The Fantastic Five

So we have finally reached the Final Four. Can you believe there will be a #5 seed in the championship game? I'll talk more about that in my Final Four prediction later this week. For now, I would like to cover the topic of the 2010 AP All-Americans. The list was released yesterday, and the first team consists of Evan Turner, John Wall, Scottie Reynolds, Wes Johnson and DeMarcus Cousins. All five of these players were deserving of the honor, and some of the other notable players to make second and third teams were Sherron Collins of Kansas, Maryland's Greivis Vasquez, Georgetown's Greg Monroe and Damion James of Texas. Of the three All-American teams, just second-teamers Da'Sean Butler and Jon Scheyer are left in the tournament, with each playing on Saturday for a spot in the National Championship game. Here is my evaluation of the first team:

Evan Turner - Ohio State
Turner was the most all-around player in basketball this year, averaging 20.4 PPG, 6 APG and 9.2 RPG. He had 17 double-doubles and two triple doubles as a 6'7" point guard for Thad Matta. Turner is a potential #1 pick in this year's draft, and he's my pick for Naismith Player of the Year. He was the leader for the Buckeyes until they were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

John Wall - Kentucky
I picked Turner for Player of the Year, but don't get me wrong: John Wall is going to be an NBA All Star for years to come. Turner might be too, but we haven't seen a point guard like Wall since Chris Paul, and Paul didn't even have tons of hype coming out of college. Wall led a Kentucky team consisting of three freshman starters to the Elite 8 and averaged 16.6 PPG, 6.5 APG and 1.8 SPG. He even has his own dance with about 100,000 Facebook fans. Enough said.

Scottie Reynolds - Villanova
Reynolds originally put his name in for the 2009 NBA Draft, but eventually returned for his senior year in pursuit of a National Championship after leading Villanova to the 2009 Final Four. Unfortunately, his goal was not reached after Saint Mary's stopped the Wildcats in the second round. Reynolds put up great numbers, averaging 18.2 PPG, 3.3 APG and 1.5 SPG. Villanova started hot but had a rough ending, losing six of their last nine.

Wes Johnson - Syracuse
Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State, led an unexpectedly strong Syracuse team to the Big East regular season crown. Syracuse lost to 2010's Cinderella story, the Butler Bulldogs, in the Sweet 16. Nonetheless, Johnson averaged 22.0 PPG in the tourney. For the year, Johnson put up strong numbers at forward with 16.5 PPG and 8.5 RPG. Johnson is a projected Top 10 pick in this year's NBA Draft (if he chooses to leave school).

DeMarcus Cousins - Kentucky
Kentucky lived up to the expectations this year after they hired John Calipari (at least during the regular season), and Cousins was a big reason why. The 6'11" power forward averaged 15.1 PPG, 9.8 RPG and 1.8 BPG for the year as a great compliment to John Wall. He has a bright future in the NBA: like Johnson, Cousins is projected to be a Top 10 pick if he leaves Kentucky for the draft.