JARROD UTHOFF EARNS CONSENSUS ALL-AMERICAN HONORS

Jarrod Uthoff earned All-America honors from the NABC earlier in the week, but he wasn't done collecting All-America honors, either. Yesterday the AP named him a third-team All-American for his efforts this season.

Congrats to Hawkeye senior Jarrod Uthoff! #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/aBuYskIwZe

— Iowa Basketball (@IowaHoops) March 29, 2016

Uthoff was joined by Indiana's Yogi Ferrell, Oakland's Kay Felder, Duke's Grayson Allen, and Kentucky's Jamal Murray on the third team.  The first team consisted of Michigan State's Denzel Valentine (a unanimous selection), Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (also unanimous), North Carolina's Brice Johnson, Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon, and Kentucky's Tyler Ulis. Utah's Jakob Poeltl, LSU's Ben Simmons, Kansas' Perry Ellis, Providence's Kris Dunn, and Iowa State's Georges Niang comprised the second team.

Uthoff became Iowa's ninth AP All-American, and the first time in almost 20 years -- since Andre Woolridge was also named to the AP All-America third team in 1997. While becoming an AP All-American is a unique and noteworthy distinction in its own right, this honor is also significant because it locks up consensus All-America status for Uthoff. That's a truly historic accomplishment for Uthoff and for Iowa athletics as a whole.

Jarrod Uthoff is officially Iowa's first consensus all-American since 1952.

— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) March 29, 2016

@ChadLeistikow @Mr_Uthoff first time Iowa has ever had a football and basketball player be consensus all-americans in the same year.

— Dan Welter (@Dan_Welter) March 29, 2016

How do you become a consensus All American? Hawk Central's Chad Leistikow has a nice explanation for that:

The NCAA recognizes any player to make each of the AP, U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NACB) teams as a consensus all-American; it's tough to do, because the USBWA only produces two five-player teams.

Uthoff becomes Iowa's fifth all-time consensus All-American. The previous consensus All-Americans were:

Dick Ives (1945)
Herb Wilkinson (1945)*
Murray Weir (1948)
Charles Darling (1952)

Again, Uthoff is treading on some seriously rarefied ground here.  Consensus All-American is one hell of an honor and one that some of the absolute legends of Iowa basketball, like Don Nelson, Sam Williams, Fred Brown, and Ronnie Lester never managed to achieve. (Lester managed to be a two-time first-team All-American, but still didn't get consensus All-America status, which is both remarkable and baffling.) Congratulations to Uthoff for putting together a remarkable season -- we were definitely privileged to be able to watch him in action for 33 games this year. Thanks again, Jarrod.

* That 1945 team was something else -- they went 17-1 overall, 11-1 in Big Ten play and won Iowa's first outright Big Ten title (third overall). They didn't play in the NCAA Tournament (or any postseason event) because of... academic concerns.  No, really. As Friend of the Pants Scott Dochterman uncovered:

Well, that's certainly putting the "student" first in "student-athlete." As Doc noted, Iowa lost one game that year -- by one point.  They were very, very, very good. The state of Iowa might have had the two best teams in the nation that season -- Iowa State won the Big 12 8 6 that year, but they also turned down a spot in the NCAA Tournament.