Duke basketball: Tre Jones, Vernon Carey Jr. named as All-Americans

Tre Jones and Vernon Carey Jr. of the Duke basketball team were named as Associated Press All-Americans on Friday afternoon after leading the Blue Devils to a remarkable season.

The 2019-20 season ended prematurely, but regular season awards are still being handed out as Tre Jones and Vernon Carey Jr. were both named as All-Americans by the Associated Press.

Carey Jr., the ACC Rookie of the Year, was named to the AP Second Team All-America, while Jones, the ACC Player of the Year, was named to the Third Team.

More from Ball Durham

The only other player from the ACC that was named to an AP All-American team was Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, who was selected to the Third Team along with the Duke point guard.

Vernon Carey Jr. was also named to the Second Team All-America by Sporting News and was CBS Sports’ Freshman of the Year after posting 17.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game in Duke’s postseason-shortened season.

Tre Jones also posted his best stats in his two seasons at Duke with 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.8 steals per game on 42.3 percent shooting and a much improved 36.1 percent from 3-point range.

Jones was also named as the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Markus Howard, Myles Powell, Payton Pritchard, Obi Tobbin, and Luka Garza were all named as First Team All-Americans.

Joining Vernon Carey Jr. on the second team is Devon Dotson, Cassius Winston, Malachi Flynn, and Udoka Azubuike.

Jones and Nwora are accompanied by Filip Petrusev, Jalen Smith, and Jared Butler on the Third Team.

ALSO READ: Answer to who stays and goes becomes clearer

It’s very likely that both Jones and Carey Jr. will opt to forgo their remaining years of eligibility and enter the NBA Draft this summer, as Mike Krzyzewski basically said as much in an interview with 247Sports that was released on Friday afternoon.

Despite Jones coming back to Durham for his sophomore season to win a National Championship and not having the chance, that does not diminish all he accomplished at Duke, and the same goes for the freshman Carey Jr., who is continuing to evolve into a dominant big man in today’s style of basketball.

ALSO READ: Haley Gorecki named as AP Honorable Mention selection

The Athletic’s latest 2020 NBA Mock Draft has Jones being selected at No. 23 to the Miami Heat and Carey Jr. going at No. 26 to the Boston Celtics.

Home/Duke Basketball