The Hoops Junkie

I don’t do mock drafts, because I have no idea who teams are going to select on draft day, but here is my final big board ranking the players in order of who teams should take in tonight’s draft.

 
1. John Wall (Kentucky) 6′4″ Freshman, PG - Dynamic, super athletic point guard with good size and a game with the attacking style of Derrick Rose andthe point guard instincts of Jason Kidd.
2. Evan Turner (Ohio St.) 6′7″ Junior, SG/SF - A smooth, do-it-all wing player with a great handle and playmaking skills. Similar to a pre-ankle injury Grant Hill.
3. DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) 6′10″ Freshman, C - A load down low with great footwork and offensive polish for a big man his age. Concerns about attitude is a big potential drawback, but the talent is too good for me to drop him any lower.
4. Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) 6′9″ Freshman, PF/C - Physically gifted 4 man was stuck on a team that didn’t utilize him enough. Still has a ways to go developing offensive skills but has a solid base to build on and has a lot of room to grow.
5. Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) 6′9″ Sophomore, PF/SF - A long, athletic, running 4 man with developing skill set. Still needs improvement of perimeter skills and finishing more efficiently at the rim but has great upside. May not help much right away but with some patience he can become a Josh Smith type power forward.
6. Wesley Johnson (Syracuse) 6′7″ Junior, SF - Athletic small forward with versatile game and smooth jump shot. Active enough on the glass that he can play some small ball 4. As of now, he’s not much of a threat to make plays off the dribble though, so that’s an area he needs to improve on to be more than just a role player offensively.
7. Ekpe Udoh (Baylor) 6′10″ Junior, PF/C - Long, skilled, shotblocker with a nice feel can affect the game in a lot of ways. He’ll be 23 soon, but I think he still has quite a bit more room to grow offensively as he’s already shown huge strides developing his post moves, outside shot, and dribble game.
8. Greg Monroe (Georgetown) 6′11″ Sophomore, C  - Very skilled, lefty, big man with a great feel for the game. Not a great athlete and needs to work on his weak hand. Probably could also improve as a jump shooter to be effective facing up and on pick & pop situations.
9. Paul George (Fresno St) 6′8″ Sophomore, SF/SG - Possesses all aof the physical tools for an NBA wing and should be able to defend well at the NBA level with his size, length, and athletic ability. Offensively, he has a pretty good feel and a nice skill set to build on with solid ballhandling and the ability to get his shot off in many different ways.
10. Xavier Henry (Kansas) 6′6″ Freshman, SF/SG - Lefty with a nice stroke and strong body needs to develop more of a dribble game to become a scorer and not just a shooter at the next level. And although he’s not super explosive, he should still be effective coming off screens and being used like Rip Hamilton or Michael Redd. continue reading »

 
Now that the dust has settled, and we know who is eligible for the 2010 NBA Draft, I thought I’d update my big board with who I feel are the top NBA prospects from the college game. This isn’t the order I think they will be chosen but rather the order in which I would select them. I’m missing some of the overseas prospects, and I’m going to try and see some tape of them before the draft, so I can include them as well. I’m also still trying to watch more of these college guys, so my board will still probably fluctuate a bit between now and draft day. I tried my best not to be too influenced by other rankings or mock drafts I’ve seen elsewhere when making my list. It’s easy to be swayed when you see where a player is ranked on another site and let it influence your opinion, but I’d really like to keep this as a list of how I would rank them based solely on my own evaluations.

 
1. John Wall (Kentucky) 6′4″ Freshman, PG – Dynamic, super athletic point guard with good size and a game with the attacking style of Derrick Rose andthe point guard instincts of Jason Kidd.
2. Evan Turner (Ohio St.) 6′7″ Junior, SG/SF – A smooth, do-it-all wing player with a great handle and playmaking skills. Similar to a pre-ankle injury Grant Hill.
3. DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) 6′10″ Freshman, C – A load down low with great footwork and offensive polish for a big man his age. Concerns about attitude is a big potential drawback, but the talent is too good for me to drop him any lower.
4. Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) 6′9″ Freshman, PF – Physically gifted 4 man was stuck on a team that didn’t utilize him enough. Still has a ways to go developing offensive skills but has a solid base to build on and has a lot of room to grow.
5. Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) 6′9″ Sophomore, PF/SF – A long, athletic, running 4 man with developing skill set. Still needs improvement of perimeter skills and finishing more efficiently at the rim but has great upside. May not help much right away but with some patience he can become a Josh Smith type power forward. continue reading »

 
I keep a running big board that I update regularly of who I believe are the top college prospects for the 2010 NBA draft, but I haven’t done a post on the topic in awhile. Since I’ve gotten a chance to see quite a bit of college hoops since then, and there are only a few games left, I feel like I have a pretty good feel for many of the prospects that played the college game this season. I have to leave out the European and other overseas guys since I haven’t seen them play, and unfortunately my cable package didn’t allow me to see a few big names in the college ranks either, most noteably Hassan Whiteside at Marshall and Larry Sanders at VCU. For the most part though, I at least got to watch at least a few games of each guy this season, and if they’ve been around college for more than a year, I got to build on my previous assessments. And although I don’t have the resources to evaluate each player as thoroughly as I’d like to, or as thouroughly as any NBA team probably will, I still feel like I have a good enough eye that I have a fairly solid read on the NBA potential of most of these players. And if you’re ever looking for a more in depth scouting report on a player, or you’re wanting to follow the rumors mill leading up to this year’s NBA draft, then check out DraftExpress. They cover the draft in depth year round and do a great job. ESPN has does a good job too if you have the Insider subscription.

