College Basketball's All-Week 17 1st Team: Top Performers at Every Position

Week 17 of the college basketball season gave us so many seniors.

What else would you expect? And many of them played fantastic ball as they wrapped up their final games in their home arenas.

There was Perry Ellis at Kansas joking, but also smoking Iowa State. Gabe York went bombs away in his final game at Arizona. Brice Johnson from North Carolina warranted more attention after a rematch with Duke. And we have to give a new entry to the NCAA tournament, Austin Peay, some love as well.

As usual, we'll introduce you to a new player or two who had fantastic weeks.

That's what makes college basketball so great: Anyone can erupt with a huge performance, and the weekly stars come in all shapes and sizes. There are games of all varieties, too. That's what we'll examine here.

Every week, we pick a first- and second-teamer at all five positions, plus a duo off the bench. We consider stat-stuffing games, but we also take a look at cumulative consistency against strong competition and players who have performed above their season averages from last Sunday through Saturday night's games.

Games that help teams get closer to the NCAA tournament obviously warrant a lot of consideration this time of year.

Let us know what you think of our picks and share your own in the comments section.

Point Guard: Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall

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First Team: Isaiah Whitehead, Seton Hall

Feb. 28 vs. Xavier: 22 points, five assists, two rebounds

March 2 at Butler: 27 points, six rebounds, three assists

March 5 at DePaul: 33 points, five rebounds, five assists

Seton Hall improved to 21-7 after beating Xavier last weekend, virtually earning an NCAA tournament at-large bid as Whitehead and teammate Desi Rodriguez (career-high 27) spurred a program that hasn't been to the dance since 2006. Whitehead made 24-of-53 shots for the week, including 13 of his 29 three-point tries.

Second Team: Andrew Andrews, Washington

Feb. 28 at Oregon: 21 points, eight assists, three rebounds

March 2 vs. Washington State: 47 points, six rebounds, four assists

What a way to finish his career in Seattle. Andrews pumped in 47 points, which tied the high mark for a Division-I player this year (Marcus Posley, St. Bonaventure). Andrews made 13-of-22 shots, along with five three-pointers and certainly put his mark on a pretty proud program. Consider that a host of talented former Huskies, from Brandon Roy to Nate Robinson, never posted 40 in a college game.

Shooting Guard: Gabe York, Arizona

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First Team: Gabe York, Arizona

March 3 vs. Cal: 19 points

March 5 vs. Stanford: 32 points, four assists, two rebounds

Senior day just gets plain awesome for some guys like York, who buried nine of his 14 three-point tries in his final game at McKale Center. It was also a career-high in points. Earlier in the week against Cal, he made three straight three-pointers (the last one with 20 seconds left) to start what turned into a two-win week.

Second Team: Marcus Posley, St. Bonaventure

March 2 vs. St. Joseph's: 47 points, two rebounds

March 5 at Saint Louis: 18 points, four assists, three rebounds

The same night Andrew Andrews of Washington posted his 47, so did Posley. The 6'1" Bonnies standout pumped in 15-of-19 shots to become the highest Atlantic 10 scorer since David West in 2003. It was a critical neutral-court win (the game was actually played two hours away in Rochester, New York) for a team clinging to at-large bid life.

Small Forward (Wing): Damyean Dotson, Houston

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First Team: Damyean Dotson, Houston

Feb. 28 at UConn: 22 points, 14 rebounds, three assists

March 3 vs. Cincinnati: 13 points, seven rebounds

The 6'5" junior made 13-of-22 shots last week as Houston is bidding to make a late push toward NCAA tournament consideration. He made 7-of-14 three-pointers, though his most spectacular play may have been a dunk against UConn off a teammate's missed three-pointer.

Second Team: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State

Feb. 28 vs. Penn State: 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists

March 2 at Rutgers: 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists

March 5 vs. Ohio State: 27 points, four rebounds, 13 assists

As you might expect, Valentine shined in his final home game—a 15-point win against the Buckeyes in which he did a little bit of everything, including five of his six three-point tries. Valentine is making a commendable surge to displace Oklahoma's similarly worthy Buddy Hield for National Player of the Year.

Power Forward: Perry Ellis, Kansas

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First Team: Perry Ellis, Kansas

Feb. 29 at Texas: 20 points, four rebounds, four assists

March 5 vs. Iowa State: 22 points, seven rebounds

Ellis probably deserves first-team status this week for his sense of humor alone. He's apparently in on all of the "man, Perry Ellis is old" jokes.

He joked during his senior-day speech that he played with Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning, a couple of of Kansas legends. The in-state product hasn't been nominated for this segment this season until now, but he warrants it: He made 18-of-30 shots against a couple of Top 25 teams, including a road dump-trucking of Texas last Monday.

Second Team: Kris Jenkins, Villanova

March 1 vs. DePaul: 31 points, two rebounds

March 5 vs. Georgetown: 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists

At one point, Jenkins had 14 consecutive points against DePaul. The 6'6" junior sure looks like a pivotal piece—especially as he hit 11-of-20 three-pointers last week for a Wildcats team that loves to shoot the three, but isn't normally so proficient.

Center: Brice Johnson, North Carolina

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First Team: Brice Johnson, North Carolina

Feb. 29 vs. Syracuse: 14 points, 10 rebounds

March 5 at Duke: 18 points, 21 rebounds

Revenge was best served with a double-double. The senior earned a terrific win at Duke by putting forth the kind of productivity he had in the first meeting (a loss) at home on Feb. 17, when he had 29 points and 19 rebounds. Johnson helped the Tar Heels earn the No. 1 seed for the ACC tournament and, of note, he only had eight fewer rebounds than the entire Duke team.

Second Team: Marshall Plumlee, Duke

March 1 vs. Wake Forest: 13 points, 17 rebounds

March 5 vs. North Carolina: Five points, nine rebounds

Plumlee matched his career high against Wake in rebounding. He was half as quiet against his school's archrival, but he still barely went over his season average on the glass. He also had a late putback dunk that made it a two-point game with five seconds left.

Off the Bench: John Murry, Austin Peay

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First Team: John Murry, Austin Peay

March 2 vs. Tennessee Tech: Seven points, two rebounds

March 3 vs. Tennessee State: Seven points, three rebounds

March 4 vs. Belmont: Six points, one rebound

March 5 vs. UT Martin: 11 points, one rebound

We wanted to get a nomination headed Austin Peay's way after it won four games in as many days to earn the Ohio Valley's automatic NCAA tournament bid. Murry, a 6'3" junior, did his part by scoring 11 points in the title game and hitting a tidy 10-of-17 shots for the week as the school reached its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2008.

Definitely worth noting: 6'5" freshman Jared Savage scored 24 points in the title game, four times his season average.

Second Team: Seth Allen, Virginia Tech

Feb. 28 at Wake Forest: 14 points, two rebounds, two steals

March 2 vs. Pitt: 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals

March 5 vs. Miami: 14 points, two steals, two steals

Allen and Zach LeDay each hit three-pointers in the second half to stave off a rally from ranked Miami. Allen, a 6'1" junior, routinely comes off the bench, and he found his spots against the Hurricanes.