On Monday, Kansas coach Bill Self said he was still searching for the right way to celebrate and honor the achievements of the 2019-20 Jayhawks.
What that means, how it looks and when it will take place remains a mystery, with nearly all of the KU roster back home with their families and school and practices shut down for at least the next couple of weeks.
Normally, at the end of a Kansas basketball season, the focus shifts to recruiting and the postseason banquet.
Both of those are on hold for now and may be for a while. That leaves Self with plenty of time to come up with some unique ideas for honoring the team that finished the season 28-3 overall and 17-1 in Big 12 play and was poised to enter the postseason as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the team to beat in most peoples’ eyes.
So while Self ponders the proper move to honor the 2019-20 Jayhawks, several national media outlets appear to be well on their way to helping him do that in the short term.
In addition to many publications already naming KU the best team in college basketball in this corornavirus-shortened season, several All-American teams and individual honors also have started to be released.
On Tuesday, [ESPN.com’s Jeff Borzello released his picks,][1] which included plenty of love for the Jayhawks.
Here’s a look:
First team All-Americans
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**• SOPHOMORE PG DEVON DOTSON**
**Wrote Borzello:** Amid all the Udoka Azubuike love over the past few weeks, this was a terrific sophomore season for Dotson. No. 1 in KenPom’s Player of the Year race and the only player in the country at least 5.0 adjusted points above replacement at both ends of the floor.
**• SENIOR C UDOKA AZUBUIKE**
**Wrote Borzello:** Perhaps the most valuable player in the country, Azubuike is a unique big man with few peers in the sport in terms of sheer physical dominance. He had the best game of his career in the season’s biggest game against Baylor: 23 points, 19 rebounds, three blocks.
Defensive Player of the Year
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**• JUNIOR G MARCUS GARRETT**
**Wrote Borzello:** Kansas had one of the most dominant defensive seasons of all time, and Garrett is at the heart of it all. He’s a versatile defender who can guard nearly any position on the floor and uses his length and athleticism to disrupt the game consistently. Garrett had a stretch in February when he had at least three steals in five straight games and nearly single-handedly stifled West Virginia’s offense in the second half of a February game. He has made strides on the offensive end, becoming a legitimate go-to option on the wing for the Jayhawks, but it’s still his defense that remains his calling card.
[1]: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/28887371/college-basketball-all-america-major-award-picks-2019-20
