The Associated Press on Monday released its 2022-23 college basketball preseason All-America team led by five seniors, the starkest example of how upperclassmen are expected to dominate headlines in the upcoming season. The team includes reigning National Player of the Year, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky, and Drew Timme of Gonzaga, both of whom were unanimous selections after2021-22 AP All-America teams: Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe receives most votes, Big Ten cleans upa season ago.
Big men accounted for four of the five players named to the All-America team in total including Trayce Jackson-Davis at Indiana and Armando Bacot at North Carolina. The only guard or wing to be included on the team was Marcus Sasser, Houston’s do-it-all guard who might have been an All-American last season if not for a season-ending injury sustained after 12 games.
The AP’s elderly (relative to college hoops, at least) All-America team marks the first time since that no true freshman earned inclusion on the team since the 2012-13 preseason, a year that was also dominated by returning vets. That year, Indiana big man Cody Zeller was one vote shy of being a unanimous selection.
Four of the five players on the All-America team plays on teams that were recently named preseason top-five in the AP poll. Those players represent the No. 1 (UNC), No. 2 (Gonzaga), No. 3 (Houston) and No. 4 (Kentucky) teams in the top 25. The lone exception, Trayce Jackson-Davis at Indiana, represents the preseason No. 13 Hoosiers.
Timme, Tshiebwe, Sasser and Bacot all earned preseason First Team All-America honors from CBS Sports last week. Jackson-Davis fell to the Second Team, while UCLA guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. earned First Team honors.
2022-23 preseason AP All-America team
- Drew Timme, Gonzaga
- Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
- Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
- Marcus Sasser, Houston
- Armando Bacot, North Carolina
