Ohio State center Jared Sullinger, a 6-9 sophomore, is a 2012 Sporting News first-team All-American:
He could have been a high draft pick after making this All-American team as a freshman, but he surprised everyone?except those in his family?by returning to Ohio State for his sophomore year. After spending his summer aggressively improving his physical conditioning and returning to the Buckeyes with added quickness that helped him dominate the season?s first month, Sullinger encountered a series of injuries that sapped some of that newfound speed. What did he have left? The best low-post game in college basketball, a dangerous 3-point shot that confused defenses and the toughness to endure an unreasonably high degree of punishment from defenders when setting up on the block. No college player commanded more attention from opponents, and some of it was genuinely brutal. Sullinger?s sophomore season wasn?t always a delight, but he continued to develop a greater command of the game and ownership of opponents.
Jared Sullinger averages nearly 17 points per game. (AP Photo)
The numbers that really count: In Sullinger?s two seasons at Ohio State, the Buckeyes have won 59 games and lost nine. That?s an .868 winning percentage, and isn?t that the most important stat of all? But the number that best explains his sophomore season is the dramatic decline in free throw attempts from his freshman year. He?s getting fouled about 20 percent less often this season than last, although he is most certainly being challenged by defenders in greater numbers and it would appear he is being contacted more. He is attempting and making roughly the same number of shots as last season, but he is getting fewer calls. That?s a heck of a sophomore jinx.
First-team All-Americans: Anthony Davis, Kentucky | Draymond Green, Michigan State | Isaiah Canaan, Murray State | Thomas Robinson, Kansas | Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
? Second- and third-team All-Americans and All-Freshman team
What the numbers don?t tell you: The difference in Ohio State with and without Sullinger was obvious in the one game against a major-conference opponent he has missed in two seasons. Ohio State had dominated Duke and Florida in early nonconference games before Sullinger became unavailable for a trip to Kansas because of a back problem. Without his ability to control the baseline, the Buckeyes allowed KU to shoot 58.3 percent from the floor and had no means of generating a cohesive offense. Kansas won, 78-67. OSU will miss him when he is gone for good.
Jared?s father, Satch, says: ?He has a lifetime to be an adult. I?ve always raised my boys with this thought: ?Don?t chase dollars. Just do your job, and you look over the shoulder and the dollars will be chasing you.?
There are a couple other issues regarding the Big 10 selections but I will put those thoughts in the Big 10 thread.
Just because he wasn't the same player then he was last year does not mean that he has not worthy of being first-team this year.