College Basketball's All-Week 3 First Team: Top Performers at Every Position

There are a number of ways to qualify as a top performance.

The awesome thing is, we'll examine several versions in our Week 3 first-team highlights of selections around the country.

Big scoring games count, of course. But we're also continuing to look at other storylines that made a player's performance special during the last seven days. Sometimes, it's one big game; other times it's a two-fer or (especially during the early season, with all of these Thanksgiving week tournaments) even a three-fer.

The beauty is that a lot of terrific performances came from all over the place, from powerhouses to teams on the rise. Some nominees came out of nowhere, too. We saw some big names continue to thrive. We've seen teams rebound. We saw a program you might not know much about pull off a really good win with limited options because it is so banged up.

We even got to see one guy we kinda/sorta dissed last week—because he was outplayed, and that player made our list last week—get some redemption.

We've started something new here: On Sunday we'll have our picks for the best performers from the week. It'll go position by position, even including some off-the-bench studs. There's a first-teamer and a second-teamer as well.

Other great players and performances missed the cut this week, but hook back up with us in the comments and let us know where we can do better.

On to the weekly highlights...

Point Guard: Michael Gbinije (Syracuse)

Heather Ainsworth/Associated Press

Nov. 25 vs. Charlotte: 26 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds

Nov. 26 vs. UConn: 17 points, 7 assists

Nov. 27 vs. Texas A&M: 20 points, 4 assists

The 6'7" fifth-year senior is showing why it was so smart for Syracuse to make him the starting point guard this season. In three games he shot nearly 60 percent from both the field and the three-point line, along with recording 15 assists and six steals.

Talk about a sunny Thanksgiving weekend: It was Syracuse's first early-season tournament title since the 2013 Maui Invitational.

Second Team: Kris Dunn (Providence)

Nov. 23 vs. NJIT: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists; Nov. 26 vs. Evansville: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists; Nov. 27 vs. Arizona: 19 points, 8 assists.

Dunn picked up his fourth foul as the Wildcats picked up their biggest lead (seven points), but the All-America-level point guard rallied his team. He made seven of his nine shots, overcoming three starters in foul trouble. He scored the Friars' last 10 points for the 69-65 upset Friday over Arizona in the DirecTV Wooden Legacy.

Mind you, this tally doesn't include Sunday night's game against Michigan State. So Dunn could easily catapult to a first-team nominee next weekend, if he can continue his takeover prowess.

Shooting Guard: Rich Williams (Manhattan)

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Nov. 25 vs. George Mason: 26 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks

Nov. 28 vs. Fordham: 24 points, 5 rebounds

Manhattan might be a little more thankful if it had more than five healthy scholarship players over the holiday weekend. But a nice backup plan last week was the bounty of points provided by the 6'5" Rich Williams, whose 40-minute masterpiece defeated George Mason.

He hit nine of 16 shots as the Jaspers (an NCAA tournament team last year out of the MAAC) avoided losing three straight to start the season for the first time since 2005-06. These aren't those Jim Larranaga-coached Patriots who went to the Final Four a decade ago, but it's still a team that had defeated Ole Miss and Oklahoma State.

Second Team: Wayne Selden (Kansas)

Nov. 23 vs. Chaminade: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists; Nov. 24 vs. UCLA: 15 points, 1 rebounds, 3 assists; Nov. 25 vs. Vanderbilt: 25 points, 7 rebounds

Selden was the star of the Maui Invitational and has already looked twice as good points-wise compared to his first two years as a Jayhawk (he's averaging 17 points compared to about nine in each of his first two years). Throw out the Chaminade game, and Selden was still 13-of-19 shooting and 8-of-11 from three-point range in the latter two games.

Not everyone was thoroughly impressed, though, as noted in a postgame comment from Vandy coach Kevin Stallings, per Gary Bedore of KUSports.com:

"

Honestly he (Selden) has the easy job. He has Mason and Graham (Devonte, 12 points, six rebounds, one assist) in there penetrating and breaking down the defense. He is standing out there catching and shooting. Don’t get me wrong. He (Selden) made nice plays and drives, too. Nothing about him surprised me. What surprised me is so many times we helped off penetration when we were not supposed to. I didn’t think he was making terribly difficult shots.

"

Small Forward: Dillon Brooks, Oregon

Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 22 vs. Valparaiso: 26 points, 13 rebounds

Nov. 25 vs. Arkansas State: 4 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists

We're not out to make this an award for season achievement, but the 6'6" sophomore forward Dillon Brooks has played a huge role in the Ducks' hot start.

