My first top 60 is never in precise order and this one is no exception. With only numbers from the easy non-conference schedule to use, it’s difficult to separate the players on a hot streak from the ones who are the real deal. For that reason rather than a strict ranking of prospects 1-60, I rank the prospects in groups that (hopefully) will be sorted out into a more traditional Top 60 a month from now.
Each group is ranked in order of value. For example a freshman center is generally more valuable than a senior guard and are ranked as such. Prospects will rise or drop as the season progresses and the real ones will separate themselves from the crowd.
The 2015 draft is looking intriguing at this point, though I feel it is way too early to label it good, bad or mediocre. There’s a lot of potential here and the subplot of Kentucky’s attempt at an undefeated season should make college basketball a lot of fun for the first 3 months of 2015. It reminds a little of the ’08 draft, which didn’t have the hype f the ’07 draft had the previous year, but turned out to be a pretty deep, talented draft. It is still early and a lot of changes are going to happen, but this draft has a similar dynamic to that one.
The 4 Freshman Centers
Freshmen are the most coveted class in the draft because of upside and center is the most coveted position because of scarcity. This year there are 4 freshmen centers off to great starts. No one stands above the others at this point. All have parts of their game to work on and some are still so raw that they might be back in college next year. At this point any one of them would make me queasy if I were to use the top overall selection on them, but one of the four seems most likely to eventually emerge as the top pick.
Jahlil Okafor, C Duke: Right now I would have to concur with the general consensus that Okafor is the most likely top overall selection. He’s a force on offense and is a solid rebounder. His defense is OK, but not dominating. Because of this I wouldn’t put him in the class of an Anthony Davis or a pre-injury Joel Embiid. His place at the top is shaky because the 3 right below him have all been better at blocking shots.
Karl Anthony Towns, C Kentucky: Towns has been solid as part of Kentucky’s ridiculously talented front line. The Kentucky guys will require a lot of pondering. There are 4 bigs who could be top 10 overall picks. I’m not sure how that dynamic is going affect their numbers.
Myles Turner, C Texas: Turner has actually been better than Towns in some ways. His problem is he struggles with fouls and he hasn’t been as good against top competition. Turner is also the youngest of the top 4 so there’s a tad more upside here.
Jakob Poeltl, C Utah: This guy has been very impressive against a strong non-conference schedule and deserves mention with the others at the top of the mocks. His passing needs a lot of work and he has started to fade some after a strong start.
The Phenom Overseas
Emmanual Mudiay, PG Guangdong: In his 300 minutes before being sidelined by injury Mudiay looked every bit the star prospect.
The Star Returnees
These are a couple of upperclassmen who entered the season as likely top 10 picks and have done nothing to hurt that status. In fact both have helped their cases if anything.
Delon Wright, PG Utah: Wright has picked up where he left off last year and has solidified himself as a likely top 10 pick. He needed to improve his outside shot and that has had mixed results so far. He’s been better, but not over .300 yet.
Willie Cauley-Stein, C Kentucky
The Best of the Rest Freshmen and Sophomores
This group has been very promising and with youth and the upside that comes with it still on their side, all are potential first rounders or better if they can keep it going through the conference schedules.
Stanley Johnson, SF Arizona: Other than the big guys Johnson is the top freshman right now. He has flashed a nice all-around game that all the best small forwards have had.
D’Angelo Russell, SG Ohio State: In addition to being a solid SG, Russell has flashed some PG ability, even though Shannon Scott is the main distributor for the Buckeyes. That adds to his value.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, SF Arizona: I might be over rating Hollis-Jefferson, but I love his range of skills and just how active he is on the court. He does need to improve his offense, both inside and out, but if he gets there he’ll be special.
Chinanu Onuaku, C Louisvile: I had pondered placing Onuaku with the top centers, but he has had trouble staying on the court so I think this is a better spot for him. He’s raw on offense, but the defense and rebounding has been top notch.
