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The 247Sports 2023-24 college basketball preseason All-Americans – 247Sports
The college basketball talent cycle isn’t a long one as players often jetting off for the NBA after one stellar season. But with the transfer portal and the proliferation of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money, college hoops has become a stable home for players who can excel at this level but don’t thrill NBA scouts to the same extent. Players like the reigning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey.
With that transition of talent in mind, five 247Sports experts named their All-American teams — three teams of five players apiece. 247Sports used those votes to hammer down its All-American teams. Remarkably, only one player was picked as a First-Team All-American on all five ballots (though a second player received four First-Team All-American votes and one Second-Team vote). That could be a sign of a wild college basketball season to come, with the next generation of stars champing at the bit to join a smaller group of established returning standouts.
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Here’s a look at 247Sports’ preseason All-American teams for the 2023-24 season.
How many legitimate All-American candidates are there this year? The reigning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey, was the only player to collect First-Team All-American votes on all five ballots. At 7-foot-4 and 285 pounds, Edey is a walking matchup problem who averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, shooting 60.7% from the floor and 73.4% from the free throw line. Edey got an incredible 439 post-up possessions last year, according to Synergy, and he ranked in the 83rd percentile in points per possession on those possessions.
Hunter Dickinson was a first-team pick on four ballots and a second-team pick on another. The lone first-year transfer on the first team, Dickinson was a Second-Team All-American pick at Michigan as a freshman. He then averaged 18.5 points per game over his sophomore and junior seasons. He’s heading to an ideal situation. Not only is Kansas likely to be the preseason No. 1 team, but coach Bill Self also thrives on feeding the post. He should allow Dickinson to tap into his improved outside shot as well (42.1% last year).
Armando Bacot appeared on all five ballots as well, though he wasn’t a first-team pick on all of them. A two-time runner-up for ACC Player of the Year, Bacot could see his production increase this year with less competition for touches. He was a driving force behind the Tar Heels reaching the national championship game two years ago, averaging 16.3 points, 13.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He then saw those numbers dip slightly last year with 15.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. Bacot and RJ Davis could be among the nation’s most dynamic duos.
Ryan Kalkbrenner is a bit of a different kind of big man than the others on the first team because he offers more of a defensive impact. Offensively, he’s a terrifically efficient player, scoring 15.9 points per game despite taking under 10 field goal attempts per game and shooting 72% on his 2-point attempts. Defensively, Kalkbrenner has blocked 3.2 shots per 40 minutes for his career, providing a backbone on both ends of the court for a Bluejays team that returns three starters from a team that finished a bucket away from the Final Four.
College basketball’s most accomplished guard from an All-American standpoint, Tyler Kolek led Marquette to the Big East regular season and tournament titles — earning Big East Player of the Year honors in the process. A breakout star who averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 assists in his first year at Marquette after transferring in from George Mason, Kolek’s offensive game took a major leap forward as he averaged 12.9 points, 7.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting career bests from the floor (47.1%) and behind the 3-point line (39.8%). He’ll be the star point guard and star player of a Marquette team that looks like a top five squad.
Terrence Shannon appeared on every ballot thanks to a terrific restart at Illinois after transferring from Texas Tech. Shannon battled some nagging injuries during his final season with the Red Raiders but certainly looked healthy a year ago, setting career highs in points (17.2), rebounds (4.6), assists (2.8) and steals (1.3) per game. If he can become a bit less streaky from distance and continue to show his bonafides on defense, then he could be college basketball’s best true wing and a reason why Illinois is a sneaky tough team.
A five-star player in the 2022 class, Tyrese Proctor arrived at Duke as the No. 3 point guard in his class and the No. 23 overall player in 247Sports’ rankings. And while it took a young Jon Scheyer squad some time to truly mesh, Proctor showed a versatile skill set that could see him break out as one of college basketball’s best guards. He averaged 9.4 points and 3.3 assists per game as a freshman, though he upped that to 11.2 points and 4.2 assists pr game while shooting 39.5% from 3 and 87% from the free throw line over Duke’s final nine games.
Proctor’s five-star Duke teammate was actually the third highest ranked freshman in his own Blue Devil class — even as the No. 4 overall player in the class nationally. He wound up being the best of the Blue Devils’ freshmen, putting up 15.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.0 stocks (steals+blocks) per game. At 7-foot, Kyle Filipowski played more of a stretch four a year ago but he looks to be more in line for time at center this year. And while he took almost five 3-pointers per 40 minutes, he shot just 28.2% from deep. Becoming even an average outside shooter could serve to truly open up the floor for the Blue Devils.
