Photo: Regina Rickert
Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com has named Kentucky freshman Julius Randle player of the week. Randle averaged 22.5 points and 15 rebounds a game this week.
Gary says Randle got snubbed in the preseason All-American voting.
I tweeted the following when the AP preseason All-Americans were announced last week:
Kentucky’s Julius Randle got snubbed.
Among the replies was one from somebody defending the writers by insisting that “freshmen are complete unknowns” who “have to prove it.” Such is silly on two levels.
Freshmen are not complete unknowns.
Preseason honors should be projections more than awards for something earned.
The first point is self-explanatory, I think, because if freshmen are “complete unknowns” then how is it that those who cover the sport seriously– in addition to NBA scouts — have seen all of the top freshmen many times? And as for the second point, well, let me ask this: has a preseason Freshman of the Year ever “proved” anything at the Division I level before being named a preseason Freshman of the Year? Of course not. But those honors are still bestowed based on educated guesses. Preseason All-American teams should be handled similarly, and, in truth, they usually are — proof being that freshman Andrew Wiggins was voted an AP preseason All-American before ever playing a game at Kansas.Bottom line, like I said, the AP voters simply missed on Randle.
If you didn’t know it then, you know it now.
Read CBSSports.com Player of the Week: Kentucky’s Julius Randle by clicking here.
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