Sporting News released its All-America teams, and Kentucky Wildcats point guard Lamont Butler made the cut.

Columnist Mike Decourcy was the one to release the lists with players like Cooper Flagg and Mark Sears on his First Team. Butler didn’t quite make the First-Team cut, despite having been exceptional throughout the first half of the season, though he was able to be a Second-Team selection.

Having transferred from San Diego State, where he was the MWC Defensive Player of the Year, Butler has stepped his game up offensively this season which has led to a massive breakthrough for the senior guard.

Under Mark Pope, Butler is averaging a career-best 13.6 points per game and has eclipsed 50% from the field for the first time in his career as well. He’s currently hitting 52.4% of his attempts and 39.6% from deep, another career-best figure for Butler.

Having been instrumental for the Cats in several big-time performances, Butler has undoubtedly cemented himself as one of the go-to options for Kentucky.

That said, here’s what Decourcy said about the star guard.

“Butler is the one player on Kentucky’s roster who has been where everyone in Big Blue Nation is desperate to return: the Final Four. He ran San Diego State’s attack in the 2023 Final Four, but even with that background, he was not expected to carry such a heavy a burden with this deep Wildcats team. He began the season more or less alternating with veteran Kerr Kriisa, but an injury to Kriisa has left Butler as the guy in charge, and he’s taken command of the team’s varied weapons. He’s averaged 14.4 points and 6.8 assists in SEC play. His deep shooting has been a pleasant surprise; Butler’s best previous season percentage was 34.2 in the Final Four year.”

Curtis Jones, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Javon Small, and Braden Smith were the other players featured on the Second Team. Small was actually someone Pope heavily recruited before going all-in on Butler, and the rest is history.