Jordan Mickey, PF LSU: A strong defender who has upped his scoring and rebounding as a soph. He even hit a 3-pointer in November. That’s a skill he should work on (career: 1-11) because he is on the smallish side for a PF.
Dakari Johnson, C Kentucky: Another Kentucky big.
Amida Brimah, C Connecticut: As a freshman Brimah was promising, but foul trouble limited him to 16 minutes per game. This year he’s playing starter minutes, 27 per game. He has cut his fouls to the point that it is no longer an issue. He’s rebounding better and is scoring more often and efficiently. Conference games loom, but so far he looks pretty good.
Terry Rozier, SG Louisville: When a SG is just 6’1” his ranking is going to be affected. Rozier has been very impressive though, especially the defensive numbers.
Bobby Portis, PF Arkansas: He’s a big sophomore with stretch 4 potential. The concern this year is his defensive numbers have dropped to dangerously low levels. That’s something he’ll have to fix in the conference games.
Tyus Jones, PG Duke: Jones has been a solid pass-first PG. The unknown is whether he can handle an increased load on offense.
Kennedy Meeks, C North Carolina: Like Brimah, Meeks is a sophomore who has stepped up his game following a freshman year that featured impressive numbers posted in limited minutes. Because he’s short for a center at 6’9” Meeks doesn’t have the same upside as an NBA rim protector that Brimah and some of the freshmen do.
Kevon Looney, PF UCLA: A promising start, but the offense needs a lot of work.
Justise Winslowe, SF Duke: Winslowe is a notch behind the 2 Arizona SFs. He looks decent at this point, but needs to keep improving.
Cameron Payne, PG Murray State: Payne is an impressive sophomore PG. Considering Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry are likely to be sharing time in the Western Conference backcourt in this year’s NBA all-star game I think we can toss any bias there has been against small college guards. Like the others he needs to keep cranking out the great numbers.
Cliff Alexander, PF Kansas
Nigel Williams-Goss, PG Washington
Solid Post-Lottery First Rounders
Upperclassmen who have proven themselves to be solid, if unspectacular prospects. They’re all playing close to the same level they have established. Good enough to use a pick in the 16-30 range on, but not so good to get really excited about.
Frank Kaminsky, C Wisconsin
Montrezl Harrell, PF Louisville
Shawn Long, PF Louisiana-Lafayette
Denzel Livingston, SG Incarnate Word
Players who are getting it done early
These are juniors and seniors who are looking like NBA prospects for the first time in their college careers. Most have a history that is less-than-stellar, so they all bear watching as the conference games heat up.
Kris Dunn, PG Providence: He’s actually a redshirt sophomore, but has been at Providence for 3 seasons so I included him here. Dunn bears watching. He was rated the #23 overall prep prospect in 2012. He struggled with shoulder injuries his first two seasons, logging just under 800 unimpressive minutes. This year he has broken out of the gate looking like a star. If he keeps this level of play up he’ll be in the top 10 next month.
Robert Upshaw, C Washington: He sat out last year after transferring from Fresno State. His freshman year at Fresno was promising, but he has really exploded so far this year. He’s been the best shot blocker in the nation and his other skills have been solid. In recent games he has been getting more court time, around 30 minutes per game, and hasn’t had any trouble with the increased load.
Tyrone Wallace, G California: After 2 seasons as an ordinary college SG, Wallace has been doing it all as a junior. He’s the Bear’s leading scorer. He’s showing some PG skills. He leads the Bears in rebounding by a wide margin. His efficiency and defensive numbers are also at career highs.
Jerian Grant, PG Notre Dame: Grant had stepped up his game last year, but was ruled academically ineligible in late December ending his season. He’s back for his senior year and has continued and even built on the improvement he showed last year. I’m impressed that he got the academics right and returned to the game with the same impact. He still has to prove he can continue this stellar play through the conference schedule. He never got the chance to do that last year, so that remains an unknown.