Oregon has also defeated Baylor. Brooks is a key cog in what's still a six-man rotation as Dana Altman's team tries to discover good health in the upcoming weeks.

Brooks had 18 points and five offensive rebounds in the second half against Valparaiso in a win that will look better and better as the season goes on. The Crusaders are an experienced, talented bunch.

Brooks' handling of them helped us forget the 2-of-11 clunker against Arkansas State. But at least he was an all-around stat stuffer and probably deserved a down game three days after his big one.

Second Team: Duncan Robinson (Michigan)

Nov. 25 vs. UConn: 5 points, 2 rebounds; Nov. 26 vs. Charlotte: 9 points, 2 assists; Nov. 27 vs. Texas: 14 points, 4 rebounds

Robinson is just starting to figure out this level of ball. The 6'8" sophomore transferred from D-III Williams College and got steadily better during three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis. He hit eight of his 16 three-point attempts.

Power Forward: Bennie Boatright (USC)

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Nov. 23 vs. Cal State Northridge: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists

Nov. 26 vs. Wichita State: 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals

Nov. 27 vs. Xavier: 8 points, 5 rebounds

Bennie Boatwright doesn't play like a freshman (not right now, anyway) and probably plays even less like his position. The 6'10" newcomer through the Trojans' first five games had 27 rebounds and 32 three-point attempts. He's helped the Trojans jump to their best start in five years.

He's shooting a darn good 37.5 percent, including a 5-of-9 showing from the arc against the Shockers. He hit two bombs in the final four-and-a-half minutes to seal the win against a nationally ranked team.

"We've got to make sure when a guy is shooting as good as Bennie Boatwright, you've got to stand on his toes and make him do something different," WSU coach Gregg Marshall said afterward.

"Different" is the operative word with Boatwright's game.

Second Team: Winston Shepard (San Diego State)

Nov. 23 vs. East Carolina: 16 points, 6 rebounds; Nov. 26 vs. Cal: 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists; Nov. 27 vs. West Virginia: 4 points, 2 rebounds

All right, so Shepard laid an egg against the Mountaineers. But we're nominating him for the Cal game. Against a young, talented group of forwards, the 6'8" senior showed why age matters. In the last 12 minutes he had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists during a 30-6 run that erased a 15-point deficit.

Center: Jakob Poeltl (Utah)

Ricardo Arduengo/Associated Press

Nov. 22 vs. Temple: 32 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks

Nov. 27 vs. Idaho State: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks

We go back to last Sunday (the first day of the new nomination week) to select Poeltl. It was quite the "rebound game" for the 7-footer, as Miami handled the Utes last week. This week, however, Poeltl produced four game-clinching free throws on a career-best scoring night in the 74-68 win against the Owls.

Poeltl was handled in Puerto Rico the previous game, but now he's back to looking like a premier draft pick. Like we expected, that didn't take long. But we still want to recognize the bounce-back effort.

Second Team: Tyler Davis (Texas A&M)

Nov. 25 vs. Texas: 14 points, 4 rebounds; Nov. 26 vs. Gonzaga: 6 points, 2 rebounds; Nov. 27 vs. Syracuse: 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists.

Was Davis dominant? No. But it's hard not to like the way the 6'10" freshman is playing for a darn good Aggies team. He made nine of his 15 shots at the Battle 4 Atlantis against three quality teams.

Off the Bench: Cheick Diallo (Kansas)

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Nov. 24 vs. NCAA: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 1 positive eligibility ruling

The NCAA announced Wednesday that Diallo could start playing Dec. 1.

The long-awaited verdict for the freshman forward came for the Jayhawks before they won the Maui Invitational for the first time since 1996. Diallo hasn't posted any numbers so far, of course. And we'll try not to be so cutesy with first-team selections in the future. But the end of what amounted to a five-game suspension is a game-changer for the Jayhawks, not to mention the top tier of college basketball.

Second Team: Jimmy Gavin (Winthrop)

Nov. 24 vs. USC Upstate: 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists; Nov. 27 vs. N.C. State: 38 points, 2 rebounds

Once a quite-sick high schooler, Gavin has climbed the college ranks and is making a name for himself as a senior guard. Because of illness, he came off the bench to score a career-high 38 points in a close loss at North Carolina State. He scored 22 in the second half, and his total is the sixth-best in school history.