It's Back Again: Horton's Second All-2024-NCAA-Tournament Team

Now that the passions of March Madness have retreated even further, it was possible to be coolly analytical about a Second All-NCAA-Team (here's Frasier's First All-Tournament Team). Altamont varsity power forward and Acta Diurna reporter Frasier Horton once again shares his top ballers:

Jermaine Couisnard 

I can almost guarantee you never watched an Oregon regular-season basketball game, and if you did, kudos to you, because even I didn’t do that. But 40? Forty points in college basketball puts you in rare air, very rare air. And against your former team? That’ll get you a spot for sure. Weirdly enough, I really thought he would end up on the first team, just because again putting up 40 points in a tournament game is very rare. He followed it up with a 32-point game against Creighton (that one I was sure to watch) in which they lost in overtime. This spot may be more a bit more subjective to me, because after this game, I knew this year’s March Madness was going to be that much more special, but even objectively speaking, he definitely deserves to be here.

N’Faly Dante 

Again, I can almost guarantee you never watched an Oregon regular-season basketball game, but I wish I’d started earlier. After seeing Couisnard’s 40-ball, I mentioned I saw their next game where I saw the man-child that was N’Faly Dante. Now this guy ... I had seen highlights and knew him as kind of the face of Oregon basketball (for whatever that's worth). First game he puts up a 23 point, 6 rebound game and then a 28 point, 20 rebound effort in that Creighton game. I ranked these two Oregon players so highly not only because I now hate Creighton, but because I feel like, in another world, we’d be talking about Oregon over North Carolina State, and these two would become the team's faces. Nevertheless, in the real world, Second Team will have to suffice.  

Tristan Newton 

To the average college basketball fan, this guy needs no introduction. Two-time champ, two-time Most Outstanding Player, Bob Cousy award-winner (best point guard), and my favorite player to watch (which probably means more than any of the rest). He was a part of a college basketball team that was just built to dominate, but I also think there’s something to be said about being the facilitator and leader for the best team in the country. Seventeen points and 5 assists for the national champ is pretty good, but it’s the way in which he does it that puts him up here. I mentioned earlier how Tennessee was a team built to play around a go-to scorer, and I’d say it's the same for UConn, and how this team benefits from his productivity and facilitation. It’s not often you see the Most Outstanding Player on a second-team, but that just speaks to the high level of play in this year’s tournament.  

D.J. Horne 

So maybe this wasn’t the D.J. from North Carolina State you expected to see, but he’s the one that deserves to be here. Within this pick is a mix of individual performance and how far his team went. He was the better player on that NC State team, but truth be told, I can’t remember him putting up more than 10, even though he averaged 17 a game. If everyone else chooses to focus on D.J. Burns and his beautiful game, let me give flowers to the more consistent, calculated game of D.J. Horne.  

Jack Gohlke  

I’m such a hater. The attention this guy got after his performance against Kentucky was irritating to me, and he became a very very very well-known name in the college basketball community. But also, I didn’t watch the game. I made the mistake of trusting Kentucky to handle business, even though they never do, and I checked my Instagram feed to see this guy’s face all over. Hate at first sight. And then I watched the highlights; that game should be clipped in the Merriam-Webster dictionary under the term “green light." The guy was shooting fade-away threes all the way en route to a 36-point game. Ten threes? He didn’t even attempt a two pointer. His free throws? Fouled on a three-pointer. I’m all for upsets, until they make me upset. I hate that I have to remember him, but again, game is game.