LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been named 2018 All-America First Team by the Associated Press (AP), the organization announced Tuesday.
The Associated Press is among the outlets used for the official NCAA consensus All-America team and Graham is 4-for-4 on consensus All-America first teams as he was recently named to National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and The Sporting News squads which make up the consensus team announced by the NCAA. In this, Graham is Kansas’ 30th Consensus All-America First Team selection with the 30 being more than any other NCAA Division I school. North Carolina is second with 27.
Joining Graham on AP All-America First Team is Jalen Brunson (Villanova), Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Marvin Bagley III (Duke) and Trae Young (Oklahoma).
This is the second-straight year a Kansas player has earned Associated All-America First Team honors. Jayhawk Frank Mason III earned the distinction last year and later received the AP national player of the year award.
In the past few weeks, Graham has been named the Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team, one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and All-America First Team by Associated Press, The Sporting News, the NABC, NCAA.com and the USBWA. On the court, he also earned Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 assists in guiding Kansas to the tourney title.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Graham is the only player in NCAA Division I averaging 17.0-plus points, 7.0-plus assists, 1.6-plus steals and fewer than 3.0 turnovers per game in 2017-18. He leads Kansas in scoring at 17.2 points per game for the season, which ranks fourth in the Big 12. An all-conference first-team selection who has been named to three All-America first teams, Graham is among the conference leaders in assists (second at 7.3, fifth nationally), assist-to-turnover ratio (second at 2.6), steals (sixth at 1.6), free throw percentage (seventh at 83.0), 3-point field goals made (fourth at 2.8) and 3-point field goal percentage (ninth at 40.3).
This season, Graham set the Kansas single-season records for assists with 279 and minutes played at 1,435. His 106 3-point field goals made are fourth most in KU season history.
In Kansas’ win against Seton Hall in the NCAA Tournament, Graham became the 13th player in KU history to record 1,700 career points. He currently sits 13th at 1,727 points. Graham is the third player in school history to tally 1,700 points, 600 assists and 190 steals in a career. Darnell Valentine and Kirk Hinrich are the only other Jayhawks to hit those numbers.
Additionally, Graham ranks second on the Kansas career 3-point field goals made list at 292. He is also among the KU career leaders in assists, fifth at 629, steals, seventh at 195, and minutes played, second at 4,459.
No. 1 seed Kansas (31-7) will face No. 1 seed Villanova (34-4) in the national semifinals of the 2018 Final Four at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Saturday, March 31, at 7:49 p.m. (Central). KU is participating in its 15th all-time Final Four and its first since 2012.