The Big Ten conference as a whole may take a step backward this college basketball season, but their star power will remain high this hoops season. The AP All-American preseason first team was released a few short hours ago, and the league made a very tremendous impact on that very short list.
Ohio State‘s Jared Sullinger was the only unanimous choice of the 65-member national media panel. The Badgers Jordan Taylor is the only senior.
Harrison Barnes of North Carolina, Terrence Jones of Kentucky and Jeremy Lamb of Connecticut, three sophomores, round out the rest of the team.
h/t AP
The 6-foot-1 Taylor averaged 18.1 points and 4.7 assists last season in leading the Badgers to a 25-9 record, third place in the Big Ten and their 13th straight NCAA tournament appearance. He received 51 votes.
Barnes received 63 votes this year. Last year he became the first freshman ever selected to the preseason team, which started before the 1986-87 season. This led to a lot of ridiculous expectations and of course harsh criticism as Barnes struggled earlier. It came to head with a Roy Williams anti-ESPN media rant; which was sparked by a question I msyelf asked at an Illini press conference.
Just click Barnes or Williams name above where highlighted in this post to hear the tirade.
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