ST. LOUIS – UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball has been selected as one of five players to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's 2017 All-America First Team, as announced Monday afternoon by the USBWA.
 
Ball, along with Josh Hart (Villanova), Frank Mason III (Kansas), Nigel Williams-Goss (Gonzaga) and Caleb Swanigan (Purdue), have earned first-team All-America acclaim and are finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the USBWA's Men's National Player of the Year award.
 
Last week, Ball secured USBWA All-District IX Player of the Year honors. Ball and UCLA classmate TJ Leaf were among two of the 10 players selected to the All-District IX Team.
 
Through UCLA's 33 games, Ball has averaged 14.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game. He continues to lead the nation in assists per game (7.7) and total assists (254), standing just two assists shy of tying UCLA's single-season record of 256 assists, established by Larry Drew II in 2012-13.
 
Ball has already secured Associated Press Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors, after having been named the Pac-12 Conference's Freshman of the Year last week. In addition, Ball has earned National Freshman of the Year acclaim from USA Today, Sporting News and BleacherReport.com.
 
The USBWA, along with the legendary Oscar Robertson, will announce this season's Oscar Robertson Trophy winner as the National Player of the Year at the NCAA Men's Final Four in Glendale, Ariz., at a press conference on March 31.
 
UCLA has had six players secure the USBWA's National Player of the Year award a total of nine times, with Bill Walton having been one of just two three-time winners (1972, 1973 and 1974). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, was a two-time winner in 1967 and 1968. The most recent UCLA player to win this award was Ed O'Bannon in 1995, as he led the Bruins to their school-record 11th NCAA men's basketball title.
 
The USBWA's second-team All-America selections include Dillon Brooks (Oregon), Justin Jackson (North Carolina), Luke Kennard (Duke), Malik Monk (Kentucky) and Johnathan Motley (Baylor).
 
2017 USBWA All-America Selections
First Team
Lonzo Ball (UCLA)
Nigel Williams-Goss (Gonzaga)
Josh Hart (Villanova)
Frank Mason III (Kansas)
Caleb Swanigan (Purdue)
 
Second Team
Dillon Brooks (Oregon)
Justin Jackson (North Carolina)
Luke Kennard (Duke)
Malik Monk (Kentucky)
Jonathan Motley (Baylor)
 
The USBWA All-America teams are voted on by members of the USBWA, which is comprised of over 900 sportswriters and sports journalists who cover college basketball for newspapers, magazines and websites. The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season.