Oscar Tshiebwe named First Team All-American by Sporting News

The end-of-the-year accolades are starting to pour in for Oscar Tshiebwe. This morning, Oscar was named First Team All-American by The Sporting News. If he earns the same honor from the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), he will be a consensus First Team All-American, the 22nd in Kentucky Basketball history.

Oscar was a unanimous selection, appearing on the first team of every ballot of The Sporting News’ panel of college basketball experts. After the season he’s had, it’s no wonder. Oscar leads Kentucky in scoring (17.3), rebounding (15.3), steals (1.9), and blocks (1.5). His 15.3 rebounds per game lead the nation and he’s second nationally in double-doubles with 25. One more and he ties Kentucky’s record of 26, set by Dan Issel in 1969-70.

“He is not an elite scorer but nonetheless anchors the UK attack,” Mike DeCourcy writes. “He has some issues to repair on defense, but without his presence and his dominance of the boards, the Wildcats would be a defensive sieve. In his first season since transferring from West Virginia, Tshiebwe has been everything to Kentucky at both ends of the floor. Most of all, he has rebounded at a level unseen in Division I basketball since the 1970s.”

Sporting News 2021-22 All-American Teams

FIRST TEAM

• Johnny Davis, Wisconsin
• Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky — unanimous selection
• Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
• Keegan Murray, Iowa
• Kofi Cockburn, Illinois

SECOND TEAM

• Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona
• Jabari Smith, Auburn
• Jaden Ivey, Purdue
• Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga
• Drew Timme, Gonzaga

THIRD TEAM

• EJ Liddell, Ohio State
• James Akinjo, Baylor
• JD Notae, Arkansas
• Collin Gillespie, Villanova
• Paolo Banchero, Duke 

Oscar’s National Player of the Year campaign rolls on

With the regular season now complete, Oscar is the frontrunner for National Player of the Year. After watching him put up 27 points and 14 rebounds at Florida, John Calipari said he’d be surprised if his big man doesn’t win it.

“Yeah, I’ll be surprised. I’ve been surprised before, you know? But the things that he’s done haven’t been done for 50 years. Let me say that again. The things that he’s doing haven’t been done for 50 years. So how could you not do it?”

Oscar is one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award, a finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year, and on the watch list for the Naismith Trophy and Lute Olsen Award. He’s also one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, given to the nation’s top center (you can help him win it by voting here). Oscar being Oscar, he said the only thing he’s dreaming of winning right now is a national championship.

“That would make some of my dream come true,” Tshiebwe said of winning National POY. “My (big) dream in college is to win the national championship, that would make my dream come true. That’s why I come out every night and give it everything I have.”