Duke forward Cameron Boozer, BYU star AJ Dybantsa and Darius Acuff Jr. of Arkansas arrived this season as part of what could go down as one of the most heralded freshman classes in college basketball history.
They lived up to their billing, too, and were announced Tuesday as first-team AP All-Americans.
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Boozer was a unanimous choice among the 61 voters that select the weekly Top 25 for The Associated Press, following in the footsteps of Cooper Flagg, who also was a unanimous choice as a freshman for the Blue Devils last season. Dybantsa was a first-team pick on all but four ballots, while Acuff was a first-team selection on 47 of the ballots.
Yaxel Lendeborg of Michigan and JT Toppin of Texas Tech rounded out the five-member first team.
"He's all about his teammates," Duke coach Jon Scheyer said of Boozer, who was the AP's national player of the week twice during the season. “He's not about numbers. He's about winning. And I think when your best player's that way, it becomes contagious, and it has a big effect on the rest of the group.”
Such a team-first attitude was on display by all the first-team picks; each helped their team to the NCAA Tournament.
Boozer took the Blue Devils to ACC regular-season and tournament titles and helped them earn the top overall seed. Lendeborg also helped the Wolverines earn a No. 1 seed. Arkansas is seeded fourth, Texas Tech seeded fifth and BYU seeded sixth.
“This has been the best year of my life, honestly. I've had so much fun," said Lendeborg, the first Michigan first-team All-American since Trey Burke in 2012-13. “Just how much I’ve learned this year in general has really helped me out, and is really molding me to be better in the future no matter what I’m doing in my life.”
Arkansas had not had a first-team pick since Sidney Moncrief in 1978-79 before Acuff was chosen. Dybantsa, the nation's top scorer at 25.3 points per game, joins Jimmer Fredette and Danny Ainge as the Cougars' only first-team selections.
“When I left the NBA to come to college,” BYU coach Kevin Young said, “one thing I noticed is just a lot of guys, their processing speed was way slower. AJ's is extremely high. So I can tell him something in the game, or in a film session, and he's going to carry it over.”
Toppin was a second-team All-American for the Red Raiders last season, when he helped them reach the Elite Eight. Now, he is the only first-team pick in Texas Tech history, even though his season ended in February with a torn ACL in his right knee.
“JT Toppin is genuine. He’s an unbelievable competitor. He’s real,” Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said following the injury. "You know how much JT loves our team and how hard he competed and how much he cared about that group. To understand that this is difficult and JT has a long road, to watch him weep and see how much this meant to him is hard.
"I’m excited to see what comes of this, because the joy comes in the morning,” McCasland continued. “There’s also a lot of hope in this, and even for JT there’s a lot of hope that he’ll get better because of this.”
Second team
Braden Smith of Purdue, who needs two assists to break Bobby Hurley's career Division I record, earned 12 first-team votes and was chosen a second-team All-American. Smith was a first-team pick last season and honorable mention for the 2023-24 season.
The senior from Westfield, Indiana, was joined on the second team by Big Ten rivals Jeremy Fears of Michigan State and Keaton Wagler of Illinois. Joshua Jefferson of Iowa State and North Carolina freshman Caleb Wilson rounded out the team.
Third team
Gonzaga senior Graham Ike, an honorable mention pick two years ago, earned third-team honors this season. He was joined on the team by Houston freshman Kingston Flemings, sophomores Christian Anderson of Texas Tech and Labaron Philon Jr. of Alabama, and junior forward Thomas Haugh of Florida.
Honorable mention
Jaden Bradley and Brayden Burries gave Arizona two honorable mention All-Americans this season, and Bennett Stirtz of Iowa earned the honor for the second consecutive year after making it onto the team with Drake last season.
Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson, who missed time with injuries this season, also was honorable mention, which is given to the next 10 players and ties after the first three All-American teams. So were Zuby Ejiofor of St. John's, Rueben Chinyelu of Florida, Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, Michael Ajayi of Butler, Kansas State's PJ Haggerty, Ebuka Okorie of Stanford and Tyler Tanner of Vanderbilt.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness