The NCAA Men's Basketball All-American teams are teams made up of

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA)

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

players voted the best in the country by a variety of organizations.

History

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

teams in

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

were first named by both '' College Humor'' magazine and the Christy Walsh Syndicate in 1929. In 1932, the

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

shoe company began publishing All-America teams in their yearly "Converse Basketball Yearbook," and continued doing so until they ceased publication of the yearbook in 1983. The

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

, created in 1936, retroactively named All-America teams for years 1905–35, and also continued naming teams until 1983.Men's Basketball All-Americans
/ref> The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

began naming its team selections in 1948.

Consensus teams

While an increasing number of media outlets select All-America teams, the NCAA recognizes consensus All-America teams back to 1905. These teams have drawn from two to six major media sources over the years, and are intended to reflect the opinions of most college basketball experts. Today the four outlets used to select consensus teams are the

, the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

, the

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awa ...

and '' Sporting News'' magazine. Since 1984, the NCAA has applied a standardized point system to those teams designated as "major" All-American teams to determine consensus teams. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and one point for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation. The top five totals plus ties are first team and the next five plus ties are second team.

Teams used to determine consensus selections

Through the years, the following media outlets have been recognized and have been used to determine consensus teams. From 1905 to 1928, the Helms Athletic Foundation All-America teams are considered the "official" teams of those years by the NCAA.

Leaders by school

The top ten schools with the most consensus first-team All-Americans are listed below, ranked by total number of selections. For a complete list, please see th
NCAA records

Academic All-Americans

In 1963, the first

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

n basketball team was named. The first team, selected by the

College Sports Information Directors of America College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pro ...

(CoSIDA), consisted of:

Rod Thorn Rodney King Thorn (born May 23, 1941) is an American basketball executive and a former professional player and coach, Olympic Committee Chairman, with a career spanning over 50 years. In 2018, Thorn was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Baske ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, Ken Charlton of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Gerry Ward of

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, Art Becker of

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and

Ray Flynn Raymond Leo Flynn (born July 22, 1939) is an American politician who served as 52nd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He also served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993–1997. Flynn was an All-American c ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. CoSIDA has named Academic All-America teams continuously each year since. For a complete list of first-team Academic All-Americans, please see th
official NCAA records
''Through 2020''

Preseason All-Americans

In 1986, the Associated Press named the first preseason All-America team for the 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Navy's

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

was the leading vote-getter that year. He was joined on the team by

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was a ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Danny Manning Daniel Ricardo Manning (born May 17, 1966) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the Associate Head Mens Basketball Coach at the University of Louisville. Manning played high school basketball at Walter Hin ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Kenny Smith Kenneth Smith (born March 8, 1965), nicknamed "the Jet", is an American sports commentator and former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA from 1987 to 1997 as a member of the Sacrame ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

Pervis Ellison Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player. Nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his clutch play with the University of Louisville, after leading Louisville to a national championship, El ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. In 2011,

Harrison Barnes Harrison Bryce Jordan Barnes (born May 30, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being sele ...

of North Carolina became the first freshman voted a preseason All-American by the AP.Preseason All-Americans announced
accessed March 22, 2011

References

{{Men's college basketball award navbox Awards established in 1905 History of college basketball in the United States 1929 establishments in the United States