UNC Basketball: Joel Berry II named NBC Sports preseason All-American

Tar Heels senior point guard named to preseason All-American team

NBC Sports released its 2017-18 Preseason All-American teams on Tuesday, and among the honorees is North Carolina senior point guard Joel Berry II.

In the first list released by a major publication this year, Berry was named preseason third team All-American.

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Joining Berry on the third team is Miami guard Bruce Brown, Texas A&M sophomore Robert Williams, Arizona freshman big man DeAndre Ayton, and 247Sports‘ No. 1 high school prospect Marvin Bagley III.

Berry, who is the reigning Final Four Most Outstanding Player, should be the focal point of a Tar Heels team that lost much of the nucleus responsible for the school’s national championship victory in April.

As a junior, Berry averaged 14.7 points, 3.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game. He shot better than 38 percent from three-point range and connected on 77.4 percent of his free throw attempts.

NBC Sports’ Rob Dauster had this to say of Berry:

"“The reigning Final Four Most Outstanding Player, Berry is the star leftover after Justin Jackson and Tony Bradley headed off to the NBA. We judge point guards on wins, and Berry’s led the Tar Heels to a 66-14 record the last two seasons which included a national title, a final-second loss in the national title game, two outright ACC regular season titles and an ACC tournament title. He’ll be asked to carry much more of the load this season.”"

Headlining NBC Sports’ preseason All-Americans are Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham, Duke senior Grayson Allen, Arizona shooting guard Allonzo Trier, Michigan State sophomore big man Miles Bridges, and Missouri freshman phenom Michael Porter, Jr.

The teams were selected by a panel of four writers for College Basketball Talk. Each writer submitted their votes, which were then compiled into four teams and an honorable mention list. The teams were put together simply by tallying the number of overall votes, rather than based on players’ positions.

Each of the four All-American teams and the honorable mention list can be seen below.

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FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICA

DEVONTÉ GRAHAM, Kansas, Sr
GRAYSON ALLEN, Duke, Sr
ALLONZO TRIER, Arizona, Jr
MILES BRIDGES, Michigan State, So
MICHAEL PORTER JR., Missouri, Fr

SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICA

JALEN BRUNSON, Villanova, Jr
TREVON BLUIETT, Xavier, Sr
BONZIE COLSON, Notre Dame, Sr
ETHAN HAPP, Wisconsin, Jr
ANGEL DELGADO, Seton Hall, Sr

THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICA

JOEL BERRY II, North Carolina, Sr
BRUCE BROWN, Miami, So
ROBERT WILLIAMS, Texas A&M, So
DEANDRE AYTON, Arizona, Fr
MARVIN BAGLEY III, Duke, Fr

FOURTH TEAM ALL-AMERICA

COLLIN SEXTON, Alabama, Fr
JEVON CARTER, West Virginia, Sr
CHIMEZIE METU, USC, Jr
JOCK LANDALE, Saint Mary’s, Sr
MO BAMBA, Texas, Fr

HONORABLE MENTION

KEVAUGHN ALLEN, Florida, Jr
MIKE DAUM, South Dakota State, Jr
TYLER DAVIS, Texas A&M, Jr
KEVIN KNOX, Kentucky, Fr
YANTE MATEN, Georgia, Sr
JORDAN MCLAUGHLIN, USC, Sr
LANDRY SHAMET, Wichita State, So
REID TRAVIS, Stanford, Jr

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