Bryce Dejean-Jones, SG Iowa State: A senior who transferred from UNLV for his final season, Dejean-Jones’ numbers have been up dramatically across the board. His numbers at UNLV were inefficient and unspectacular, so he’s very much a player likely to decline. It would also be better if he got a little more aggressive on offense. But he has had a very impressive start that’s worth noting.
Craig Bradshaw, SG Belmont: Bradshaw is the latest and possibly the best in the Belmont guard pipeline. The Bruins turn out borderline NBA prospects at guard like nobody else. In recent years Kerron Johnson, Ian Clark and JJ Mann have all caught my eye. Clark is the only one in the NBA, but Bradshaw could join him if he keeps this up.
Egidijus Mockevicius, C Evansville: While his improvement hasn’t been as dramatic as some of the others, there has been an uptick in scoring, rebounding, blocks.
Aaron White, F Iowa: White has been on the fringes if NBA prospectdom for most of his career, looking too much like a tweener to be taken too seriously. As a senior he has stepped up his rebounding and defense enough that he’s worth a mention. That he’s been able to do this and become the leading scorer for the Hawkeyes without any loss to his efficiency has been impressive. The biggest thing for White would be adding an effective 3-pointer to his arsenal. In 4 seasons he has only hit 25% of his 183 attempts.
Rakeem Christmas, PF Syracuse: Christmas has finally arrived! It remains to be seen if the gifts continue into the new year, but so far, so good for this senior.
The Other Highly Touted Freshmen
These freshmen have done some good things at the start, but I’m not ready to jump them into the first round until they fix some major flaws in their games. As is the case with all freshmen there’s a lot of upside here and that has to be considered. With most of these players the issue is low defensive numbers and historically that has been something that is difficult, but not impossible, to improve on.
Chris McCullough, PF Syracuse: His scoring and rebounding have fallen off following a great start. McCullough remains a very impressive defender.
Kelly Oubre, G-F Kansas: Oubre has had an unimpressive start following a lot of preseason hype. He’s starting to get things going, with a couple of double-doubles in recent games. He’s listed as a guard, but so far looks more like a forward to me. He’s shown good offensive skills and has been a very good rebounder for his size. His weaknesses are passing and defense where his numbers are anemic.
Isaac Haas, C Purdue: Another freshman center off to an impressive start. Haas has been a strong offense/weak defense type.
Domantas Sabonis, PF Gonzaga: He’s hit over 70 % of his shots while scoring 20+ P40, which is very impressive. The negative is his defensive numbers just don’t measure up.
Trey Lyles, PF Kentucky: He’s been part of the big man rotation in Kentucky, but hasn’t posted the strong defensive numbers the other 3 have. Offense and rebounding have been solid. He has attempted 21 treys, hitting only 3. I’m not sure if that means he’s a talented shooter in a slump or a player who does stupid things on the court.
Devin Booker, SG Kentucky: As the player with the best P40 on the nation’s top team, Booker deserves a mention. That’s an impressive accomplishment for any freshman. Booker has weak defensive numbers though. I am curious as to whether they would be higher if he played on a less talented team.
James Blackmon, SG Indiana: As a shooter he’s been lights out, but his defensive numbers are very weak.
Rashad Vaughn, SG UNLV: Vaughn has the same good offense/weak defense mix that’s prevalent in this group. Any one of these freshmen could fix that, but until they do it is hard to call them anything other than a marginal prospect.
Justin Jackson, SF North Carolina: He’s been good enough to get a mention but, you guessed it, his defensive numbers need to improve a lot.
A Couple of Senior PGs I Can’t Quit
Briante Weber, PG VCU
Shannon Scott, PG Ohio State: Similar players. They have posted dominating defensive numbers their entire careers. They have passing numbers any PG prospect would kill for. Neither one has been able to get their offense to the point where they can be taken too seriously as a prospect. I still believe both are worth a look because of the defensive and passing dominance they have shown.
