Two Big Ten Players Named First-Team AP Preseason All-Americans

The Associated Press named Purdue junior guard Carsen Edwards and Wisconsin senior forward Ethan Happ to the preseason first-team All-American team on Tuesday.

Edwards the leading vote-getter, appearing on 63 of 65 ballots. Joining Edwards and Happ on the first team is North Carolina senior forward Luke Maye, Duke freshman forward R.J. Barrett, Kansas’ junior forward Dedric Lawson, and Nevada’s senior wing Caleb Martin.

For Purdue, Edwards is the first Boilermaker named to a preseason AP All-American since JaJuan Johnson in 2010-11. In Wisconsin’s case, Happ is the first Badger named since Frank Kaminsky in 2014-15.

Edwards averaged 18.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.8 apg, 40.6 3pt fg pct, 1.1 steals last season while Happ contributed 17.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.7 apg, 52.8 fg pct, 1.5 steals per game last season.

The recognition for both players is the latest in anticipation for monster seasons in 2018-19. Below are some of the preseason awards handed out to both players.

Carsen Edwards

• Preseason National Player of the Year - Blue Ribbon Magazine
• 2018 Preseason All-Big Ten Team (unanimous)
• Big Ten’s preseason Player of the Year
• 2019 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award watch list (won the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award last season).
• No. 2 in CBS Sports’s top 100 (and one) college basketball players in the country.

Ethan Happ

• 2018 Preseason All-Big Ten Team (unanimous)
• 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award watch list
• No. 7 in CBS Sports’s top 100 (and one) college basketball players in the country.

Edwards and Happ square off against each other once in the 2018-19 regular season. That match-up comes from Madison on January 11.