2014 NBA Draft early entry

[NSDukeFan]

His D ain't much, but that kid has a really smooth and creative offensive game, and I think he's going to be able to score plenty in the NBA. If I've got a mid-to-late first round pick, and my team needs scoring punch, I'm looking real hard at Ross.

You could get a mid-to-late first round pick in the DBR draft if you play your cards right.

[devildeac]

With the Wear twins graduating and Anderson leaving, there should be a lot of frontcourt minutes available. UCLA does have a couple of PF and a C coming in next year, but Parker should probably become a starter.

He was just okay this year (17.2 mpg, 6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg). But maybe next year he'll be a bigger presence for them.

He's listed at 6-9, 255 pounds. How much bigger presence can he be?

[NSDukeFan]

...
Also, and not apropos of your post, why some posters treat the mere mention of Austin Rivers as an imperative to slag him is beyond me.

Yea, not sure why that is, either.

I mean, he wasn't my favorite Duke player in the world, but he DID hit that shot over Tyler Zeller to beat UNC. That alone vindicates him for any other perceived transgressions...

Thanks for saying that.
I remember being so excited about Austin's commitment to Duke. Then he came in, led the team in scoring, showed an amazing first step and ability to get a shot with a good look at any time, was a leading player on a team that went undefeated on the road in the ACC?, hit one of the most memorable shots in Duke history to beat UNC, defended as well as anyone on the team in the backcourt (not saying that much, but still) as a freshman, didn't sulk, seemed to try his best to improve, seemed to try to be a student at Duke, gave his best effort, played on a team that won 27ish games, got a #2 seed, but got upset in the tournament when one of the team's best players was injured and he didn't play nearly as well as CJ McCollum. He also was the first Duke freshman to be first team all-ACC and had some all-American recognition. He is not my favorite Duke player because he was only around one year, but I was very happy he went to Duke, greatly enjoyed watching him play the year that he did, would have loved to have seen him come back for another and improve and am rooting hard for him to have success in the NBA, which I believe he will.
Early tournament losses are painful, but is that a reason to denigrate Duke's best players on those teams for years to come? /I am an Austin Rivers fan-thread hijack rant

[Gthoma2a]

Randle is almost certainly gone, and this is nothing to debate or inform on that, but he should move up from his tournament effort. He is coming through, when it counts. He is doing EVERYTHING for the team. He has gotten assists and 3 double-doubles (rebounds and points) in a row in the tournament.

One other thing, it proves that youth is no excuse for a team not having leadership. People had been blaming this season on that and claiming that it would come up again, simply because we have another young team next year. The one-and-done model isn't the problem. The problem is a team with players waiting for someone else to step up with confidence. Guys have to be ready mentally and physically. Maturity and age don't have to go together.

[Bluedog]

One other thing, it proves that youth is no excuse for a team not having leadership... Guys have to be ready mentally and physically. Maturity and age don't have to go together.

Agree, but if Wichita State made that last three, people would be talking about Kentucky very differently than they are right now despite there being basically no difference in Kentucky's team. People tend to (and we all do) make fairly large conclusions based on a couple NCAA games because these are the games we really care about, but sometimes teams just get a bit lucky or unlucky in a one and done format... There is definitely some randomness to it - sometimes the randomness comes down on your side and sometimes it doesn't. Obviously, being a really good team can up your odds tremendously too.

[MaxAMillion]

Randle is almost certainly gone, and this is nothing to debate or inform on that, but he should move up from his tournament effort. He is coming through, when it counts. He is doing EVERYTHING for the team. He has gotten assists and 3 double-doubles (rebounds and points) in a row in the tournament.

One other thing, it proves that youth is no excuse for a team not having leadership. People had been blaming this season on that and claiming that it would come up again, simply because we have another young team next year. The one-and-done model isn't the problem. The problem is a team with players waiting for someone else to step up with confidence. Guys have to be ready mentally and physically. Maturity and age don't have to go together.

I completely disagree. UK had 10 losses on the year. Calipari talked about how he was looking for leadership during the season. UK has loads of talent,but it didn't show itself until they played UF in the SEC final. That game was win their confidence and leadership started to come together. If you have freshmen as your main contributors,you will always have struggles with leadership.

[Gthoma2a]

I completely disagree. UK had 10 losses on the year. Calipari talked about how he was looking for leadership during the season. UK has loads of talent,but it didn't show itself until they played UF in the SEC final. That game was win their confidence and leadership started to come together. If you have freshmen as your main contributors,you will always have struggles with leadership.

They found it when it counted. Remember the press conference with K, where he talked about the years he wasn't sure they could win it all going into the tournament? He said that he didn't go in thinking they COULDN'T win, but he knew that they would have to DISCOVER how to win. That is what Kentucky did. Nobody cares about when you put it all together, as long as you put it all together (they didn't win a conference championship, but they are still playing, and at their highest level of the season). They look to have put it together. They have gotten as far as our team that K felt could have won it all last year. They were down in this game and didn't let the wheels fall off.

We've all seen juniors and seniors go out with a whimper, but we have also seen freshmen become leaders. It is a complete cop out to blame this season on youth, when younger teams than us perform well almost, if not, every year. It is about the mentality of the players, not the age of the player.

[tommy]

Randle is almost certainly gone, and this is nothing to debate or inform on that, but he should move up from his tournament effort. He is coming through, when it counts. He is doing EVERYTHING for the team. He has gotten assists and 3 double-doubles (rebounds and points) in a row in the tournament.

One other thing, it proves that youth is no excuse for a team not having leadership. People had been blaming this season on that and claiming that it would come up again, simply because we have another young team next year.