The Best of the Rest
Gary Payton II, SG Oregon State: It’s just cool to type that name in. But he’s much more than the son of an all-time great. Payton II has been very impressive coming in as a transfer and leading a balanced Beavers attack in scoring. He also leads the team in rebounding, steals, blocks and FG pct. The only thing knocking him down as a prospect is he doesn’t score very often. He is a player to watch.
Gabriel Olaseni, C Iowa
Amir Williams, C Ohio State: Olaseni and Williams are a couple of Big 10 seniors who have looked intriguing at times because of their rim protector potential, but have never quite put it all together. Both are back having typical seasons. Both have enough potential that they could be a second round steal.
Derrick Marks, SG Boise State: Marks struggled with his offense last year, but seems to have found his touch again.
Christian Wood, C UNLV
Brice Johnson, PF North Carolina
Wesley Saunders, SG Harvard
Fred Van Vleet, PG Wichita State: His scoring efficiency has regressed back to freshman year levels, which makes me wonder if the improvement he made last year was a fluke. That’s often a problem with smaller players. He’ll be back in the first round if he can get it back, because all the other numbers are solid.
Corey Walden, PG Eastern Kentucky
Corey Hawkins, PG UC-Davis: These 2 Coreys are senior PGs who have stepped up their games enough to be taken seriously as NBA prospects. If they keep this level of play up they’ll earn a license to drive to the hoop at the next level.
Alan Williams, PF UCSB: Williams is the same player he has been. He posts dominant defensive and rebounding numbers with high volume, inefficient offense. Add in the fact that he’s small for a PF and he’s a tough sell as a prospect despite some gaudy stats. He did attempt the first 2 treys of his college career this season. He missed both, but hitting a few of those would help his cause. He’s still a good round 2 value as a banger.
Rayvonte Rice, SG Illinois
JJ Avila, SF Colorado State
My first top 60 is never in precise order and this one is no exception. With only numbers from the easy non-conference schedule to use, it’s difficult to separate the players on a hot streak from the ones who are the real deal. For that reason rather than a strict ranking of prospects 1-60, I rank the prospects in groups that (hopefully) will be sorted out into a more traditional Top 60 a month from now.
Each group is ranked in order of value. For example a freshman center is generally more valuable than a senior guard and are ranked as such. Prospects will rise or drop as the season progresses and the real ones will separate themselves from the crowd.
The 2015 draft is looking intriguing at this point, though I feel it is way too early to label it good, bad or mediocre. There’s a lot of potential here and the subplot of Kentucky’s attempt at an undefeated season should make college basketball a lot of fun for the first 3 months of 2015. It reminds a little of the ’08 draft, which didn’t have the hype f the ’07 draft had the previous year, but turned out to be a pretty deep, talented draft. It is still early and a lot of changes are going to happen, but this draft has a similar dynamic to that one.
The 4 Freshman Centers
Freshmen are the most coveted class in the draft because of upside and center is the most coveted position because of scarcity. This year there are 4 freshmen centers off to great starts. No one stands above the others at this point. All have parts of their game to work on and some are still so raw that they might be back in college next year. At this point any one of them would make me queasy if I were to use the top overall selection on them, but one of the four seems most likely to eventually emerge as the top pick.
Jahlil Okafor, C Duke: Right now I would have to concur with the general consensus that Okafor is the most likely top overall selection. He’s a force on offense and is a solid rebounder. His defense is OK, but not dominating. Because of this I wouldn’t put him in the class of an Anthony Davis or a pre-injury Joel Embiid. His place at the top is shaky because the 3 right below him have all been better at blocking shots.
Karl Anthony Towns, C Kentucky: Towns has been solid as part of Kentucky’s ridiculously talented front line. The Kentucky guys will require a lot of pondering. There are 4 bigs who could be top 10 overall picks. I’m not sure how that dynamic is going affect their numbers.
