Utah's Bogut leads All-America voting

Louis Cypher · 03-23-2005, 04:19 AM

Tuesday March 22, 2005 5:09PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Andrew Bogut was just another international player when the college basketball season started, not even meriting an honorable mention in the preseason All-America balloting.

All that has changed now for the 7-foot sophomore from Australia. The Utah center was the leading vote-getter on The Associated Press' All-America team announced Tuesday.

Bogut, who averaged 20.4 points and was second in the country in rebounding at 12.4, was joined on the first team by senior forwards Wayne Simien of Kansas and Hakim Warrick of Syracuse, junior guard J.J. Redick of Duke and sophomore guard Chris Paul of Wake Forest.

The voting was done on a 5-3-1 basis by the same 72-member national media panel that selects the Top 25 each week. The balloting was conducted before the NCAA tournament began.

Bogut received 60 first-team votes and 330 points, 22 more than Redick, who had 53 first-team votes.

Simien and Paul each had 289 points with Simien getting 45 first-team votes, one more than Paul. Warrick also had 44 first-team votes and got 283 points.

Bogut was the only member of the first team not to have received any recognition after last season. In fact, he was the only one of the five not to have been at least an honorable mention selection in the preseason All-America balloting. Now Bogut is considered a sure lottery pick, and the possible top pick, if he decides to declare for the NBA draft.

"The thing that impresses me the most about Andrew is his ability to get better as the year went along," first-year Utah coach Ray Giacoletti said. "I've never seen a guy his size with the versatility he has and the will to win he has."

Bogut showed off his passing skills with a season-high seven assists in the Utes' second-round win over Oklahoma last Saturday, a game in which he has a season-low 10 points on just seven shots. That led the Utes into the round of 16 for the first time since their 1998 run to the national championship game.

"We were just trying to have a successful year and do our best," said Bogut, Utah's first All-America since Andre Miller in 1999. "It just all came together these last couple of weeks."

Redick is one of the best shooters in the game from long range _ 40.5 percent on 3-pointers -- and the free throw line -- 93.7 percent. The 6-4 Redick averaged 22.1 points and played 37.3 minutes per game for the short-handed Blue Devils, who won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament for the sixth time in seven years and are in the round of 16 for the eighth straight year.

"J.J. has become a complete player," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Everyone watches his shooting ability. He's found different ways to score; he's become our best off-the-ball perimeter defender; he's handled the ball; he's become a leader for us."

Redick is the first Duke All-America since Jason Williams was selected in 2001 and 2002.

The other three All-Americas all were eliminated from the NCAA tournament on the opening weekend.

The 6-0 Paul had one of the most impressive stat lines in college basketball. He averaged 15.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 2.4 steals and shot 47.4 percent on 3s and 83.4 percent from the free throw line.

He was the leading vote-getter on the AP's preseason All-America team and he's Wake Forest's first postseason selection since Tim Duncan repeated in 1997.

"I just love the way he commands a game," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "He's not without flaws, but I wouldn't trade him for any point guard in the country."

The 6-9 Simien had an outstanding career despite what seemed like constant injuries. He missed 28 games over his first three years with various injuries and he missed four games this season after having surgery on his left thumb. Still, he averaged 20.3 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 81.6 percent at the free throw line to become the Jayhawks' first All-America since Nick Collison in 2003.

"He had the best year of any player I have ever coached," Kansas' Bill Self said. "It's amazing the adversity he has been through but he remains so positive. His play is a direct reflection of his attitude."

The 6-8 Warrick, one of the key players in Syracuse's 2003 national championship run, averaged 21.4 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting 54.8 percent from the field, a stat augmented by his spectacular dunking ability.

"It's a special honor especially since no Syracuse player has done it since Billy Owens in 1991 and there have so many great players here the last few years like Carmelo (Anthony)," Warrick said.

Orange coach Jim Boeheim said: "Hak was spectacular. The dunks he made just demoralized people. He took over games and we struggled to score except for him."

The second team had Illinois guards Dee Brown and Luther Head, Sean May of North Carolina, Salim Stoudamire of Arizona and Ike Diogu of Arizona State.

The third team was Deron Williams of Illinois, Shelden Williams of Duke, Nate Robinson of Washington, Raymond Felton of North Carolina and Joey Graham of Oklahoma State.

Two first-team selections from last season -- seniors Lawrence Roberts of Mississippi State and Ryan Gomes of Providence -- were honorable mentions this season.

