Frank Kaminsky turned a corner, and turned heads nationally during a breakout junior campaign last season. That campaign ended with the Badgers making a run to the Final Four and Kaminsky being named first-team All Big Ten.
On Monday, the Associated Press released its annual preseason All-American squad, and Kaminsky’s name was on it. Kaminsky became just the third Badger men’s basketball player to earn first-team preseason AP honors, and the first since Jordan Taylor did it in 2011.
Michael Finley was the only other Badger to earn the preseason distinction, doing so ahead of the 1994-95 season.
Kaminsky comes off a season in which he averaged 13.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and had 66 blocked shots to help the Badgers become one of the biggest stories in the 2013-14 season. The 66 blocks were fourth best in the Big Ten last season and third best in UW history. Kaminsky also has 96 career blocks, putting him tied for seventh all-time at Wisconsin entering his final season. Should he keep with his pace from last year he’ll likely end his career as the all-time leader in blocks at UW.
Those numbers and an offseason of hard work have Kaminsky garnering some major publicity heading in to the 2014-15 season.
The AP named incoming Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor as it’s preseason Player of the Year. Okafor and Kaminsky were joined on the first team by North Carolina junior point guard Marcus Paige; Louisville junior forward Montrezl Harrell; and Wichita State junior point guard Fred VanVleet.
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