2020-21 CBS Sports preseason All-America teams: College basketball's best and most talented players
Baylor's Jared Butler leads our preseason All-America teams heading into the 2020-21 season
www.cbssports.com
Baylor's Jared Butler leads our preseason All-America teams heading into the 2020-21 season
By Gary Parrish
, Matt Norlander
, David Cobb
& Kyle Boone
Only one CBS Sports first-team, second-team or third-team All-American from last season will be playing college basketball this season. That's a result of nine of the players honored entering the 2020 NBA Draft early (Obi Toppin, Devon Dotson, Vernon Carey, Malachi Flynn, Filip Petrusev, Immanuel Quickley, Jalen Smith, Tre Jones, Daniel Oturo) and five others exhausting their eligibility (Markus Howard, Payton Pritchard, Udoka Azubuike, Myles Powell, Cassius Winston).
Iowa's Luka Garza is the lone returning All-American.
So this season should mostly be headlined by fresh faces, as is usually the case in college basketball. No other mainstream American sport endures such talent turnover, year after year. It's an unfortunate (but acceptable) byproduct of the players being able to enter the draft whenever they like, which isn't the case for college football and college baseball players. As the saying goes, it is what it is.
Either way, new stars will emerge; they always do. And the following is our best guess at who those stars might be. The 15 players listed as 2020-21 CBS Sports Preseason All-Americans are a result of ballots submitted by our panel of writers and analysts. The 15 players listed as 2020-21 CBS Sports Preseason All-Americans come from six different leagues — three each from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, two each from the Pac-12 and ACC, and one each from the SEC and WCC.
Note: The CBS Sports Preseason All-America Teams were voted on by college basketball writers at CBSSports.com and 247Sports as well as broadcasters and analysts from CBS and CBS Sports Network.
CBS Sports Preseason All-America First Team
Jared Butler | Baylor | 6-3 | Jr. | Guard
Butler, the only unanimous selection on the CBS Sports All-America First Team, is the best player on one of the two or three best teams in college basketball. Butler led Baylor in scoring last season (16.0 ppg) in addition to providing 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 1.6 steals per game. He's an opportunistic shooting guard who should be among the most consistent power-conference players we'll see this season. Baylor has a really good roster, but its potential starts with Butler's playmaking.
Luka Garza | Iowa | 6-11 | Sr. | Center
There can be no doubt. Of the 15 players who made CBS Sports' First, Second and Third All-America teams at the end of the 2019-20 season, Garza is the only returnee to college basketball. The Iowa center has his team in position to be top 10 in college hoops and has the potential to average 24 points and 12 rebounds on one of the best offenses in college basketball. If he is better than last season, it's hard to see how he's not the best player in America.
Ayo Dosunmu | Illinois | 6-5 | Jr. | Guard
There were very few surprising stay-or-go decisions that went the way of the former, but Dosunmu opting to return to campus to give Illinois its best outlook in a decade-plus might be the best. The heady, athletic, fearless lead guard has Illini fans dreaming of a Final Four. Dosunmu averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 2019-20. All those numbers should climb. Alongside Kofi Cockburn, this has the potential for a special season in Champaign.
Cade Cunningham | Oklahoma State | 6-8 | Fr. | Guard
The projected No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Cunningham is going to inject optimism into the Oklahoma State program because he's a wonderful blend of size, smarts, strength, maturity and expert decision-making. He's a power point guard and could turn an otherwise just-OK Cowboys team into one of the 40 best squads in the sport. Would rank high on the short list of must-see college basketball players.
Corey Kispert | Gonzaga | 6-7 | Sr. | Forward
Kispert is listed as a small forward but he can do more than that for the Zags, who will look to recapture last season's dominance on the way to, ideally, a No. 1 seed. Kispert would have likely been drafted in the second round had he stayed in the NBA pool. Instead, he returns to Mark Few's program and is poised to average close to 20 points. Kispert's a high-level 3-point shooting (43.8%) and should thrive in a go-go-go Gonzaga O. -- Matt Norlander
