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Dane Miller’s Pac-12 Men’s Basketball All-Conference Selections

1. Boogie Ellis
2. Oumar Ballo
3. Tristan da Silva
4. Keion Brooks Jr.
5. Branden Carlson
6. Caleb Love
7. KJ Simpson
8. N’Faly Dante
9. Spencer Jones
10. Jordan Pope
11. Isaiah Collier
12. Cody Williams
13. Aday Mara
14. Kwame Evans Jr.
15. Keshad Johnson

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Pac-12 Preseason Player of the Year: Boogie Ellis

The Player of the Year award normally goes to the top player on the team that finishes first at the end of the regular season. In the preseason, I would have to go with the player that I think is the most important to his roster.

When Boogie Ellis is playing well, the Trojans are difficult to beat. The same could be said of the others on my list, but the USC guard is the most valuable.

The Pac-12 doesn’t release the vote totals, but it’s fair to guess that the postseason award will ultimately come down to Ellis or Arizona’s Oumar Ballo. Colorado’s Tristan da Silva could receive some votes, too.

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Second Team Selections

I decided to pick mostly freshmen for my Second Team, considering the elite talent in the class. I figured that if a returning player isn’t good enough for my First Team then they aren’t good enough for the Second Team, either.

And with highly touted players expected to immediately contribute to programs projected to be in the Top 25, it was hard to justify keeping them off my rankings.

Still, players like Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard, Stanford’s Brandon Angel, Washington’s Braxton Meah, and Arizona State’s Frankie Collins should receive some votes.

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Devin Askew, Jordan Pope and Selection No. 10

In an interesting turn of events, California’s Devin Askew was not nominated by the Bears. I had the guard on my First Team in the No. 10 slot but had to take him off because Askew wasn’t on the list of players available to vote for. What that actually means remains to be seen. But it’s a story to keep an eye on.

Instead, I decided to move Jordan Pope up from my Second Team. The sophomore had a fantastic freshman season and deserves recognition. The Tenth spot is a special slot that I use to highlight a player that I think deserves more recognition than they receive.

Last year, I put N’Faly Dante in a similar position and he didn’t even receive enough votes to garner an Honorable Mention. Dante then went out and dominated for Oregon, proving those who doubted him wrong.

Similar to Dante last year, Pope did not receive enough votes to land on the First Team. But he certainly deserves a First Team nod and projects to have an even better season for the Beavers in his sophomore year.