Here’s an evergreen question worth repeating today: What do we know anyway? When The Athletic college basketball staff picked preseason All-Americans three months ago, we did not include Purdue’s Zach Edey or Kansas’ Jalen Wilson on the first or second team — although at least they were among several others receiving votes. We can’t say the same for Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell or Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis. And nobody saw Alabama’s Brandon Miller coming.
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But, hey, that’s why they play the games. And now that a bunch have been played, as we’re right at the halfway point if you consider the season 40 games, it’s time for some revisions to our list. Reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, who received 15 of 15 first-team votes from us in the preseason and is averaging 16.6 points and 13.9 rebounds, got only two votes this time. Tshiebwe was bothered by a knee issue early, but he could certainly play his way back into All-America status now that he’s rounding back into form and Kentucky is finally out of its funk.
For now, our list is heavy on guys who are the driving force behind elite (or overachieving) teams. In order of most to least votes received, The Athletic’s 2022-23 midseason All-Americans:
First team
C: Zach Edey, Purdue
Stats: 21.5 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.5 assists, 61.4 FG%, 74.4 FT%
In the last 30 years, only two other major-conference players (Blake Griffin and Kurt Thomas) have averaged at least 21 points and 13 rebounds. It’s little wonder Edey is running away with the national player of the year race and was the only guy to get 12 of 12 first-team votes in our midseason poll. He looks like a video game create-a-player at an astonishing 7-foot-4, 295 pounds — and he’s putting up PlayStation stats too. Among major-conference players, he ranks No. 1 in scoring and No. 2 (behind Tshiebwe) in rebounding. He leads the nation in player efficiency rating, win shares and offensive boxscore plus/minus.
There have already been plenty of “Heisman” moments: 32 and 17 at Michigan State, 31 and 22 against Minnesota, 21 and 12 against Duke, 23 and seven against Gonzaga. He already has 10 games of at least 20 and 10; Tshiebwe had 11 such games last season. If you double-team him, he’ll pass out to the open shooter, as he did to beat Ohio State. If you single-cover him, he’ll score right over whatever (relatively) tiny human tries to stop him, as he did to beat Michigan State. Edey is the primary reason the Boilermakers are 19-1, ranked No. 1 and dreaming of the program’s first Final Four since 1980.
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F: Jalen Wilson, Kansas
Stats: 21.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 42.7 FG%, 34.1 3P%, 77.9 FT%
Here’s another one we probably should’ve seen coming. Like Edey, Wilson has been on a steady climb and he plays for a developmental wizard in Bill Self. Still, the fourth-year junior has nearly doubled his scoring output from last season, when he was a very good player but the third or fourth option on a national championship team. Wilson has taken the baton from Ochai Agbaji and become KU’s latest slow-cooked superstar.
He was a near-unanimous first-team selection (11 of 12 ballots) for us after his recent heater: 38 and nine against Kansas State, then 30 and seven against TCU in consecutive games. The only problem is those were both losses. The Jayhawks lack a true center to take some of the load off Wilson, but he’s shouldered that weight pretty well. Wilson is great at ripping and running off a defensive rebound to put pressure on opponents — and stuff stat sheets. He had 29 and 14 in an OT win over Wisconsin, 25 and 11 in a win over Duke, 24 and 10 in a rout at Missouri. He has eight double-doubles, 11 20-point games and ranks No. 2 (behind Edey) in Ken Pomeroy’s player of the year rankings.
F: Brandon Miller, Alabama
Stats: 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 46.1 FG%, 45.7 3P%, 82.8 FT%
It seems odd to say a five-star recruit came out of nowhere, but Miller kind of did. He was never considered this guy in high school. Really good, yes. The best freshman in America and arguably the best player under 7-foot-4? No. But here we are. In the last 30 years, the list of freshmen who averaged 19 and eight in a major conference is quite distinguished: Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Carmelo Anthony, Zion Williamson, Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Jabari Parker, Ben Simmons, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Joe Smith, Kris Humphries and Troy Murphy. All of them were lottery picks, 10 of them were top-three picks and four of them went No. 1.
