DURHAM, N.C. — With Tuesday’s announcement of the 2018-19 Associated Press All-America Team, Duke freshmen RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson have earned consensus first-team All-America honors for the 2018-19 season.
The Blue Devil freshmen were tapped to the AP First Team, along with Tennessee’s Grant Williams, Michigan State’s Cassius Winston and Murray State’s Ja Morant.
It marks just the 16th time in NCAA history that a pair of teammates each were consensus first-team All-Americans in the same season regardless of class, and the first time that a pair of freshman teammates have accomplish the feat.
The last teammate duo to be named consensus first-team All-American in the same season was Duke’s Shane Battier and Jason Williams in 2001. Before that, it was Arizona’s Mike Bibby and Miles Simon and Kansas’ Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce in 1998, and North Carolina’s Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins in 1983.
The consensus team is officially recognized by the NCAA to include the Sporting News, NABC, AP and USBWA honors. Williamson and Barrett become the 23rd and 24th consensus first-team selections for Duke, fifth-most in NCAA history, and third in the last two seasons as Marvin Bagley III earned the distinction last season.
Williamson was also named the Sporting News National Player of the Year, while Barrett was named the National Player of the Year by USA Today. Williamson is a finalist for the James Naismith, Oscar Robertson and NABC Player of the Year awards, while both Williamson and Barrett are in consideration for the Wooden National Player of the Year Award.
Barrett and Williamson became the first freshman teammates in NCAA history to each average 20 points in a season, and they finished tied for the ACC lead at 22.6 points per game each. They led Duke to the final AP No. 1 ranking, a 32-6 record, the ACC Championship and a spot in the Elite Eight.
Consensus First Team All-American Teammates in Same Season, NCAA History
Player (Year), Player (Year) – School — Season
Cat Thompson (Senior), Frank Ward (Senior) — Montana State — 1930
John Wooden (Sophomore), Stretch Murphy (Senior) – Purdue — 1930
John Moir (Sophomore), Paul Nowak (Sophomore) — Notre Dame — 1936
John Moir (Junior), Paul Nowak (Junior) — Notre Dame — 1937
John Moir (Senior), Paul Nowak (Senior) — Notre Dame — 1938
Ralph Beard (Sophomore), Alex Groza (Sophomore) – Kentucky – 1947
Ralph Beard (Senior), Alex Groza (Senior) – Kentucky – 1949
Bill Walton (Sophomore), Henry Bibby (Senior) – UCLA — 1972
Bill Walton (Junior), Keith Wilkes (Junior) – UCLA –1973
Bill Walton (Senior), Keith Wilkes (Senior) – UCLA — 1974
Kent Benson (Junior), Scott May (Senior) – Indiana — 1976
Michael Jordan (Sophomore), Sam Perkins (Junior) — North Carolina — 1983
Mike Bibby (Sophomore), Miles Simon (Senior) – Arizona — 1998
Raef LaFrentz (Senior), Paul Pierce (Junior) – Kansas — 1998
Shane Battier (Senior), Jason Williams (Sophomore) – Duke — 2001
RJ Barrett (Freshman), Zion Williamson (Freshman) – Duke – 2019