In addition to Roberts and Gomes, last season's first team included Jameer Nelson of Saint Joseph's, Emeka Okafor of Connecticut and Josh Childress of Stanford.

TTinCO · 03-23-2005, 04:30 AM

NBA BUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bank on it

Bitter Bruin · 03-23-2005, 04:40 AM

Jimmy Dykes is stuffing the ballot box...

chris@thegreek · 03-23-2005, 10:27 AM

No Sean May gets nothing and would kill Bogut if they played

victorygallop · 03-23-2005, 11:13 AM

may is on the 2nd team all america.

chris@thegreek · 03-23-2005, 12:24 PM

May should be 1st team, played vs better teams all season

BuzzRavanaugh · 03-23-2005, 02:29 PM

Chris Paul is good but I don't get the infatuation everyone has with him. He was money in the overtime against W. Virginia but committs stupid fouls to go out of the game. I have thought that Gray was the better guard on that team anyway.

Raymond Felton and Nate Roberson belong on the first team. I think Felton has made May a great post player, he gets it to him in perfect position.

Ike Diougu would have been there but he faces junk defenses non stop.

If Shelden Williams played for Stanford or Oklahoma he would be a nobody.

chris@thegreek · 03-23-2005, 02:32 PM

Williams lives by Duke Rep only, May has killed him twice so far

if Marvin Williams played for Duke, Dickie Duke V have him 1st team NBA right now

brett · 03-23-2005, 03:22 PM

I'm not sure how Bogut will be as a pro. He is still young and will develop more and more. But he is definitely a first team All-American. If you couldn't see the value that he brought to the table against Oklahoma, you know very little about basketball. He didn't score much, but he was a great passing option in the high post against the Sooners pressure defense. He makes all the role players around him so much better. He has put that team on his back and I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps carrying them.

BuzzRavanaugh · 03-23-2005, 03:37 PM

Dee Brown got the Player of the Year from The Sporting News. WOW!!!

chris@thegreek · 03-23-2005, 04:17 PM

Wow, he can't shoot a lick

Hoops · 03-24-2005, 12:50 AM

I like how so many people here dogged Bogut's performance against Oklahoma. How about looking at the boxscore? He only had 10 points, but he only took 7 attempts from the field. Ten boards, seven assists, two blocks...are you kidding me...played great. He's a legit seven-footer who isn't too thin, isn't too fat, has good basketball instincts, is effective in the intererior and on the perimeter. At the very least, should be a 15ppg, 10rpg guy in the NBA.

AnotherBadBeat · 03-24-2005, 12:54 AM

If your gonna bring up the Boxscore ,you might want to add in his 5 turnovers .....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

abb

BuzzRavanaugh · 03-24-2005, 01:01 AM

No matter what it is tough to teach 7 feet. The NBA will take almost any stiff in the world if he is 7 feet.

BTW Boguts game against Oklahoma may be one of the best performances in the tournament. He was awesome keying the offense from the high post.

Handyman · 03-24-2005, 01:01 AM

Bogut = Valde Divac minus the 2 packs of cigarette a day [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

George D · 03-24-2005, 01:29 AM

Brett-He is a great passer. After that, his skills are average. Defense sucks.

AnotherBadBeat · 03-24-2005, 01:36 AM

Great passer true , On the year he averaged 2.2 assists per game ( and 2.7 Turnovers )

Also for FYI , that 7 assists everyone is ranting and raving about was a career high .... If he's "Such a great" passer , you would think he would have at least 7 one other time in 67 career games ..... his previous best .... was 5.

abb

shoebox · 03-24-2005, 02:07 AM

I was one of the people that dogged Boguts performance vs Oklahoma, but that was a direct repsonse to Railbirds ridiculous post. Bogut had a nice game for a good player vs Okla but he didnt show me he was the best player in college hoops or the #1 player overall!! Lebron and Dwight Howard(Past 2 #1 overall picks) would have had 45 pts and 15 rebounds at the same stage in thier careers!

BuzzRavanaugh · 03-24-2005, 02:28 AM

I think Bogut is a nice player and will be okay in the pros.

I think he can pass very well, if the defense gives him the opportunity he scores very well, I think he is a decent defender, he is a decent rebounder. He has the ability to do everything and kind of takes advantages of match ups. I think he is very well coached.

Not many college players can do all these aspects like Bogut can. Most are good scorers and bad free throw shooters, or terrible defenders.

I bet Bogut is more like 24 years old as well.