When your collegiate basketball season is mentioned in the same breath as 15-time NBA All-Star Tim Duncan, you know you’ve achieved something special.
That was verified Monday morning when Notre Dame senior 6-9, 245-pound forward John Mooney was selected to the five-man All-ACC first team.
With 25 double-doubles in points and rebounds this season in the 30 games Mooney played, two significant achievements were reached, per Fighting Irish Media’s Alan Wasielewski.
One, since 1997-98 he is the lone ACC player with 13 or more double-doubles in league play in consecutive seasons (or over any two seasons). Mooney had 13 double-doubles in 18 league games last year and an ACC-record 16 in 20 such contests this season (this is the first year the ACC went to 20 games).
Second, when including non-conference contests, Mooney’s 25 double-doubles this year — which led the nation, with William & Mary’s Nathan Knight next with 22 in 31 games — to go with his 20 last year, he joined Wake Forest’s Duncan (1993-97) and Duke’s Sheldon Williams (2002-06) as the only three ACC players to post consecutive seasons with 20 or more double-doubles in the past 25 years.
In all of Division I college basketball since 1996-97, Mooney joins Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado, Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy, UConn’s Emeka Okafor, Washington State’s Josh Hawkinson and Williams as the only major conference players with multiple seasons of 20 or more double-doubles.
Mooney also is second in the nation and leads all major conference players in rebounds-per-game with a 12.8 average.
He is the lone player in Division I averaging 16-plus points and 12-plus rebounds per game this season.
If this month, beginning with Wednesday’s ACC Tournament, Mooney can increase his rebounding average by 0.2 to put it at 13.0, he would join Duncan (1996 and 1997) and Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin (2008 and 2009) as the only two Division I men’s college basketball players since 1992 to average at least 15 points and 13 rebounds per game.
Mooney becomes the third Notre Dame student-athlete to earn first-team honors in the ACC, joining Jerian Grant, (2015) and Bonzie Colson (2017). He also is the 17th to earn first-team all-conference honors in both the ACC and BIG EAST. The Irish joined the Big East in 1995 to end their independent status in men's basketball.
Mooney is the second Notre Dame player to earn ACC all-conference honors in consecutive seasons, joining Pat Connaughton who was named to the All-ACC third team in 2014 and 2015.
Finally, Mooney was third in the league MVP voting with 11 votes, behind Duke's Tre Jones' 34 and Louisville's Jordan Nwora with 17.
Also, Notre Dame sophomore guard Dane Goodwin was 3rd in the Sixth Man Of The Year voting, while classmate and point guard Prentiss Hubb was 7th as the most improved player in the 15-team league.
Notre Dame will begin the ACC Championship on Wednesday, March 11, against Boston College at 7 p.m. ET.
2020 All-ACC Team First Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 367
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 359
JOHN MOONEY, NOTRE DAME, 351
Tre Jones, Duke, 348
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 305
Second Team
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 234
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 212
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 209
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 200
Markell Johnson, NC State, 101
Third Team
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 98
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 87
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 79
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 69
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 63
Honorable Mention
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 58
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 48
Brandon Childress, Wake Forest 44
Chris Lykes, Miami, 32
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 22
Braxton Key, Virginia, 16
Dwayne Sutton, Louisville 15
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 11
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