NBA Draft 2012: 8 Players Who Hurt Their Draft Stock in NCAA Tournament

March Madness has finally reached the stage that we've all been waiting for: the Final Four.

In turn, the tournament has created stars and forged legacies. The shocking has become the obvious, and now, four teams are on the doorstep of glory.

Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State are about to make history.

For every great achievement, however, there is an unfortunate amount of sorrow and failure. Both teams and individuals share the heartbreak of an NCAA tournament departure, but the individual pain may sting the worst.

After all, some of these players may have seriously damaged their stock in the 2012 NBA draft.

Here's who did.

Fab Melo, Center, Syracuse Orange

One of the most overly reported stories of the NCAA tournament has been Syracuse center Fab Melo's absence due to ineligibility. According to the New York Times' Pete Thamel, it relates to his earlier suspension for academic issues.

Once projected as a late first-round draft pick, Melo has not made Chad Ford's most recent first-round mock draft. Considering Ford is in constant contact with scouts and general managers, it's hard to discredit his opinion.

Two things did go Melo's way, though. Syracuse's tournament exit came in a game in which they could not stop Ohio State's star big man, Jared Sullinger, whom Melo would have likely defended at some point in the game.

The other would be Florida's Patric Young declaring his intention to stay at Florida, according to ESPN's Jason King.

Nevertheless, Melo's absence has certainly damaged his draft stock.

Season Averages: 7.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.9 bpg

Harrison Barnes, Small Forward, North Carolina Tar Heels

Entering the NCAA tournament, there was debate about whether Harrison Barnes or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was the better small forward prospect. After a lackluster tournament from Barnes, which ended with yesterday's heartbreaking Elite Eight loss to Kansas, it's becoming relatively clear who has won the draft-stock battle.

Barnes shot the ball poorly, going 20-of-51 for the tournament, including just 5-of-14 against Kansas. In addition to his poor shooting, he turned the ball over eight times in the past two games alone. While his status as a top-five draft pick is likely to remain unchanged, his tournament exit leaves a bitter taste that should may affect both scouts and his decision to leave UNC.

After all, an Elite Eight loss in 2011 sparked a sophomore-season return.

Season Averages: 17.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.1 spg

Jeremy Lamb, Shooting Guard, Connecticut Huskies

Jeremy Lamb has gone from potential top-10 draft pick to a threat to miss the lottery altogether. The main reason why? The kid disappears when the game is on the line.

While his 19 points are certainly a pretty statistic to look at, consider the fact that three of those points came with the Huskies down 16 points with 25 seconds to go. Another statistic to look at is his 6-of-15 shooting.

As much as his own play has hurt his draft stock, the elevated level of play of the other shooting guard prospects has been equally as detrimental.

The conversation was once "Bradley Beal or Jeremy Lamb?" Now, it's clear that the victor from that battle is Beal.

Tack on the emergence of other guards behind him, including Dion Waiters of Syracuse and C.J. McCollum of Lehigh, and it becomes more likely that teams will take the lower-risk players and utilize their high picks on other needs.

Season Averages: 17.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.2 spg

John Jenkins, Shooting Guard, Vanderbilt Commodores

After a dominant 27-point performance against Harvard in the Round of 64, the junior shooting guard shot just 3-of-13 against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers won the game by just three points, a deficit that Jenkins could have closed had he not shot 2-of-9 from distance.

Not what a player on the outside looking in needed for his first-round draft hopes.

What may hurt Jenkins the most is the fact that Lehigh's C.J. McCollum has recently seen a rise above Jenkins on Chad Ford's big board.

While Jenkins is one of the best pure shooters in the nation, it might behoove him to stay another season and not risk the severe drop-off from talent to placement.

Season Averages: 19.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.2 apg

Mason Plumlee, Power Forward, Duke Blue Devils

While most have targeted Austin Rivers' premature draft entry (as reported by CBS Sports' Jeff Goodman), the biggest loser from Lehigh's upset of the Blue Devils was Mason Plumlee.

Strangely, he was as close to flawless as you could come.

Plumlee scored 19 points and hauled in 12 rebounds, shooting a perfect 9-of-9 from the field. The issue is his early exit opened the door for countless other players at his position to step up and raise their own draft stocks.

That includes James Michael McAdoo and John Henson of rival UNC, tweener Terrence Jones of Kentucky, C.J. Leslie of North Carolina State and Andrew Nicholson of St. Bonaventure.

This will be the only time I say this, but blame the team and not the player.

Season Averages: 11.1 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.6 bpg

Mike Moser, Power Forward, UNLV Rebels

Following UNLV's surprising second-round loss to the Colorado Buffaloes, the biggest question mark was the draft stock of star forward Mike Moser.

Despite standing at just 6'8", he's established himself as one of the most well-rounded big men in college basketball. Upon suffering an early exit in a tournament where his team had high expectations, his chances of being a first-round draft choice just went out the window.

Despite rebounding well, a constant throughout the season, Moser shot the ball poorly against Colorado. He was just 4-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-7 from distance, and scored just 10 points. He also turned the ball over three times, fouled out and failed to reach the free-throw line a single time.

This follows up on his poor performance in UNLV's Mountain West Conference tournament loss to New Mexico. The loss consisted of Moser shooting 5-of-15, including 1-of-6 from distance, for 11 points.

That's 21 points on 9-of-30 shooting from the field, as well as 3-of-13 from distance, over a two-game span. Not what the sophomore star needed this close to the draft.

Season Averages: 14.0 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.9 spg, 1.0 bpg

Myck Kabongo, Point Guard, Texas Longhorns

While fans may not know much about freshman Myck Kabongo, NBA scouts are quite familiar with the 19-year-old Canadian. So much so that even after his first-round departure, Chad Ford has Kabongo projected to be a late first-round draft pick.

And then the rest of the tournament happened.

With fellow point guards Damian Lillard of Weber State, Tony Wroten Jr. of Washington and Kendall Marshall of North Carolina all expected to go in the mid- to late first round, the window of opportunity becomes smaller for Kabongo to come off the board.

When you consider that some have Arkansas' B.J. Young and Kentucky's Marquis Teague above Kabongo, the likelihood of such a result becomes even smaller.

What may have been the nail in the coffin was Tyshawn Taylor's breakout performance against North Carolina. Between his 22 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals, Taylor may have sealed his fate as a first-round draft pick.

Not a good year for Kabongo's team to lose in the first round.

Season Averages: 9.6 ppg, 5.2 apg, 3.0 rpg, 1.3 spg

Perry Jones III, Forward, Baylor Bears

Well, that was a letdown.

In Baylor's first two tournament games, PJ3 averaged just 4.5 points and no blocked shots. While he turned it on against Xavier, going 7-of-8 for 14 points, his letdown of a performance against Kentucky proved what scouts have feared all along: PJ3 just doesn't know how to utilize his talent.

While his stat line looked nice, consisting of 17 points and eight rebounds, none of his points occurred when the game was on the line. In fact, Baylor was never within fewer than 14 points when PJ3 scored in the second half; 15 of his 17 came in that second half.

Perry Jones III has top-pick talent, but if anyone thinks he's ready for the NBA, they're fooling themselves.

Season Averages: 13.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.3 apg