All-NCAA tournament team
A memorable NCAA tournament deserves a three-deep All-Tournament team.
Here is ours:
| FIRST TEAM | |
| F Gordon Hayward, Butler | |
| The buzz: Hayward actually headed into the tournament in a little bit of a shooting slump, but he broke out of it in a big way by the time Butler reached the West Region semifinals. Hayward scored 17 points in an upset of top-seeded Syracuse, tallied 22 points against Kansas State and compiled 19 points against Michigan. He was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer (15.8) and rebounder (7.0) in the tournament. |  |
| F Kyle Singler, Duke | |
| The buzz: Singler was the difference in the national championship game. He collected 19 points and nine rebounds in a 61-59 victory over Butler. Although he scored just five points and failed to make a basket against Baylor, Singler produced at least 19 points in Duke’s other five tournament games. He averaged 18.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the tournament. |  |
| G Jacob Pullen, Kansas State | |
| The buzz: Pullen followed up a 34-point performance in a second-round victory over BYU by pouring in 28 points as Kansas State won a double-overtime classic against Xavier in the West Regional semifinal. Pullen averaged 22.8 points in four tournament games. He also got it done on the other end of the floor; his average of 3.5 steals per game led all players who advanced beyond the first round. |  |
| G Nolan Smith, Duke | |
| The buzz: Smith averaged 17.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds in six tournament games to help Duke win the national championship. When Singler was held without a basket in a South Region final victory over Baylor, Smith picked up the slack by scoring 29 points. He also scored 20 points to help Duke recover from a first-half cold spell in a regional semifinal triumph over Purdue. |  |
| G Durrell Summers, Michigan State | |
| The buzz: After starting point guard Kalin Lucas ruptured his Achilles tendon in a second-round victory over Maryland, Summers picked up the scoring slack and carried the Spartans to the Final Four. Summers averaged 18.8 points per game – 7.5 points above his season average – to help Michigan State win the Midwest Region. He scored 21 points and shot 8-for-10 from the floor as the Spartans edged Tennessee 70-69 in the regional championship. |  |
| SECOND TEAM | |
| C Omar Samhan, Saint Mary’s | |
| The buzz: Samhan was one of the tournament’s most outgoing personalities, and he also was one of its best players. He averaged 25.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in three tournament games, and he scored 32 points in a second-round upset of Villanova. He also had five blocks and shot 63.3 percent from the floor. |  |
| F Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia | |
| The buzz: His season ended with a torn ACL in the Final Four, but Butler averaged 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals in five tournament games. He hit four 3-pointers in the upset of top-seeded Kentucky in the East Regional final. |  |
| F Wesley Johnson, Syracuse | |
| The buzz: Johnson averaged 22 points and 9.7 rebounds in three tournament games. He had 31 points and 14 rebounds in the second-round win over Gonzaga. |  |
| G Jordan Crawford, Xavier | |
| The buzz: Crawford averaged 29.0 points and 4.7 rebounds as Xavier reached the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season. He hit 12 3-pointers in the tourney. |  |
| G LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor | |
| The buzz: Dunn averaged 21.0 points and 5.0 rebounds to lead Baylor to the South Region final. He shot 51.9 percent and had seven steals in leading the Bears to the Elite Eight. |  |
| THIRD TEAM | |
| C Brian Zoubek, Duke | |
| The buzz: Forget his lack of offense (44 points in six games); he was a difference-maker for the Blue Devils on the boards and defensively. He averaged 10.0 rebounds per game during the tournament, and 27 of his 60 total rebounds came on the offensive end. His sheer size (7-1/260) made him a defensive impediment as well. Zoubek, a senior, played a career-high 31 minutes in the final, and he was a big reason Butler shot barely 34 percent from the field. |  |
| F JaJuan Johnson, Purdue | |
| The buzz: Johnson had two of his best offensive games of the season in the tourney, scoring 23 points against Siena and against Duke. He also had 11 points in a second-round victory over Texas A&M, and finished the tournament with 23 rebounds, 10 blocks and five steals. |  |
| G Louis Dale, Cornell | |
| The buzz: Dale, a senior, was one of three impressive point guards from the Birmingham, Ala., area in the tournament – joining Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe and Butler’s Ronald Nored. Dale scored 65 points in the Big Red’s three games, including a 26-point performance in a rout of Wisconsin in the second round. Dale added 12 assists and shot 51.1 percent against three solid defenses (Temple, Wisconsin and Kentucky). |  |
| G Shelvin Mack, Butler | |
| The buzz: If you didn’t know about Mack before the tournament, you surely do now. He is a gifted player who could play for anybody. He averaged 15.4 points, including a high game of 25 in the first round against UTEP, and hit 17 3-pointers. He also had 29 rebounds and 17 assists. |  |
| G Jon Scheyer, Duke | |
| The buzz: Scheyer finished his Duke career by averaging 16.0 points – and hitting 16 3-pointers – during the Blue Devils’ run to the national title. He hit five 3-pointers in a game twice in the tournament – against Baylor in the South Regional final and against West Virginia in a national semifinal. He also had 24 assists and just seven turnovers in the tourney. |  |