Myles Turner, C Texas: Turner has actually been better than Towns in some ways. His problem is he struggles with fouls and he hasn’t been as good against top competition. Turner is also the youngest of the top 4 so there’s a tad more upside here.
Jakob Poeltl, C Utah: This guy has been very impressive against a strong non-conference schedule and deserves mention with the others at the top of the mocks. His passing needs a lot of work and he has started to fade some after a strong start.
The Phenom Overseas
Emmanual Mudiay, PG Guangdong: In his 300 minutes before being sidelined by injury Mudiay looked every bit the star prospect.
The Star Returnees
These are a couple of upperclassmen who entered the season as likely top 10 picks and have done nothing to hurt that status. In fact both have helped their cases if anything.
Delon Wright, PG Utah: Wright has picked up where he left off last year and has solidified himself as a likely top 10 pick. He needed to improve his outside shot and that has had mixed results so far. He’s been better, but not over .300 yet.
Willie Cauley-Stein, C Kentucky
The Best of the Rest Freshmen and Sophomores
This group has been very promising and with youth and the upside that comes with it still on their side, all are potential first rounders or better if they can keep it going through the conference schedules.
Stanley Johnson, SF Arizona: Other than the big guys Johnson is the top freshman right now. He has flashed a nice all-around game that all the best small forwards have had.
D’Angelo Russell, SG Ohio State: In addition to being a solid SG, Russell has flashed some PG ability, even though Shannon Scott is the main distributor for the Buckeyes. That adds to his value.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, SF Arizona: I might be over rating Hollis-Jefferson, but I love his range of skills and just how active he is on the court. He does need to improve his offense, both inside and out, but if he gets there he’ll be special.
Chinanu Onuaku, C Louisvile: I had pondered placing Onuaku with the top centers, but he has had trouble staying on the court so I think this is a better spot for him. He’s raw on offense, but the defense and rebounding has been top notch.
Jordan Mickey, PF LSU: A strong defender who has upped his scoring and rebounding as a soph. He even hit a 3-pointer in November. That’s a skill he should work on (career: 1-11) because he is on the smallish side for a PF.
Dakari Johnson, C Kentucky: Another Kentucky big.
Amida Brimah, C Connecticut: As a freshman Brimah was promising, but foul trouble limited him to 16 minutes per game. This year he’s playing starter minutes, 27 per game. He has cut his fouls to the point that it is no longer an issue. He’s rebounding better and is scoring more often and efficiently. Conference games loom, but so far he looks pretty good.
Terry Rozier, SG Louisville: When a SG is just 6’1” his ranking is going to be affected. Rozier has been very impressive though, especially the defensive numbers.
Bobby Portis, PF Arkansas: He’s a big sophomore with stretch 4 potential. The concern this year is his defensive numbers have dropped to dangerously low levels. That’s something he’ll have to fix in the conference games.
Tyus Jones, PG Duke: Jones has been a solid pass-first PG. The unknown is whether he can handle an increased load on offense.
Kennedy Meeks, C North Carolina: Like Brimah, Meeks is a sophomore who has stepped up his game following a freshman year that featured impressive numbers posted in limited minutes. Because he’s short for a center at 6’9” Meeks doesn’t have the same upside as an NBA rim protector that Brimah and some of the freshmen do.
Kevon Looney, PF UCLA: A promising start, but the offense needs a lot of work.
Justise Winslowe, SF Duke: Winslowe is a notch behind the 2 Arizona SFs. He looks decent at this point, but needs to keep improving.
Cameron Payne, PG Murray State: Payne is an impressive sophomore PG. Considering Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry are likely to be sharing time in the Western Conference backcourt in this year’s NBA all-star game I think we can toss any bias there has been against small college guards. Like the others he needs to keep cranking out the great numbers.
