Harrison Barnes: UNC Star Is 2012 NBA Draft's Most Underrated Star

Harrison Barnes isn't accustomed to being an afterthought.

The 6'8", 20-year-old UNC sophomore has been Mr. Everything everywhere he's played. A consensus top three recruit out of high school after winning the 2010 USA Today National High School Player of the Year award, Barnes was actually selected as a preseason All-American his freshman year, meaning he hadn't even stepped onto the collegiate hardwood but was still considered one of the five best players in the country.

He never lived up to that billing, but was great at times during his two-year run in Chapel Hill. More importantly, Barnes improved from his freshman to sophomore year with the Tar Heels.

Now he's ready to enter the NBA draft and the likes of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Andre Drummond are all the rage. Barnes, on the other hand, is a bit of an afterthought. 

Some would say it's petty to call a top five or six player on most everyone's boards underrated, but in the case of Barnes we don't have a choice.

ESPN ranks the swingman sixth overall and labels him as a "good scorer at SF position." A few others, such as CBS and NBADraft.net, actually rank him as the third best player, but he doesn't come off the board until No. 4 and No. 5 respectively in their mock drafts.

Barnes isn't being undervalued, but he is being underrated—he has the potential to be an absolute superstar in this league.

At 6'8" he has the size to score and defend from the three-spot. Unlike a number of players in this class, Barnes is not a positional 'tweener.

He has a fantastic basketball IQ and can do just about anything when he puts his mind to it. These are things that a number of other players in this draft class cannot boast. There are skilled players, players with elite potential, but Barnes has it all.

If he puts it all together he could make an immediate difference in the league.