Latino Power: 🇵🇷 Zakai Zeigler and 🇩🇴🇪🇨 RJ Luis Jr. named to 2024-25 U.S. Basketball Writers Association Men’s All-America Team

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Basketball Latino Power: 🇵🇷 Zakai Zeigler and 🇩🇴🇪🇨 RJ Luis Jr. named to 2024-25 U.S. Basketball Writers Association Men’s All-America Team by Latino Sports March 19, 2025 Image Credit: NCAA/St. John’s Athletics/Tennessee Athletics Press Release Courtesy of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association — The Southeastern Conference boasts four standout players to headline the 2024-25 U.S. Basketball Writers Association Men’s All-America Team, including three first-team selections All four NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds are represented on the team, which includes three repeat selections among the 15 players honored on three teams, with two players receiving honorable mention. Image Credit: U.S. Basketball Writers Association The USBWA has named a men’s All-America team since its inaugural season of 1956-57. Since the 2017-18 season, the USBWA has expanded the team to honor 15 players on three teams, regardless of position. For the fourth time, the USBWA also recognized players with honorable mention. The team is selected by the USBWA board after voting from the entire membership and the honor is based on performance during the regular season. The first team is paced by three All-SEC first-teamers, including SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome from Auburn, a third-team All-American last season, Alabama guard Mark Sears , a second-teamer a year ago and Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida, the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Joining them on the first team are Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith from Purdue and Atlantic Coast Conference Player and Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg of Duke. Image Credit: Duke Men’s Basketball Broome, who averages 18.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, joined Charles Barkley (1984) and Chris Porter (1999) as just the third SEC Player of the Year from Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Sears is averaging 18.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game and Clayton leads the Gators, the No. 1 seed in the West, in scoring (17.2), 3-point field goals (84) and assists (129). Smith is second in the nation with 8.7 assists per game and Flagg, a three-time Oscar Robertson Trophy National Player of the Week, was the ACC’s Rookie of the Week a record 12 times this season for the East’s top seed. He is averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. The second team is paced by three first-team All-Big East stars. Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner , the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth straight season, leads the conference in blocked shots (2.7), rebounds (9.0) and field goal percentage (.663) and is second with 19.4 points per game. RJ Luis Jr. of St. John’s is the Big East’s Player of the Year and tournament Most Valuable Player as he led the Red Storm to its first conference tournament title since 2000 . Averaging 18.4 points and 7.2 rebounds, he’s the first All-American from St. John’s since Malik Sealy in 1992. Image Credit: Tomasso DeRosa/Latino Sports Kam Jones gives Marquette a USBWA All-American for a third straight season with his 19.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. Rounding out the second team are Texas Tech’s JT Toppin , the Big 12 Player of the Year with 18.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, and Memphis’ P.J. Haggerty , the nation’s third-leading scorer (21.8) who led the Tigers to the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament title for the first time in program history. The nation’s leading scorer and All-Big East first-team selection, Eric Dixon from Villanova, tops the third team with his 23 points per game. The fourth All-America player from the SEC is the conference’s defensive player of the year and assists leader (7.3), Zakai Zeigler from Tennessee . Image Credit: SEC Kansas center Hunter Dickinson earned his third USBWA All-America nod and second straight after making the second team last season and the second team as freshman at Michigan three seasons ago. He leads Kansas with 17.6 points per game and is 11th nationally with 10.0 rebounds per game. In his first season in Madison, John Tonje leads Wisconsin in scoring (18.9) to earn a third-team slot and is joined by Houston’s L.J. Cryer , who was honorable mention a season ago. The first-team All-Big 12 choice for the Cougars, a No. 1 seed for a third straight season, leads the conference, shooting 43.2 percent from three-point range to go with 91.5 percent from the free throw line. Two other standouts earned honorable mention: Mountain West Player of the Year Donovan Dent of New Mexico and Drake’s Bennett Stirtz , the Missouri Valley’s Larry Bird Player of the Year. Dent is eighth in the country with 20.6 points per game while Stirtz, who plays 39.2 minutes per game, leads the conference with 19.1 points per game and is second in assists and steals. Stirtz is the first Drake player to earn USBWA All-America honors. Following is the complete 2024-25 USBWA Men’s All-America Team: 2024-25 USBWA MEN’S ALL-AMERICA TEAM FIRST TEAM (5) Johni Broome, Auburn F/C 5-10 240 Sr. Plant City, Fla. Walter Clayton Jr., Florida G 6-3 195 Sr. Lake Wales, Fla. Cooper Flagg, Duke F 6-9 205 Fr. Newport, Maine Mark Sears, Alabama G 6-1 190 Gr. Muscle Shoals, Ala. Braden Smith, Purdue G 6-0 170 Jr. Westfield, Ind. SECOND TEAM (5) PJ Haggerty, Memphis G 6-3 191 r-So. Crosby, Texas Kam Jones, Marquette G 6-5 205 Sr. Memphis, Tenn. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton C 7-1 270 Sr. Florissant, Mo. RJ Luis Jr., St. John’s G/F 6-7 215 Jr. Miami, Fla. JT Toppin, Texas Tech F 6-9 225 So. Dallas, Texas THIRD TEAM (5) L.J. Cryer, Houston G 6-1 200 Gr. Katy, Texas Hunter Dickinson, Kansas C 7-2 265 Gr. Alexandria, Va. Eric Dixon, Villanova F 6-8 265 Gr. Willow Grove, Pa. John Tonje, Wisconsin G 6-5 218 Gr. North Omaha, Neb. Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee G 5-9 175 Sr. Long Island, N.Y. Honorable Mention (2): Donovan Dent, New Mexico (6-2, 185, Jr., Riverside, Calif.); Bennett Stirtz, Drake (6-4, 180, Jr., Liberty, Mo.) The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 800 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected a men’s All-America team since its founding season of 1956-57 season. 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