Marcus Smart named AP All-American

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Marcus Smart was named second-team AP All-American on Monday night. Here’s the full second team:

Marcus Smart – Oklahoma State
Ben McLemore – Kansas
Cody Zeller – Indiana
Shane Larkin – The U
Mason Plumlee – Duke

To me, only seven postseason awards matter — Big 12 POY (AP + Coaches), Big 12 first team (AP + Coaches), AP All-Americans, and Naismith POY.

So far, Smart was Big 12 POY for both, Big 12 first team for both, and now an AP All-American.

It’s fair that he wasn’t first team too, here’s that crew:

Victor Oladipo – Indiana
Kelly Olynyk – Gonzaga
Trey Burke – Michigan
Doug McDermott – Creighton
Otto Porter Jr. – Georgetown

I guess you could argue Smart over Porter or maybe Oladipo but I’m pretty good with him being second team. This USA Today article says Smart got 11 first team votes (out of 65) which means he was probably the sixth man on the first team.

That article also says voting was done before the Tournament started which is both 1.) good for Smart and 2.) really dumb, in my opinion. Sure, we’ll determine the best players in the country before the pinnacle of your sport plays itself on the national stage. No worries.

Third team was also pretty good:

Jeff Withey – Kansas
Erick Green – Virginia Tech
Nate Wolters – SDSU
Russ Smith – Louisville
DeShaun Thomas – Ohio State

Here’s a list of OSU’s AP All-Americans in the Sutton Ford era — Smart is just the third second-teamer or better:

Joe Adkins (honorable mention)
Tony Allen (honorable mention?!)
James Anderson (2nd team)
Joey Graham (3rd team)
Byron Houston (2nd team, 2x honorable mention)
John Lucas (3rd team)
Desmond Mason (honorable mention)
Bryant Reeves (3rd team)