Backing into a back-to-back; unprecedented parity has leaked into our team of top collegians, led by repeat player of the year Jason Williams - 2002 College All-American Team

Basketball Digest, May, 2002 by Tom Kertes

IF THE DUKE DUO OF SHANE Battier and Jason Williams were "absolute locks" to make BASKETBALL DIGEST's All-America team last year, the door has been pried open by the unprecedented parity the game has enjoyed (suffered from?) this season.

There were no locks on our team, absolute or otherwise. The calls we had to make in just about every case were thisclose, often decided only by tiniest of intangibles.

When you came right down to it, even JW was in some peril. Battier's departure left Duke, and Williams, somewhat naked--all too often, the emperor had no clothes on defense--forcing JW into playing a slightly different game. In which he was still great, but less consistently so. Meanwhile Dan Dickau--playing his "next John Stockton" role to the hilt at Gonzaga--was clipping at his heels.

Such insidious evenness often causes upsets, of course. Which is what happened at the 2-guard spot where Marquette's Dwayne Wade--a mere redshirt sophomore of overwhelming obscurity--left the other, far better-known, shooters in the dust by propelling the otherwise mundane Golden Eagles to greatness pretty much all by himself.

Center was another cranially painful choice, given Chris Marcus' serious foot injury. Still, once he came back, the 7'1" senior was so superior to the rest of the (not so) big men, he actually ended up coming the closest of any player to being an All-America lock.

Even closer than Kansas' Drew Gooden, our selection at power forward and Williams' closest competition for Player of the Year. Yes, Gooden was dynamite--but USC's Sam Clancy was nearly as explosive.

The small forward choice was the most troublesome of all; preseason fave Kareem Rush nearly fell off the radar screen with his intermittent nonexistence, while likely successor Casey Jacobsen lacked championship consistency as well. The very best? Arizona's amazing Luke Walton, considered not much more than a hardworking reserve just a few months back.

Admittedly, given the unprecedented havoc parity has created in the college game, a good argument could be made for a bunch of other players as well. Williams is profiled on page 52; here's the rest of BASKETBALL DIGEST'S All-America team:

FIRST TEAM

DWAYNE WADE, MARQUETTE: We hate to say it, but will anyway: This spectacular first-year sophomore, who had to sit out as a partial qualifier last season, evokes images of a young Michael Jordan. The shot, the length, the unmatchable instincts for doing the right thing, the aerial show with the unlimited hang-time and endless wingspan--not to mention the burning commitment to winning by excelling on both ends of the floor--is all there.

How much did the 6'4" shooting guard mean to Marquette? A mundane 15.14 team last year--with no one else within shouting distance of NBA talent on the roster--the Golden Eagles were 26-6 this season with the wondrous Wade leading them in scoring, assists, blocked shots, and steals. In his spare time, Wade shot a sizzling 48.3% from the floor in the face every quadruple-teaming defensive gimmick the Bob Hugginses of the world thought up just for him.

"Wade is the single greatest breakdown player in the country. No one can guard that kid," Memphis coach John Calipari says. "No one has ever done more for his team. Ifs quite possible that no one has ever been as good as this kid."

CHRIS MARCUS, WESTERN KENTUCKY:

The Hilltoppers center was limited to 14 games due to a stress fracture in his left ankle. However, he's so talented that, injury or no injury, no other center could even come close.

Barely able to walk, Marcus blocked eight shots in just 24 minutes in his second game back. He averaged 23 points and 9.6 rebounds over his last five games, including a 32-point, 15-rebound outing against Kentucky State.

Still rounding back into basketball shape, Marcus had a slow first half against Louisiana-Lafayette in the conference tournament finals. He scored 19 points--including his team's last 11 in a row--pulled down 11 rebounds, and blocked six shots in the second half to win the game.

"I got mad," Marcus says. "I was not going to let us lose. Not after all the fun I missed out on.'

DREW GOODEN, KANSAS: This Gumby-like double-double machine lugged Kansas to greatness with an outstanding inside-outside game. Yet, the 6'10" power forward's most remarkable asset is his surgical vision: Gooden is as good an interior passer as there is in the game, particularly with his back to the hoop.

"He's grown a lot this year," Jayhawks coach Roy Williams says. "He used to be a kid who couldn't focus on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis. But he's led our conference in scoring and rebounding--and the Big 12 has been a great conference this year. So you know Drew had to be consistently spectacular for us."

LUKE WALTON, ARIZONA: It's time to say it: Walton is the best passer in the country, bar none.

Now, no 6'8", 235-pound small forward lacking much in the way of footspeed and quickness has any right to lead the powerful Pac-10 in assists. Certainly not if he wasn't good enough in high school to be even recruited by UCLA (famed Dad's alma mater) or be much more than a lunch-pailed reserve with an unattractively bumpy game just a few months back.