Now, here's an article about how great McDonald's All-Americans are and how likely they'll be in the NBA:
http://cbs.sportsline.com/b/page/pressb ... 60,00.html
A few interesting quotes:
Maryland rolled over Duke 97-73 and with stars such as Juan Dixon, Lonnie Baxter, Chris Wilcox, Byron Mouton and Steve Blake, the Terrapins look like a team not only deserving of a No. 1 seed, not only capable of a return trip to the Final Four, but one that can clip the nets in Atlanta.
Except for one problem.
Maryland does not have a single player on its roster that was selected as a McDonald's All-American. And if history is an indicator, that means the Terrapins -- not to mention top 10 teams such as Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Alabama, Gonzaga, Pittsburgh and Marquette -- won't win the national championship this year.
That explains why Duke and North Carolina have so many selections, including questionable, at least in hindsight, picks such as Blue Devil Joey Beard of Reston (Va.) South Lakes in 1993 or Tar Heel Neil Fingleton of Worcester (Mass.) Holy Name in 2000. Those guys wound up transferring, Beard to Boston University, Fingleton to Holy Cross.
It may even explain how 7-17 North Carolina could have three McDonald's selections in 1998's Jason Capel of St. John's Prospect (Md.) and Kris Lang of Gastonia (N.C.) Hunter Huss and 2001's Jawad Williams of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward. Before Fingleton transferred at the semester break, the Heels actually had four.
Besides, the importance of McDonald's All-Americans may be waning and there is reason to believe the streak is about to end. Team-oriented clubs are taking over in this era where each spring a few McDonald's selections bypass college altogether and declare for the NBA Draft directly out of high school. Others don't stick around the collegiate ranks very long.
It doesn't seem like a coincidence that two of the three times a team has won with just a lone McDonald's All-American, it has done it within the past five seasons, when early departures started becoming commonplace.
If by chance you are part of the Anybody But Duke segment of the population, you sure better hope this is the season the McDonald's All-American trend ends. Because we hate to break it to you, but the Blue Devils have six of them again this year.
Just a note on that last sentence...this was written after Maryland had won the national title without an single McDonald's All American - including Chris Wilcox of the Clippers. Also, look where all those touted players ended up this year...well, Syracuse and Carmelo Anthony won the title, so what do you think?
Here's another link, and this one cannot be disputed as opinion...
http://mcdonaldsallamerican.theinsiders ... facts.html
How many of those players are in the NBA now or were in the NBA for more than a year?
This is just to show you that being an All American means jack shit until you prove something at the college or pro level. Period.
Edit: go to the bottom, look at the NBA and the list of players that were All-Americans; you'll see some familiar names, but most of them will be strangers. Why? Because they disappeared after being All-Americans.
