Austin Rivers: 2012 Tournament Showing Will Hurt Duke PG's NBA Draft Stock

Duke's second-round loss in the 2012 NCAA tournament was a heart breaker for the Blue Devils and was a loss that took a serious hurt on the program, as well as PG Austin Rivers.

No. 2 seeded Duke was taken down in dramatic upset fashion, losing to No. 15 Lehigh in the second round of play, 75-70.

Aside from the lack of effort defensively as a team, allowing 47 points to the Mountain Hawks in the second half, it was a loss in which the team's leader was unable to perform when the team needed it most.

In the loss, it was Rivers' lack of offense that took a toll on the team's play throughout the contest. Rivers finished the game shooting 5-for-14 from the floor and posted 19 points and just one assist.

As this younger Duke squad was looking to dynamic scoring nights from Rivers to push forward, a 19-point game paired with a poor shooting performance was enough to have Duke bounced surprisingly early in the 2012 tournament.

The question now becomes: Does the loss hurt Rivers' draft stock? No question about it.

Rivers has had himself a promising season overall when taking into account his production. Rivers averaged 15.4 points per game in his freshman season and had some top-notch performances against some of the better ACC teams in the conference.

In spite of a poor offensive performance against Lehigh, it won't be the lack of offense that has Rivers dropping in the NBA draft projections. His offensive talent is undoubtedly there and ready to be further developed in the pros.

The problem for Rivers has been his ability to close out defensively. The Lehigh guards were able to dominate Duke's guards with a combined 41 points in the game from both C.J. McCollum and Mackey McKnight. McCollum would score 30 points, grab six rebounds and post six assists in the win.

Allowing these type of numbers was a big hit to the Duke PG, as Rivers had been expected to be a top-10 pick in the NBA draft.

More than likely, Rivers has dropped to the end of the lottery selections with the second-round loss. Although not dropping too far down, his lack of defense throughout the course of this season and in a game where the team needed him most will undoubtedly hurt his chances to go top 10 in the 2012 NBA Draft.