The Sporting News All-American teams were revealed on Wednesday, and the Wisconsin Badgers saw one of their stars earn an honor, as guard John Tonje was named to the All-American second team.
Tonje had an accolade-filled season, leading the Badgers with 18.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 46 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from deep as one of the more efficient players in the country.
He came onto the scene early in the scene, dropping a season-high 41 points in a thrilling 103-88 win over the Arizona Wildcats, and then later had back-to-back 30-point games against the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois Fighting Illini, joining the Badgers’ record books.
Here’s what the Sporting News wrote about nominating Tonje to their All-American second team.
After missing nearly all of last season at Missouri because of injury, Tonje filled a vacancy on the wing for Badgers and became the team’s most important scoring option. He excelled as a deep shooter and near to the rim, where he finished plays at better than a 62 percent rate. Tonje’s biggest nights coincided with Wisconsin’s biggest wins: 41 points against Arizona, 33 against Pitt, 27 against Nebraska, back-to-back 30-point games against Purdue and Illinois. Not really coincidental
Here’s who was named to the All-American First and Second Teams by The Sporting News.
All-American First Team
Auburn F Johni Broome
Duke F Cooper Flagg
Florida G Walter Clayton
Alabama G Mark Sears
Purdue G Braden Smith
All-American Second Team
Villanova F Eric Dixon
Memphis G PJ Haggerty
Marquette G Kam Jones
Wisconsin G John Tonje
Texas Tech F J
T Toppin
Tonje was also named to the All-Big Ten first team earlier this week, and had a strong argument for the Big Ten Player of the Year if not for Purdue’s Braden Smith.
Ahead of the postseason, Tonje has now earned another accolade, capping off a successful season with the Badgers.
