Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Men's March Madness 2023: The All-Tournament Team After the National Championship

Joel Reuter

The 2023 NCAA men's tournament is over, and the UConn Huskies are national champions.

Their run of dominance through the tournament field continued on Monday night with a dominant 76-59 victory over San Diego State. It is the Huskies fifth national title since they hoisted their first banner in 1999.

With March Madness over, it's now time to pick our All-Tournament Team, with five first-team and five second-team spots up for grabs.

To be considered for inclusion, a player had to have reached the Elite Eight, and first-team honors were reserved for players who appeared in the Final Four.

Let the debate begin!

Second Team

Markquis Nowell Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Markquis Nowell, Kansas State

Nowell averaged 23.5 points and 13.5 assists while setting an NCAA tournament record with 19 assists in an overtime win against Michigan State in the Sweet 16. The 5'7" point guard shot just 8-of-21 from the floor against Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight but still finished with 30 points, 12 assists and five steals.

Drew Timme, Gonzaga

Timme got into foul trouble against UConn in the Elite Eight and finished with just 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but even with that down game, his overall tournament numbers were still excellent for the second successive year. The 6'10" forward averaged 24.3 points and 9.3 assists through four games, and his 36-point, 13-rebound performance against UCLA in the Sweet 16 was one of the best individual performances of the tournament.

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton

Kalkbrenner had perhaps the best first-round performance of any player in this year's tournament, lighting up NC State for 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting while adding seven rebounds and three blocks. The 7'0" junior averaged 20.0 points on 60.4 percent shooting in his four tournament games.

Nijel Pack, Miami

Pack led the charge in Miami's upset win against No. 1 seed Houston in the Sweet 16, knocking down 7-of-10 three-point attempts on his way to 26 points. He scored just 23 points combined against Texas and UConn in the Hurricanes' next two games, but he still averaged 16.4 points while connecting on 15-of-33 attempts from beyond the arc.

Marcus Carr, Texas

Carr averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds while connecting on 9-of-20 from distance in four NCAA tournament games, and he was the best player on the Texas roster all season. The Longhorns ended up being the last team standing from the top two seed lines with their trip to the Elite Eight.

Lamont Butler, San Diego State

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Why not reward the player who hit the biggest shot of the tournament with first-team honors?

Lamont Butler drilled the game-winning buzzer-beater against Florida Atlantic in the Final Four to punch the Aztecs' ticket to the title game, but that was far from his only contributions to the team's surprise title game run.

The 6'6" guard averaged 10.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals in six tournament games, including a team-high 18 points against Creighton in the Elite Eight and 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the championship game.

The Mountain West All-Defensive team pick was also an integral part of the Aztecs' smothering defense, which keyed their upset victories over high-powered Alabama and Creighton teams on the road to the Final Four.

Alijah Martin, Florida Atlantic

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Florida Atlantic Owls were the 2023 NCAA tournament's biggest Cinderella story, reaching the Final Four on the strength of a deep nine-man rotation that did not rely on any one go-to scorer.

Johnell Davis stole the headlines early with a 29-point, 12-rebound, five-assist, five-steal game against Fairleigh Dickinson in the second round, but it was Alijah Davis who shouldered the scoring load after the opening weekend.

The 6'2" guard had a team-high 17 points against Kansas State in the Elite Eight. He then exploded for 26 points against San Diego State in the Final Four, with 19 coming in the second half when the Owls briefly built a 14-point lead.

He entered the NCAA tournament with as much momentum as anyone after a season-high 30 points against UAB in the Conference USA tournament title game, and he wrapped up his first March Madness with averages of 15.2 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Jordan Miller, Miami

Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

The Miami Hurricanes don't reach the Final Four without Jordan Miller.

The 6'6" guard found nothing but the bottom of the net in the team's comeback win against Texas in the Elite Eight, hitting on 7-of-7 from the floor and 13-of-13 from the free-throw line for a season-high 27 points.

After a forgettable seven-point performance against Drake in the first round, Miller settled in as a reliable scoring option, averaging 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists while also adding six blocks and two steals.

The George Mason transfer wrapped up his fifth collegiate season and second year at Miami averaging 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists, and with his strong March showing, he may have played his way into the second-round conversation in the upcoming NBA draft.

Jordan Hawkins, UConn

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Jordan Hawkins has scored in double-figures and knocked down at least three three-pointers in each of UConn's first five games in the NCAA tournament, providing crucial perimeter scoring to help open things up for Adama Sanogo on the inside.

Hawkins has a bright NBA future thanks to his shooting ability, and it was on full display against Gonzaga in the Elite Eight.

The 6'5" guard buried 6-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc en route to 20 points in a blowout win against the Bulldogs, and that came after he torched Arkansas for 24 points on only 13 shot attempts in 28 minutes.

All told, he averaged 16.3 points on 21-of-42 shooting from three-point range in six tournament games, and there is little doubt scouts have taken notice of his sharpshooting abilities.

Adama Sanogo, UConn

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Adama Sanogo did a little bit of everything in UConn's victory over Miami in the Final Four, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and even a pair of made three-pointers to bring his season total to 19.

The 6'9", 240-pound forward had his way inside against Norchad Omier to win an important individual battle and propel the Huskies to the national championship game.

He followed that up with a 17-points, 10-rebound performance on Monday night to clinch Most Outstanding Player honors for the 2023 NCAA tournament. It was his fourth double-double of the tournament, and he did it on just nine shot attempts while also playing stellar interior defense.

Sanogo was a force all tournament, averaging 19.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor, and those numbers would look even more efficient with a 3-of-11 shooting performance against Gonzaga removed from the equation.

While the game has become more and more perimeter-oriented over the years, Sanogo has proven that a team can still ride a go-to big man offensively all the way to the national championship game.

   

Read 51 Comments

Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation

Install the App
×
Bleacher Report
(120K+)