Cliff Alexander, PF Kansas
Nigel Williams-Goss, PG Washington
Solid Post-Lottery First Rounders
Upperclassmen who have proven themselves to be solid, if unspectacular prospects. They’re all playing close to the same level they have established. Good enough to use a pick in the 16-30 range on, but not so good to get really excited about.
Frank Kaminsky, C Wisconsin
Montrezl Harrell, PF Louisville
Shawn Long, PF Louisiana-Lafayette
Denzel Livingston, SG Incarnate Word
Players who are getting it done early
These are juniors and seniors who are looking like NBA prospects for the first time in their college careers. Most have a history that is less-than-stellar, so they all bear watching as the conference games heat up.
Kris Dunn, PG Providence: He’s actually a redshirt sophomore, but has been at Providence for 3 seasons so I included him here. Dunn bears watching. He was rated the #23 overall prep prospect in 2012. He struggled with shoulder injuries his first two seasons, logging just under 800 unimpressive minutes. This year he has broken out of the gate looking like a star. If he keeps this level of play up he’ll be in the top 10 next month.
Robert Upshaw, C Washington: He sat out last year after transferring from Fresno State. His freshman year at Fresno was promising, but he has really exploded so far this year. He’s been the best shot blocker in the nation and his other skills have been solid. In recent games he has been getting more court time, around 30 minutes per game, and hasn’t had any trouble with the increased load.
Tyrone Wallace, G California: After 2 seasons as an ordinary college SG, Wallace has been doing it all as a junior. He’s the Bear’s leading scorer. He’s showing some PG skills. He leads the Bears in rebounding by a wide margin. His efficiency and defensive numbers are also at career highs.
Jerian Grant, PG Notre Dame: Grant had stepped up his game last year, but was ruled academically ineligible in late December ending his season. He’s back for his senior year and has continued and even built on the improvement he showed last year. I’m impressed that he got the academics right and returned to the game with the same impact. He still has to prove he can continue this stellar play through the conference schedule. He never got the chance to do that last year, so that remains an unknown.
Bryce Dejean-Jones, SG Iowa State: A senior who transferred from UNLV for his final season, Dejean-Jones’ numbers have been up dramatically across the board. His numbers at UNLV were inefficient and unspectacular, so he’s very much a player likely to decline. It would also be better if he got a little more aggressive on offense. But he has had a very impressive start that’s worth noting.
Craig Bradshaw, SG Belmont: Bradshaw is the latest and possibly the best in the Belmont guard pipeline. The Bruins turn out borderline NBA prospects at guard like nobody else. In recent years Kerron Johnson, Ian Clark and JJ Mann have all caught my eye. Clark is the only one in the NBA, but Bradshaw could join him if he keeps this up.
Egidijus Mockevicius, C Evansville: While his improvement hasn’t been as dramatic as some of the others, there has been an uptick in scoring, rebounding, blocks.
Aaron White, F Iowa: White has been on the fringes if NBA prospectdom for most of his career, looking too much like a tweener to be taken too seriously. As a senior he has stepped up his rebounding and defense enough that he’s worth a mention. That he’s been able to do this and become the leading scorer for the Hawkeyes without any loss to his efficiency has been impressive. The biggest thing for White would be adding an effective 3-pointer to his arsenal. In 4 seasons he has only hit 25% of his 183 attempts.
Rakeem Christmas, PF Syracuse: Christmas has finally arrived! It remains to be seen if the gifts continue into the new year, but so far, so good for this senior.
The Other Highly Touted Freshmen
These freshmen have done some good things at the start, but I’m not ready to jump them into the first round until they fix some major flaws in their games. As is the case with all freshmen there’s a lot of upside here and that has to be considered. With most of these players the issue is low defensive numbers and historically that has been something that is difficult, but not impossible, to improve on.
Chris McCullough, PF Syracuse: His scoring and rebounding have fallen off following a great start. McCullough remains a very impressive defender.
