Final Four to feature no Sporting News All-America players for first time in 25 years
The 2023 NCAA tournament could go down in history as one of the most deserving of the March Madness moniker.
There was only the second upset of a 1-seed by a 16-seed when Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Purdue in the opening round. Princeton was only the fourth 15 seed to make the Sweet 16. The Elite Eight did not have a 1-seed for the first time in history. FAU with nine starts – one of three teams making their Final Four debut – could be the team with the lowest starting numbers in history to win the national title.
And for the first time since The Sporting News began determining the All-America consensus in 1998, not a single TSN All-American will play in the national semifinals.
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The Sporting News selected 15 players from their first, second and third All-America teams for the 2022-23 season, led by Purdue’s Player of the Year Zach Edey. Of that 15-man group, only third-team players were Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell.
With UConn’s elimination of the Bulldogs and FAU’s elimination of the Wildcats, respectively, all of TSN’s All-America selections were eliminated from the tournament. This is the first time since The Sporting News joined USBWA, Associated Press and NABC 25 years ago to help determine consensus status for All-America.
This is where all of TSN’s All-America players finished their NCAA tournament runs:
TSN All-Americans at the 2023 NCAA Tournament
| team | player | team | round reached |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Zach Edey | Purdue | First round |
| Trayce Jackson Davis | Indiana | Second round | |
| Brandon Miller | Alabama | sweet 16 | |
| Drew Timme | gonzaga | Elite Eight | |
| Jalen Wilson | Kansas | Second round | |
| Second | Jaime Jaquez Jr. | UCLA | sweet 16 |
| Tyler Kolek | Marquette | Second round | |
| Jalen Pickett | Pennsylvania | Second round | |
| Markus Sasser | Houston | sweet 16 | |
| Azuolas Tubelis | Arizona | First round | |
| Third | Armando Bacot | North Carolina | Not in the tournament |
| Kendric Davis | memphis | First round | |
| Chris Murray | Iowa | First round | |
| Markquis Nowell | State of Kansas | Elite Eight | |
| Oscar Tshiebwe | Kentucky | Second round |
MORE: Sporting News 2022-23 college basketball All-Americas team
Of the four remaining teams — Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, Miami and UConn — only UConn’s Adama Sanogo and Miami’s Isaiah Wong received TSN All-America votes. Voters Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton and Marcus Carr of Texas were eliminated in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
Most TSN All-America players in the Final Four
TSN has pitted up to six All-America players against each other in a Final Four. That happened in 2021 when Baylor’s Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell, Gonzaga’s Timme, Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs, and Houston’s Quentin Grimes were all still dancing.
The Sporting News also made a player into the Final Four. This has happened three times: in 2006 (LSU’s Glen Davis), 2010 (Duke’s Jon Scheyer), and 2011 (UConn’s Kemba Walker).
But never before has TSN’s All-America selection been completely absent from the Final Four. Until, of course, this craziest of all NCAA tournaments.
Mike DeCourcy contributed to this report.