 
Here’s who I see as the best 2010 NBA Draft prospects playing NCAA basketball this year. We don’t know yet which underclassmen will end up putting their names in and making themselves available for the draft, and which ones will decide to go back to school, so I’m just going to include everybody for now. I’ll do another update once the deadline has passed, and we know exactly who is eligible to be drafted.

 
1. John Wall (Kentucky) 6′4″ Freshman, PG – Dynamic, super athletic point guard with good size and a game with a little Derrick Rose and a little Jason Kidd
2. Evan Turner (Ohio St.) 6′7″ Junior, SG/SF – A smooth, do-it-all wing player with a great handle and playmaking skills. Similar to a pre-ankle injury Grant Hill
3. Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) 6′9″ Freshman, PF – Physically gifted 4 man was stuck on a team that didn’t utilize him enough. Still has a ways to go developing offensive skills but has a solid base to build on and has a lot of room to grow.
4. DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) 6′10″ Freshman, C – A load down low with great footwork and offensive polish for a big man his age. Concerns about attitude is the lone drawback and prevents me from putting him a spot or two higher.
5. Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) 6′9″ Sophomore, PF – A long, athletic, running 4 man with improving skills. Still needs improvement of perimeter skills and finishing more efficiently at the rim but has great upside. May not help much right away but with some patience he can become a Josh Smith type power forward. continue reading »

 
Last week I previewed the Midwest and made my predictions, which turned out to be terrible. This region has gone from being the toughest to the weakest pretty quickly due to the upsets of Kansas and Georgetwon, and the injury to Kalin Lucas. It seems like anything is possible in the Midwest now, but here’s what I look for.

 
(5) Michigan State vs. (9) Northern iowa

• Current Line - Michigan State minus 1
• KenPom Ratings – #24 Northern Iowa (53 on O, 14 on D) vs #26 Michigan St (35 on O, 30 on D)
• Probable Future NBA Players - Kalin Lucas (Michigan St) – out with injury
• Fringe NBA Players - Durrell Summers (Michigan St)
• The Pick- I honestly didn’t get to see enough of this Northern Iowa team yet to give very good analysis on this one, but I’ve liked what I have seen from them. While Kansas was the better team, and the game was an upset, it didn’t really appear to be fluky. UNI controlled the tempo, played solid defense, and they have shooters on the perimeter in bangers inside who did a great job on the boards. So as much as I like Tom Izzo, and as hard as it is to pick his teams to lose, I don’t think they’ll have enough in this one without Kalin Lucas, and with a hobbled Chris Allen. Maybe backup point guard Korie Lucious will come through big the absence of Lucas, and maybe Darrell Summers will have another huge game to put MSU over the top, but I think Northern Iowa is probably the better team here with the personnel that will be on the floor. Winner – Northern Iowa continue reading »

 
Last week I previewed the West and made my predictions, which have been pretty decent so far as I had three of the four remaining teams in the region. I went with Vanderbilt instead of Butler, and actually had UTEP beating Butler in the first round. Here is what to look for in the West Region this weekend.

 
(1) Syracuse vs. (5) Butler

• Current Line - Syracuse minus 6.5
• KenPom Ratings – #4 Syracuse (7 on O, 17 on D) vs #17 Butler (50 on O, 10 on D)
• Probable Future NBA Players – Wesley Johnson (Syracuse), Kris Joseph (Syracuse), Gordon Hayward (Butler)
• Fringe NBA Players - Andy Rautins (Syracuse)
• The Pick – I probably underrated Butler a bit when I picked them to lose in the first round to UTEP. In the first half it looked like I would be right, but the Bulldogs played a great second half behind the hot shooting of Shelvin Mack. They definitely have a chance against the top seed Syracuse, who will once again be playing without their starting center, Arinze Onuaku, but it will take a great effort. Butler will need another solid defensive performace, and they’ll need to find a hot shooter or two to make 3’s over top of the Syracuse zone. This Butler team hasn’t shot the ball as well as some of their teams in the past though, and their best player, Gordon Hayward, has struggled with his outside shot for most of the season and for the first two games in the tourney. A better shooting night from Hayward is almost essential for Butler to score enough points to keep up with the more talented Syracuse squad. Syracuse has been inconsistent at times this season, but they played great last weekend, and I think they’ll do the same in this game against Butler and cruise to the regional final. Winner – Syracuse continue reading »

Last week I previewed the East  and made my predictions, which actually turned out fairly well in this region. Kentucky and West Virginia were easy choices to make the Sweet 16, and I missed on Cornell, but I think picking Washington pretty much makes up for it. Here is what to look for in the East Region this weekend.

