The 2024 NCAA men's tournament is over, and the UConn Huskies are national champions once again.
Their dominance over the rest of the field continued on Monday night with a 75-60 victory over National Player of the Year Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers, as the Huskies became the first team since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to repeat as national champions.
With March Madness over, it's 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
Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
One of college basketball's brightest stars this season, Knecht shined bright during March Madness, averaging 26.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 40 percent from three-point range. He helped lead the Volunteers to an Elite Eight appearance and had more than half his team's points in Tennessee's 72-66 loss to Purdue, knocking down six threes and finishing with 37 points.
D.J. Burns Jr., NC State
Burns will go down as one of the most memorable players from this year's tournament. Quiet games against Marquette (4 points, 2-of-4 shooting) and Purdue (8 points, 4-of-10 shooting) kept him from earning first team honors, but he still averaged 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists to help spearhead the Wolfpack's unlikely Final Four run.
Jared McCain, Duke
McCain had three 30-point games this season, and two of them came during the NCAA tournament. The standout freshman was 10-of-15 from the floor in a 30-point effort against James Madison in the second round, and he poured in 32 points while playing all 40 minutes in the Blue Devils' loss to NC State in the Elite Eight. He averaged 21.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists over his four tournament games.
Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois
Shannon entered the NCAA tournament on an absolute tear after averaging 34 points per game in the Big Ten tournament, including a tournament record 40 against Nebraska. He kept it rolling with 28.3 points per game on 59.2 percent shooting in the Fighting Illini's three tournament wins before UConn limited him to eight points on 2-of-12 shooting in the Elite Eight, but he still earns second-team honors.
Stephon Castle, UConn
A 5-star recruit and top-10 player in the 2023 class, Castle accepted his supporting role with aplomb all season, averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game entering the NCAA tournament. Those numbers ticked up to 12.5 points and 5.7 rebounds during March Madness, and he ended on a high note, matching a season-high with 21 points against Alabama in the Final Four before tallying 15 points in the title game.
Honorable Mentions: Marcus Domask (Illinois), Chase Hunter (Clemson), Fletcher Loyer (Purdue), Grant Nelson (Alabama), Braden Smith (Purdue), Cam Spencer (UConn)
DJ Horne, NC State
DJ Horne earned third-team All-ACC honors as the only NC State player to receive any postseason accolades, which speaks volumes to just how out-of-nowhere this team's run to the Final Four was after a lackluster regular season.
After two seasons at Illinois State and two more at Arizona State, Horne put together the best season of his collegiate career this year, averaging 16.9 points while knocking down 105 three-pointers at a terrific 40.4 percent clip.
Burly post player D.J. Burns Jr. might have been the face of NC State's tournament run, but it was Horne who was the team's most consistent player, averaging 17.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists during the Wolfpack's five tournament games.
He had 20 points each against Duke in the Elite Eight and Purdue in the Final Four, playing 77 of 80 total minutes during those two games.
Mark Sears, Alabama
Mark Sears has come a long way since averaging 8.5 points per game as a freshman at Ohio University, and in his second season with the Alabama Crimson Tide, he emerged as one of the best guards in the country.
He finished the season averaging 21.5 points per game while shooting a blistering 43.6 percent from beyond the arc and knocking down 95 threes on the year, and he posted better marks than his season averages in the NCAA tournament.
In Alabama's five-game run to the Final Four, the consensus second-team All-American tallied 24.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while knocking down 45.5 percent of his three-point attempts.
He had a 30-point game against College of Charleston in the opening round, but it was the seven three-pointers he hit against Clemson in the Elite Eight that stands out as his most memorable performance of March Madness.
Donovan Clingan, UConn
Starting with a 22-point, 16-rebound outing against Marquette in the Big East tournament title matchup, Donovan Clingan took his game to another level down the stretch this season.
The 7'2", 265-pound sophomore had a relatively quiet night Monday, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and one block, but he made life hard on Zach Edey in the post, as the Purdue star finished 15-of-25 from the field and missed several close shots thanks to Clingan's terrific interior defense.
He finished his tournament run averaging 15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks over the Huskies' six games, consistently flashing rare athleticism for a player his size while giving his NBA draft stock a nice shot in the arm in the process.
He had a 14-point, 14-rebound, eight-block game against Northwestern in the second round and was the best player on the court in the lopsided victory over Illinois in the Elite Eight with 22 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and three steals in only 22 minutes of action.
Zach Edey, Purdue
Zach Edey has been the most dominant player in college basketball for two years running, and this year's NCAA tournament was no exception.
Teams were forced to accept the fact that Edey was going to be a force inside and hope they could do enough to slow down the Purdue guards to have a chance at winning, and no one was able to do it until UConn.
The 7'4" center had 30 points and 21 rebounds against Grambling State in the first round, a career-high 40 points against Tennessee in the Elite Eight, and in the final game of his collegiate career on Monday night he finished with 37 points and 10 rebounds.
All told, he averaged 29.5 points and 14.5 rebounds during the 2024 NCAA tournament, and he was on the floor for 156 of 160 minutes over Purdue's final four games to close out a terrific season that came up just short.
It remains to be seen exactly how he fits onto an NBA roster, but after what he did in the tournament, it would be a shock if someone late in the first round is not willing to roll the dice and find out.
Tristen Newton, UConn
Tristen Newton averaged 10.1 points, 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds as a productive role player on last year's national championship team after transferring from East Carolina.
This year, he was a first-team All-American.
The step forward he took this year to average 14.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game was as big a reason as any that UConn was able to repeat as national champions.
It was fitting that he was the team's leading scorer on Monday night, filling up the box score in typical fashion with 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds while playing 39 minutes, and he was awarded Most Outstanding Player honors for the 2024 tournament.
With 14.5 points, 7.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, he didn't quite have the same eye-popping numbers as Purdue star Zach Edey, but his steady production and wide-ranging impact served as the glue for this Huskies team all season.
Now he will forever be mentioned alongside the likes of Richard Hamilton (1999), Emeka Okafor (2004), Kemba Walker (2011), Shabazz Napier (2014) and Adama Sanogo (2023), who also took home MOP honors while leading UConn to a title.
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