Kelly Oubre, G-F Kansas: Oubre has had an unimpressive start following a lot of preseason hype. He’s starting to get things going, with a couple of double-doubles in recent games. He’s listed as a guard, but so far looks more like a forward to me. He’s shown good offensive skills and has been a very good rebounder for his size. His weaknesses are passing and defense where his numbers are anemic.
Isaac Haas, C Purdue: Another freshman center off to an impressive start. Haas has been a strong offense/weak defense type.
Domantas Sabonis, PF Gonzaga: He’s hit over 70 % of his shots while scoring 20+ P40, which is very impressive. The negative is his defensive numbers just don’t measure up.
Trey Lyles, PF Kentucky: He’s been part of the big man rotation in Kentucky, but hasn’t posted the strong defensive numbers the other 3 have. Offense and rebounding have been solid. He has attempted 21 treys, hitting only 3. I’m not sure if that means he’s a talented shooter in a slump or a player who does stupid things on the court.
Devin Booker, SG Kentucky: As the player with the best P40 on the nation’s top team, Booker deserves a mention. That’s an impressive accomplishment for any freshman. Booker has weak defensive numbers though. I am curious as to whether they would be higher if he played on a less talented team.
James Blackmon, SG Indiana: As a shooter he’s been lights out, but his defensive numbers are very weak.
Rashad Vaughn, SG UNLV: Vaughn has the same good offense/weak defense mix that’s prevalent in this group. Any one of these freshmen could fix that, but until they do it is hard to call them anything other than a marginal prospect.
Justin Jackson, SF North Carolina: He’s been good enough to get a mention but, you guessed it, his defensive numbers need to improve a lot.
A Couple of Senior PGs I Can’t Quit
Briante Weber, PG VCU
Shannon Scott, PG Ohio State: Similar players. They have posted dominating defensive numbers their entire careers. They have passing numbers any PG prospect would kill for. Neither one has been able to get their offense to the point where they can be taken too seriously as a prospect. I still believe both are worth a look because of the defensive and passing dominance they have shown.
The Best of the Rest
Gary Payton II, SG Oregon State: It’s just cool to type that name in. But he’s much more than the son of an all-time great. Payton II has been very impressive coming in as a transfer and leading a balanced Beavers attack in scoring. He also leads the team in rebounding, steals, blocks and FG pct. The only thing knocking him down as a prospect is he doesn’t score very often. He is a player to watch.
Gabriel Olaseni, C Iowa
Amir Williams, C Ohio State: Olaseni and Williams are a couple of Big 10 seniors who have looked intriguing at times because of their rim protector potential, but have never quite put it all together. Both are back having typical seasons. Both have enough potential that they could be a second round steal.
Derrick Marks, SG Boise State: Marks struggled with his offense last year, but seems to have found his touch again.
Christian Wood, C UNLV
Brice Johnson, PF North Carolina
Wesley Saunders, SG Harvard
Fred Van Vleet, PG Wichita State: His scoring efficiency has regressed back to freshman year levels, which makes me wonder if the improvement he made last year was a fluke. That’s often a problem with smaller players. He’ll be back in the first round if he can get it back, because all the other numbers are solid.
Corey Walden, PG Eastern Kentucky
Corey Hawkins, PG UC-Davis: These 2 Coreys are senior PGs who have stepped up their games enough to be taken seriously as NBA prospects. If they keep this level of play up they’ll earn a license to drive to the hoop at the next level.
Alan Williams, PF UCSB: Williams is the same player he has been. He posts dominant defensive and rebounding numbers with high volume, inefficient offense. Add in the fact that he’s small for a PF and he’s a tough sell as a prospect despite some gaudy stats. He did attempt the first 2 treys of his college career this season. He missed both, but hitting a few of those would help his cause. He’s still a good round 2 value as a banger.
Rayvonte Rice, SG Illinois
JJ Avila, SF Colorado State