3/20/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Wednesday
20 March 2024 Sports
Purdue’s Zach Edey is the unanimous headliner for The Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America team for the second straight year.
The senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday. The reigning AP national player of the year claimed all 58 votes last year.
Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and North Carolina’s RJ Davis joined Edey in a clear top trio. Knecht was a first-team pick on 56 ballots, Davis on 55 and both appeared among the top 10 players on every ballot.
Houston’s Jamal Shead and Tristen Newton of reigning NCAA champion Connecticut rounded out the first team.
Edey leads the country in scoring at 24.4 points and ranks third in rebounding. He was named the AP’s Big Ten player of the year for a second straight time and has the chance to be the first player to repeat as AP national player of the year since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
After being an AP third-team All-American last year, Marquette’s Tyler Kolek headlined the second team this year and was the only other player to earn at least 10 first-team votes.
Alabama’s Mark Sears joined Kolek in the backcourt of that second quintet, which boasts an imposing front line with Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson.
Friday’s spring training game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals will be broadcasted on Bally Sports Wisconsin.
Officials announced the move Tuesday. It comes after last Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was cancelled due to rain.
In addition to Bally Sports Wisconsin, the game will also be broadcast on 620 WTMJ and the Brewers Radio Network. It is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CT at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
Wisconsin’s Chucky Hepburn has a knack for playing his best when the lights are the brightest and he didn’t expect to have to wait this long to return to college basketball’s biggest stage.
Hepburn’s freshman season ended when he injured his ankle early in an NCAA Tournament second-round loss to Iowa State. Two years later, Hepburn finally gets a second chance at March Madness when No.5 Wisconsin faces No.12 James Madison on Friday at Brooklyn, New York.
“I don’t want to just go make March Madness,” Hepburn said Monday. “I want to make a deep run in this tournament.”
Hepburn is accustomed to playing a lead role in these kinds of runs.
He played in three Nebraska state championship games and won one title during his high school career at Bellevue West and he highlighted his freshman year at Wisconsin by banking in a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left in a victory over then-No. 8 Purdue that enabled the Badgers to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
“He’s never been afraid of the moment,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.
Hepburn’s value to Wisconsin’s program became evident the last time the Badgers reached the NCAA Tournament. With Hepburn playing just 14 minutes against Iowa State, the Badgers lost 54-49 while committing a season-high 17 turnovers and producing their lowest single-game point total since November 2018.
“Not being able to fight out there with my brothers was definitely tough,” Hepburn said. “Now I’m more experienced.”
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