There’s no better scorer returning to college basketball than Max Abmas. And now he’s taking that scoring to a bigger stage after transferring from Oral Roberts to Texas. Abmas took Oral Roberts to the NCAA Tournament twice in the last three years. This included a Sweet 16 trip in his sophomore season when he led the nation in scoring at 24.5 points per game. He followed that up with 22.8 and 21.9 points per game averages before deciding to use his extra season of eligibility to transfer. Abmas is a career 39% 3-point shooter and 88% free throw shooter and he’s already made an incredible 420 3-pointers in college. With his range and quickness, look for him to create tremendous gravity for Texas. Although he isn’t likely to approach 21 points per game again, he could see an uptick in assists from last year’s 4.0 per game.
247Sports voters are high on Justin Moore returning at full speed from the Achilles injury that ended his junior season just shy of the Final Four and limited him to 13 games last year as a senior. Moore was good when he came back, averaging 13.5 points and a career-best 3.2 assists per game. But if he can score from inside the 3-point line like he did as a sophomore and outside it the way he did as a junior, then there’s another level he can still hit as an efficient fulcrum of a potential bounce-back season for Villanova. Moore has averaged between 11.3 points and 14.8 points per game in his four-year career so far. It’s time for him to push those numbers up and truly become one of the nation’s best players.
Donovan Clingan appeared on four ballots with two Second-Team selections and two Third-Team picks. he’s also a popular pick as a breakout candidate after absolutely wrecking shop as the backup to Adama Sanogo a year ago. In Clingan’s per-40-minute numbers as a freshman, he averaged 21.1 points, 17.1 rebounds, 5.5 blocks and 1.3 steals while shooting 65.5% from the floor. The offense isn’t likely to be at that level when he’s asked to take on more touches a game (and his free throw shooting does carry some worry there at 51.7%). But the reason Clingan is an All-American candidate is the upgrade he could provide the Huskies on defense where he could be an absolute force.
Those who voted for Trey Alexander saw him ahead of this level (he appeared on three of the five ballots with each of them naming him a Second-Team selection). Alexander showed off his scoring game as a sophomore, average 13.6 points a game, shooting 41% from 3 and 82.4% from the free throw line. But with Ryan Nembhard off to Gonzaga, Alexander could see a boost in his chances to create as a junior after averaging just 2.6 assists per game last year. Utah State transfer Steven Ashworth is technically the point guard replacement, but Ashworth is more of an elite-level shooter. He could thrive with Alexander getting him clean catch-and-shoot looks.
The tough thing about voting for Tyson Walker isn’t a knock on him, but rather a commentary on the state of the Michigan State backcourt. And that knock is that there’s a chance either AJ Hoggard or Jaden Akins actually becomes the Spartans’ biggest backcourt threat. Walker has made 43.5% of his 3-pointers and 80.3% of his free throws in his Michigan State career. And after averaging 4.3 assists per game in his first Spartan season, he became more of a scorer and closer last year, putting up 14.8 points per contest. This includes 15.4 points per game in Big Ten play when he made 48.7% of his outside shots.
The Aggies finished second to Alabama both in the SEC regular season and tournament and is bringing back four starters from that squad. Chief among those returnees is Wade Taylor, who jumped from starting 14 games and averaging 8.2 points per game as a freshman to 16.3 points and 3.9 assists as a sophomore last year. That included an improvement in his shooting numbers, with Taylor making 79 3-pointers at a 35.6% rate and knocking down 87.8 of his free throws. A First-Team All-SEC pick, Taylor could make a run at more national honors this year.
A 6-foot-5 point guard, Isaiah Collier is the highest-ranked player heading to play college basketball as the No. 1 point guard and No. 2 overall player in 247Sports’ rankings (the No. 1 overall player, Ron Holland, decided to play for G League Ignite). Collier is the kind of player fans have seen hit the ground running as he’s a wonderful passer who can get the most out of his teammates, and he’s physically developed enough to get to where he wants on the court from the word “go.” Add in that Collier is surrounded by the kind of teammates who could take well to his skill set, and both Collier could be in for a big season.
Tucker DeVries, Drake Bulldogs; Nijel Pack, Miami Hurricanes — 3 points.*
Oumar Ballo, Arizona Wildcats; Bryce Hopkins, Providence Friars; Johni Broome, Auburn Tigers; Boogie Ellis, USC Trojans; Wooga Poplar, Miami Hurricanes — 2 points.
Dajuan Harris, Kansas Jayhawks; Mark Mitchell, Duke Blue Devils; Grant Nelson, Alabama Crimson Tide; Johnell Davis, Florida Atlantic Owls; Tylor Perry, Kansas State Wildcats; Jalen Bridges, Baylor Bears; Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga Bulldogs; Boo Buie, Northwestern Wildcats; Norchad Omier, Miami Hurricanes — 1 points.
*Walker, Taylor and Collier were picked ahead of DeVries and Pack because they made more ballots, despite landing the same number of points.
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