Mid-Major Madness All-Americans: Jordan Caroline highlights the third team

With the offseason now upon us, Mid-Major Madness will dedicate this week to honoring the players, coaches, and games that stood above the rest in 2017-18. We continue our series today with the Third-team All-Americans. Game of the Year will be announced later today.

Here’s the full schedule for the week:

MONDAY: Honorable mentions and Breakout Player of the Year
TUESDAY: Third-team All-Americans and Game of the Year
WEDNESDAY: Second-team All-Americans and Freshman of the Year
THURSDAY: First-team All-Americans and Coach of the Year
FRIDAY: Mid-Major Madness Player of the Year

Our third-team All-Americans feature a couple of sharpshooters, a dominant rebounder and rim runner, and a pair of stars that led their teams to NCAA Tournament success. There’s a nice balance between senior leaders who left their mark on their programs and guys who will be back for more next year.

In alphabetical order:

Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Devontae Cacok (UNC Wilmington): Cacok vaulted onto this list thanks to a flurry of support from the UNCW faithful, but he has the numbers to back it up. Cacok led the nation in rebounding with 13.5 boards per game, which resulted in 22 double-doubles. The junior scored 17.7 points per game on almost 60 percent shooting from the floor. He was one of the lone bright spots in for UNCW in their first year of the C.B. McGrath era.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Caroline (Nevada): Nevada’s heart and soul in the middle was a key part of the Wolf Pack’s Sweet 16 run this year. Between battling on the offensive glass or trying to dunk on anyone in his path, Caroline did it all. Caroline was second on Nevada’s high-powered offense at 17.7 points per game, and led the Wolf Pack in rebounding with 8.6 per contest. He’ll be testing the NBA Draft waters, but his return along with the Martin twins could have Nevada in the top 10 to start next year.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Fletcher Magee (Wofford): The nation’s leader in three pointers made was on pace to break Steph Curry’s single-season record for most of the year. Magee’s 148 threes comes in at fifth on the all-time list, and the junior could go even bigger next year. Magee’s year was highlighted by a 27-point outing in Wofford’s upset over North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Kendrick Nunn (Oakland): In his only year at Oakland, Nunn became one of the best scorers in the country. His 25.9 points per game trailed only Trae Young nationally. Nunn scored in double figures in every game, and had 11 games of 30 or more. His 134 threes made trailed only Magee in that category.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Jared Terrell (Rhode Island): EC Matthews was the heart of Rhode Island’s senior core, but Terrell was Rams’ best player this year. The senior led Rhode Island in scoring at nearly 17 per game, and oftentimes had to defend the opponent’s best player. He’ll go down as one of the players that helped turn the Rhode Island program around. During his tenure, the Rams won two NCAA Tournament games as well as regular season and Atlantic 10 tournament titles.