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Oh, and if you want the list of freshmen who averaged 19 and 8 and shot better than 40 percent from 3: Durant. That’s it. So yeah, Miller was on every one of our ballots, earning 10 of 12 first-team nods. He leads all freshmen nationally in scoring (by a lot) and he’s a smooth killer, a 6-9 wing who has already made 63 3-pointers for No. 2 Alabama. He had 24 and nine against Michigan State, 18 and nine against UConn, 24 and eight against Memphis, 36 and six against Gonzaga, torched Kentucky in the second half of that rout and posted back-to-back 30-point games (hitting 11 of 20 3s) against LSU and Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide have a lot of nice pieces, but Miller is Nate Oats’ nuclear weapon.
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G: Marcus Sasser, Houston
Stats: 16.7 points, 3.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 42.1 FG%, 36.5 3P%, 81.1 FT%
His counting stats really don’t jump off the page, but Sasser makes No. 3 Houston go. After playing only 12 games last season because of a foot injury, he got off to a bit of a slow start this year as he adjusted to an uptick in defensive attention. Opponents made it their mission to stop him, and some were successful. But Sasser remains one of the best shooters off the bounce in college basketball and is a terrific defender on a team ranked No. 2 nationally in defensive efficiency. He started for a Final Four team two years ago and is hell-bent on getting the Cougars back there (in their own city) this year.
Data scientist Evan Miyakawa’s Bayesian Performance Rating — a measure of a player’s overall value to his team when he’s on the court — has Sasser No. 3 nationally among guys with at least 200 possessions played. He’s right behind Edey and Arizona star Azuolas Tubelis, just ahead of Tshiebwe, Miller and UCLA star Jaime Jaquez Jr. Sasser ranks fourth nationally in win shares (4.4), second among high-major players, and 10th in defensive BPR. He had 16 points and five steals in a win at Cincinnati, 16 points and three steals in a win at Oregon, and he’s heating up offensively. In consecutive wins over South Florida and Tulane, Sasser hit 13 3-pointers and scored 54 total points.
F: Drew Timme, Gonzaga
Stats: 22.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 61.3 FG%, 11.1 3P%
He’s carrying the Bulldogs, playing more minutes, taking more shots, scoring more, rebounding more and assisting more than ever before in his brilliant career. Timme is well on his way to becoming a three-time All-American as he carries a supporting cast that is clearly down by recent Gonzaga standards. He’s been pretty successful so far. In the team’s four biggest wins — Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan State and Xavier — Timme averaged 22.3 points, nine rebounds and 4.8 assists. He was on another level (29, 10 and four) in that surprising upset of the Crimson Tide. And when he plays a bad team? Look out. He dropped 38 points on 74 percent shooting in his last outing against Pacific.
He leads the nation in made 2-point field goals (just 2 of 18 from 3 explains why he’s not in the NBA) and ranks fifth in scoring and free-throw attempts. He’s a machine at getting to the line. There is little doubt that Timme will leave Spokane a legend, as he’s just 16 away from 2,000 career points and fast approaching No. 1 on the school’s all-time scoring list. Here’s hoping the mustache has one last NCAA Tournament run in it.
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Second Team
F: Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona
Stats: 19.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals, 55.8 FG%, 45.0 3P%, 77.2 FT%
Like so many names on this list, Tubelis is a terrific example of player development — a Lithuanian import who has improved steadily over three years at Arizona and has blossomed into a bona fide star this season. There aren’t many Brandon Millers out there. College basketball is no longer ruled by the one-and-done. Savvy veterans abound. Tubelis, playing alongside twin tower Oumar Ballo, leads the Pac-12 in both points and rebounds (and win shares and offensive plus/minus). He has 11 20-point games and eight double-doubles, including in back-to-back wins over USC and UCLA. The latter snapped a 14-game winning streak for the Bruins and got Tubelis and the Wildcats back into the AP top 10. Tubelis is the team’s safety net, the when-all-else-fails option who reliably delivers. He’s flirting with a 20-and-10 average, which only two Pac-12 players (Deandre Ayton and Leon Powe) have done in the last 30 years.
