the Final Four loss to Memphis and averaged only 2.8 assists in 5 tournament games.

So although the methods to my madness may be somewhat against the norm, here are my All-American teams (only 1^st and 2^nd, these publications that have as many as 4 teams and honorable mentions are ridiculous):

1^st Team

Chris Douglas-Roberts – Junior – Memphis
Derrick Rose – Freshman – Memphis
Mario Chalmers – Junior – Kansas
Tyler Hansbrough – Junior – UNC
Kevin Love – Freshman – UCLA

2^nd Team

D.J. Augustin – Sophomore – Texas
Stephen Curry – Sophomore – Davidson
Brandon Rush – Junior – Kansas
Michael Beasley – Freshman – Kansas State
Brook Lopez – Sophomore – Stanford

And for good measure, here are a few individual awards:

Coach of the Year: N/A

I’m not going to pick one. Ever. From this point on, assume my pick for coach of the year in any sport is the coach who led his team to the championship. Drake had a great season and Keno Davis seems like a good coach, but Kansas won the title and Bill Self was their leader. Choosing a player of the year for a team sport is harder because some teams are centered on 1 superstar while others get contributions from everyone. But each team only has 1 head coach and the head coach who led his team to a championship has done his job the best.

Freshman of the Year: Derrick Rose

Without Michael Beasley, Kansas State doesn’t make it to the 2^nd round of the tournament. Without Derrick Rose, Memphis doesn’t make it to the title game. Seems like an easy choice to me.

Player of the Year: Mario Chalmers

Not to take anything away from Tyler Hansbrough, but as I already said, Chalmers made the play of the year to put his team in position to win the national title. Hansbrough had a great all around year, but it didn’t mean much when UNC was at home watching Kansas play in the championship game.

For those of you lucky enough to be chosen as a Bull Gator All-American or to take home an individual honor, you can receive your trophy by contacting me at TheBullGator@live.com. The only things I require in return are an autographed picture, a game worn jersey, and priority status in your entourage.

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