Final Four 2011: NBA Draft Stock for Top Remaining Players in NCAA Tournament
Two weeks of March Madness has whittled the 2011 NCAA tournament field of 68 down to a shocking Final Four to kick off the month of April in Houston.
From powerhouses like No. 1 seeds Ohio State and 2010 champion Duke to tough outs like Princeton and Morehead State, this year's selection of squads has given way to a rather unlikely quadrant—No. 3-seed UConn, No. 4-seed Kentucky, No. 8-seed Butler and (most surprising of all) No. 11-seed Virginia Commonwealth.
What happens this weekend at Reliant Stadium is anybody's guess, but there will certainly be plenty of NBA-caliber talent on display.
While none of the athletes who are left to compete for the NCAA basketball championship have the makings of top-five prospects, there are some who are likely lottery picks and others who could sneak into the first round.
Read on to find out how the remaining stars of the college game may fare come draft day.
Jamie Skeen, VCU
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We begin with the unlikeliest of draft hopefuls from the unlikeliest of Final Four participants.
Virginia Commonwealth forward Jamie Skeen catapulted himself to the center of the college-basketball universe with his stellar play this March, capped off with an outstanding 26-point, 10-rebound performance to the lift the Rams from the First Four in Dayton to the Final Four in Houston.
Not bad for a senior who spent his first two college seasons as a role player at Wake Forest.
The 6'9", 240-pound Skeen blossomed into a star for the Rams this season, averaging 15.1 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 38.7 percent from beyond the arc.
As good as Skeen has been for the underdog Rams this month, he doesn't exactly project as a star at the next level and he has yet to crack most mock drafts. However, with another performance or two like he had against Kansas, Skeen may be able to sneak his way into the back end of the second round.
If not, he should still find himself on some team's summer-league roster at the very least, with a shot at utilizing his size, shooting ability and toughness to impress scouts enough to earn a spot in a preseason camp somewhere around the NBA.
Matt Howard, Butler
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As slim as Skeen's shot at being drafted is, it's still far greater than that of Butler's Matt Howard.
It isn't that Howard isn't a fine player who could be successful at the next level. After all, it takes a bit more than just sheer grit and determination to lead a team to consecutive Final Fours, though those are certainly qualities that Howard has in abundance.
As far as actual skills are concerned, the 6'8", 230-pounder has proven that he's a smart and versatile player, as evidenced by his successful transition from the Bulldogs' center to their power forward.
Howard's numbers have improved across the board from last season to this one, most notably in three-point field-goal percentage, in which he improved from a 27.3-percent shooter to a legitimate outside threat at 42.6 percent.
Nonetheless, Howard just doesn't quite have the athleticism or the upside that NBA personnel folks look for in a draftee, though he, like Skeen, will catch on somewhere, here or abroad.
Shelvin Mack, Butler
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The big star to watch for Butler, if you're an NBA front-office type, is Shelvin Mack.
The 6'3", 215-pound guard has been an absolute revelation for the Bulldogs during tourney time, scoring 30 points in a huge upset of No. 1-seed Pittsburgh and another 27 points in a victory over Florida in the Elite Eight.
Mack is a do-everything guard who can man the point or score from the off-guard position while playing lockdown defense on all three perimeter positions.
As good as Mack has been, he seems likely to come back to school for his senior season, especially since his draft stock has yet to reach even second-round status, despite his spectacular play in March.
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Kemba Walker, UConn
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It's entirely possible that Butler could face UConn in the national championship game, wherein Shelvin Mack would have a golden opportunity to prove his draft-ability against arguably the premier guard in all of college basketball—Kemba Walker.
Diminutive as he may be, at a generous 6'1" and 172 pounds, Walker has been living proof all season of the old adage: "It's not about the size of the dog in the fight; it's about the size of the fight in the dog."
And, boy, the fight in this member of the Huskies is tremendous.
Despite being picked preseason to finish 10th in the conference (not a bad pick, considering they finished ninth), the Huskies are on to their fourth Final Four in school history thanks in large part to the tremendous efforts of Walker, whose stat lines read like this:
18 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists against Bucknell
33 points, six rebounds, five assists against Cincinnati
36 points, three rebounds, three assists against San Diego State
20 points, four rebounds, seven assists against Arizona
Those performances, not to mention his stellar play all season, have boosted the junior from the Bronx's draft stock from that of a fringe first-rounder to that of a projected top 10 pick.
Clearly, some poor team is going to get their struggling hands on a gem of a point guard early on in the June draft.
Jeremy Lamb, UConn
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Of course, Kemba hasn't done all of it on his own. UConn wouldn't be in the Final Four without the helping hands of Jeremy Lamb in the backcourt alongside Walker.
Lamb has been nothing short of a godsend for Jim Calhoun this tourney, averaging better than 18 points per game.
That is particularly impressive when considering the kid from Norcross, Georgia is just a freshman!
The 6'5" guard has been absolutely lights-out from the perimeter, hitting 11 of his 15 three-point attempts while contributing in just about every way imaginable.
Sure, Lamb isn't likely to declare for the draft until at least after his sophomore season, but he'll at least be all over the radars of NBA folks once he returns to action in the fall of 2011.
Brandon Knight, Kentucky
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Of course, when it comes to freshman guards, no one's draft stock is riding as high right now as that of Kentucky's Brandon Knight.
The 6'3", 170-pounder from Fort Lauderdale, Florida has been spectacular for John Calipari's club in the tournament thus far, sandwiching his game-winning shot against Ohio State between a 30-point outburst in a second-round win over West Virginia and 22-point, seven rebound, four assist, three steal, virtuouso performance against North Carolina to lead Big Blue to the Final Four.
To be fair, Knight is no John Wall, as he isn't quite the blazing, leaping athlete that last year's No. 1 overall selection was for the 'Cats.
However, Knight has shown himself to be more a cerebral floor general with the ability to score from just about anywhere on the floor, which makes him borderline lottery fodder.
Terrence Jones, Kentucky
7 of 8Joining the freshman phenom bandwagon—perhaps even leading it—is UK's Terrence Jones.
The 6'8" forward from Portland, Oregon hasn't had the most eye-popping tournament, averaging just over 10 points and six-and-a-half rebounds per contest, but frankly, he doesn't need to.
Jones has had NBA scouts doting on him all season, waiting with baited breath for a chance to add a player with his combination of size, athleticism and all-around skills.
Jones made headlines earlier this season for a spectacular slam against UConn in the Maui Invitational as well as for his overall dominance all over the court for the 'Cats.
He'll have a chance to replicate his astounding feats against the Huskies on Saturday on the sport's biggest stage in Houston, where another standout performance could catapult him from a likely top-10 pick to a surefire top-five draftee.
Josh Harrellson, Kentucky
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As of March 2011, improbable has a new name, and that name is Josh Harrellson.
It's tough not to root for the 6'10", 275-pound senior from St. Charles, Missouri.
Many times the story has been told of how Harrellson was nearly kicked off the team by John Calipari for being soft, both mentally and physically.
If not for the ineligibility of freshman center Enes Kanter, Harrellson might never have seen the print side of a stat sheet this season.
Instead, the kid known for sporting "jorts" around Lexington has emerged as one of the truly heartwarming stories of this year's tournament, reminding everyone of Brian Zoubek, who last year broke out to lead Duke to the national title.
With steady averages of 15 points and nine rebounds in four tournament games, Harrellson might even have played his way into the NBA Draft.
Granted, he's anything but an ideal NBA player. However, as put so succinctly by the folks at DraftExpress: "If Goran Suton can get drafted, so can he. Will he stick? That's another question."
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