G: Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA
Stats: 16.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.8 steals, 48.9 FG%, 29.5 3P%, 69.6 FT%
There is no question the Bruins are his team now. He’s started 109 games for UCLA, but his usage and productivity are up (by a wide margin) across the board. Jaquez, a terrific scorer on the wing, also does a little bit of everything, everywhere. Put another way, he does anything it takes to win. See his 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals in a win over Kentucky. Or 12 boards and six assists on a night he scored just eight points in a win over Utah. Or the 23 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and four steals in a recent win over Colorado. Jaquez can take over almost any game, on either end of the floor, via whatever angle is available to him. A guy like that, just two years removed from being a catalyst for a Final Four run, might be as valuable as anyone in the sport.
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G: Markquis Nowell, Kansas State
Stats: 17.1 points, 8.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 steals, 40.7 FG%, 38.5 3P%, 87.9 FT%
He didn’t take us completely by surprise as an All-Sun Belt selection at Little Rock and a Big 12 All-Defense pick last season at K-State, but Nowell has taken off like a rocket in first-year coach Jerome Tang’s system. And the 5-7 point guard has made the Wildcats fly too. He got our attention with 29 points and 11 assists against Nevada, then put the whole nation on notice with a breathtaking three-game stretch: 23, 10 and seven steals against West Virginia; 36 points, nine assists, three steals at Texas; 32 points and 14 assists at Baylor. All wins. Nowell has seven 20-point games, six double-digit assist games and nine games with three-plus steals. He leads all high-major players nationally with a ridiculous 43.4 assist percentage and, more importantly, has a reborn Kansas State tied for first place in the Big 12.
G: Mike Miles Jr., TCU
Stats: 19.1 points, 3.2 assists, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 53.2 FG%, 31.3 3P%, 73.1 FT%
A driving force behind the Horned Frogs’ return to the NCAA Tournament last season, Miles has been even better this season. From Big 12 All-Freshman to second team All-Big 12 as a sophomore to … All-American? Quite possibly. He’s an attacking guard who puts defenses on their heels and draws a ton of free throws — Miles leads the Big 12 with seven per game. He’s a guy capable of scoring 30 or dishing a dozen assists, depending on the matchup. He had 33 points and one turnover in a win at Baylor, then 13 points and 11 dimes with only one turnover in a win over Kansas State, then 15 points, four boards and four assists in a rare blowout win at Kansas. Miles is the engine driving one of the most intriguing teams in college basketball this season.
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F: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
Stats: 19.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.1 blocks, 59.9 FG%, 71.6 FT%
TJD has been really good for a long time, and we’ve probably never appreciated him quite enough. He has started 110 of 110 games played at Indiana and will likely finish his career with more than 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 250 blocks and 200 assists. The only high-major player in the last 30 years to do that is Tim Duncan. Likewise, the only player in the last 30 years to have a season like Jackson-Davis is now (average at least 19 points, 10 boards, three blocks and three steals) was Duncan when he was consensus national player of the year in 1997. During a three-game winning streak against Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State that has saved the Hoosiers’ season, TJD averaged 28 points, 12 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.3 blocks. He had 21, 10, four and four in a win over North Carolina and scored 30 in a win at Xavier. Jackson-Davis is doing his damnedest to drag Indiana into the NCAA Tournament, which wouldn’t be quite as fun without him in it.
Others receiving votes: Armando Bacot, North Carolina (five ballots), Souley Boum, Xavier (four), Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky (two), Keyontae Johnson, Kansas State (two), Jalen Pickett, Penn State (two); Jaylen Clark, UCLA; Adama Sanogo, UConn; Kendric Davis, Memphis; Kris Murray, Iowa; Tyler Kolek, Marquette; Reece Beekman, Virginia
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Ed Zurga, Justin Casterline and Michael Hickey / Getty Images)