 
(1) Kentucky vs. (12) Cornell

• Current Line - Kentucky minus 8.5
• KenPom Ratings – #3 Kentucky (10 on O, 8 on D) vs #44 Cornell (9 on O, 131 on D)
• Probable Future NBA Players – John Wall (Kentucky), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky), Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), Eric Bledsoe (Kentucky)
• Fringe NBA Players - Daniel Orton (Kentucky), Ryan Wittman (Cornell)
• The Pick – This is the matchup probably being most discussed in the media as the Ivy Leaguers take on a Kentucky team loaded with NBA talent. Cornell was extremely impressive in the first two rounds winning convincingly in both games over solid teams in Temple and Wisconsin. They’ll have a totally different task ahead of them in this game though facing Kentucky, who also won with ease in both of their games last weekend. Point guard Louis Dale, small forward Ryan Wittman, and big man Jeff Foote give the Big Red very good balance offensively, and they shot the ball and ran their offense very efficiently in the first 2 rounds. And although Temple and Wisconsin are both good defensive clubs, Kentucky brings another level of athleticism to the table, and they’ll look to pressure the ball and get out on the hot 3 point shooters of Cornell. Kentucky will need to use their defense and rebounding to help get their offense started as they’ll want to push the pace and make this game as up-tempo as possible. They have far superior athletes, and the more wide open they can make this game, the more it plays to their advantage. It will be interesting to see if Cornell can frustrate them and keep it close. If they shoot the ball like they did last weekend, they’ll definitely have a chance. They proved earlier in the season that they’re capable of hanging with the big boys when they almost won at Kansas, so there’s no doubt that they’ll be confident in this one. Ultimately though, I think Kenutcky will prevail. Wall and Bledsoe have it going right now, Cousins and Patterson are tough inside, and you can bet that Coach Cal is stressing all week how important it is to get out on the Cornell shooters. Winner – Kentucky continue reading »

 
Last week I previewed the South Region and made my predictions, which turned out to be decent but not great. My picks for the regional final, Baylor and Duke, are both still alive, but I picked the wrong team to upset Villanova (I had Richmond instead of St. Mary’s), and I only had Purdue winning one game. With the matchups set for this weekend, here is what to look for in the South Region.

 
(1) Duke vs. (4) Purdue

• Current Line – Duke minus 8
• KenPom Ratings – #1 Duke (2 on O, 3 on D) vs #13 Purdue (67 on O, 4 on D)
• Probable Future NBA Players – Kyle Singler (Duke)
• Fringe NBA Players – Jon Scheyer (Duke), Mason Plumlee (Duke), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue)
• The Pick – Both of these teams are extremely well coached and very solid on the defensive end. Purdue obviously lost a ton when Robbie Hummel got hurt, and it will probably show up even more in this game against a very big Duke team. They’re now playing JaJuan Johnson and four guards, and the guards they do have aren’t talented enough offensively to really utilize any speed and quickness advantages they may have if they find a Duke big like Lance Thomas or Mason Plumlee guarding them. Matt Painter should be commended for the coaching job he’s done, as should the Purdue players for gutting out two wins when most had them losing in the first round, but I think this is where it ends for them.  The Boilers will probably struggle to score against the Duke defense, and even if Purdue does on a good job of defending the Duke perimeter trio of Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, and Kyle Singler (it should be fun to watch the smaller Chris Kramer pester Singler, assuming that is who Kramer guards), I think the Duke bigs will be able to offensive rebound and score easy baskets inside to make the difference. Winner – Duke continue reading »

Since it’s getting close to midnight on Wednesday, and I’m out of time and energy to write a full post on my analysis and predictions for the Final Four, I’m just going with a my quick picks so that I have them on the record, and you can make fun of me after all of my teams make me look bad. If you’ve read the bracket breakdown previews for the West, South, East, and Midwest, you know that I’ve got a Final Four of Syracuse, Baylor, Kentucky, and Kansas. It’s pretty chalky with the three number one seeds, but they’ve been the three best teams almost all season long. And Baylor has been the team I’ve been calling the most underrated team since early in the year. Anyway, I’m going with Kansas and Kentucky meeting in the National Championship game giving everybody the matchup they want of the two best teams going head to head. And I have Kansas, my number one team all year, winning the 2010 National Championship. I know it’s nothing exciting, but that’s what I’ve got.

 
So far I’ve done previews of the West Region, South Region, and the East Region, so now I’m finally getting to the strongest bracket, which is the Midwest. Kansas was awarded the top overall seed in the tournament by the selection committee, but it certainly looks like they got the toughest draw. Here is the full preview with the same format as before using statistics (Ken Pomeroy’s rankings), talent (probable future NBA players based on my NBA Draft Big Board), and my picks with analysis. continue reading »

So far I’ve done previews of the West Region and the South Region, and now I’m tackling the East Regional, which looks to be the second toughest of the four, highlighted by top seeded Kentucky and Big East tourney champ West Virgina, who many thought would receive a number one seed. Here is the full preview with the same format as before using statistics (Ken Pomeroy’s rankings), talent (probable future NBA players based on my NBA Draft Big Board), and my picks with analysis. continue reading »