The post-season has officially arrived in the world of college basketball, and with it comes a plethora of awards handed out to coaches and players. Auburn basketball cleaned up in conference awards, with Bruce Pearl earning Coach of the Year, Jabari Smith earning Freshman of the Year, and Walker Kessler earning Defensive Player of the Year.
Outstanding freshman Jabari Smith is racking up accolades, from six-time SEC freshman of the week to finalist for both the 2022 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year and the John Wooden Award to Naismith Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year. The 5-star was also named first-team All-SEC.
However, today the Associated Press released their All-America men’s basketball teams, and Auburn basketball fans were displeased with what they considered to be a snub to Jabari Smith, who missed out on first-team honors and was delegated to second-team.
Jabari should be first team!
— Cissy 🦚 I love all things AUBURN 🧡💙🦅🐅 (@Cissy14699341) March 15, 2022
The AP All-America first team includes Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, and Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji.
While Jabari Smith was named second-team All-America, Walker Kessler was named third-team, and they’re Auburn basketball’s first AP All-Americans since 1999–when Chris Porter earned second-team honors–and the fourth and fifth AP All-Americans in program history.
The Tigers will be looking to make history again as they begin their March Madness run as a No. 2 seed in the midwest region, with their first matchup against Jacksonville State on Friday at 11:40 a.m. from Greenville, South Carolina.