Well, not just "people." Coach K himself.

[Saratoga2]

Randle is almost certainly gone, and this is nothing to debate or inform on that, but he should move up from his tournament effort. He is coming through, when it counts. He is doing EVERYTHING for the team. He has gotten assists and 3 double-doubles (rebounds and points) in a row in the tournament.

One other thing, it proves that youth is no excuse for a team not having leadership. People had been blaming this season on that and claiming that it would come up again, simply because we have another young team next year. The one-and-done model isn't the problem. The problem is a team with players waiting for someone else to step up with confidence. Guys have to be ready mentally and physically. Maturity and age don't have to go together.

Kentucky is absolutely loaded with talented players who are also on average larger than the teams they play. They won last night because Louisville was terrible from the foul line although you would have to say UK played well. On the other hand, UVA nearly won last night with a more experienced team that also played very well and didn't have the talent level that UK has. The point being that different combinations can be successful when they play together as a team.

Look at UCONN, the ones we love to hate. They have two small but very quick and talented guards (both can play PG and both can shoot) and one very versatile big man and they took down a very good Iowa St team that also shot poorly from the free throw line. Again, a completely different team format that has been very successful.

We too were loaded with talented players but for some reasons that have been discussed at length here, we were unable to produce results to meet even reduced expectations. We all hope for better next year.

[MCFinARL]

Kentucky is absolutely loaded with talented players who are also on average larger than the teams they play. They won last night because Louisville was terrible from the foul line although you would have to say UK played well. On the other hand, UVA nearly won last night with a more experienced team that also played very well and didn't have the talent level that UK has. The point being that different combinations can be successful when they play together as a team.

I think these are the magic words. "Young" is one reason why players might not be able to play together as a team consistently, but it's not the only reason, and it's not the case that every young team fails to do this. It likely was a contributing factor for the particular players on this year's Duke team, because of the odd mix of young (or in Hood's case, not so young, but playing his first season at Duke), very talented players and older players who were less talented and getting fewer minutes but still held earned leadership roles.

Youth is an issue here--it took Kentucky an entire season to figure out how to play as a team, and they still had rough patches early in the game. But maybe it was actually better for them that all of the players are young, so there isn't the same dichotomy between off-court and on-court leadership.

Meanwhile, we are way off topic, so to get back on--do we think any of this year's Kentucky frosh will stay in school another year?

[CDu]

I think these are the magic words. "Young" is one reason why players might not be able to play together as a team consistently, but it's not the only reason, and it's not the case that every young team fails to do this. It likely was a contributing factor for the particular players on this year's Duke team, because of the odd mix of young (or in Hood's case, not so young, but playing his first season at Duke), very talented players and older players who were less talented and getting fewer minutes but still held earned leadership roles.

Youth is an issue here--it took Kentucky an entire season to figure out how to play as a team, and they still had rough patches early in the game. But maybe it was actually better for them that all of the players are young, so there isn't the same dichotomy between off-court and on-court leadership.

Meanwhile, we are way off topic, so to get back on--do we think any of this year's Kentucky frosh will stay in school another year?

ANY? There are 6 or 7 freshman on UK. There will be some returnees. Randle is gone, but after that it is anybody's guess. The Harrisons and Young each could go or could stay. Johnson should stay but could go. Anybody else in that class should stay.

[porkpa]

You've got to give the devil his due. In my opinion Calipari has done a wondrous job of getting a group of young kids, everyone of them used to being the star, to play together unselfishly. I don't like the guy at all. But he has done a terrific job of getting these kids to play together as a team.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

You've got to give the devil his due. In my opinion Calipari has done a wondrous job of getting a group of young kids, everyone of them used to being the star, to play together unselfishly. I don't like the guy at all. But he has done a terrific job of getting these kids to play together as a team.

This is way off topic, but I have to agree. I dislike him and his methods, but he's doing a heckuva job this year.

[jv001]

One thing that jumped out at me watching Louisvile-Kentucky and Mich. State-Virginia was how most of the players had good lateral quickness. They played their heart out on defense. I wasn't going to watch any more of the NCAAT after Duke's loss, but what the heck, I love college basketball. GoDuke!

[BD80]

ANY? There are 6 or 7 freshman on UK. There will be some returnees. Randle is gone, but after that it is anybody's guess. The Harrisons and Young each could go or could stay. Johnson should stay but could go. Anybody else in that class should stay.

I love that the Harrisons are having a great tournament, it will boost their draft stock some, and restore their self-images as OADs. I suspect they will go, if no other reason than ego.

[JasonEvans]

I love that the Harrisons are having a great tournament, it will boost their draft stock some, and restore their self-images as OADs. I suspect they will go, if no other reason than ego.

Yup and the general consensus is that James Young is extremely likely to leave as well. I'd put Young and Randle at 90%+ to declare. The Harrisons are probably more like 60-70% to go and I suspect Cauley-Stein is about the same, maybe a little less. I'd say that Johnson and Poythress are only about a 25 or 30% chance of declaring.

-Jason "these odds increase with every win by Kentucky" Evans

[richardjackson199]

Yup and the general consensus is that James Young is extremely likely to leave as well. I'd put Young and Randle at 90%+ to declare. The Harrisons are probably more like 60-70% to go and I suspect Cauley-Stein is about the same, maybe a little less. I'd say that Johnson and Poythress are only about a 25 or 30% chance of declaring.

-Jason "these odds increase with every win by Kentucky" Evans

Absolutely. These guys are gone. Remember most all of these players chose Kentucky with the sole intention of getting to the NBA asap. James Young, Randle, the Harrisons, and Cauley Stein are gone and will be in this year's draft. Calipari will celebrate it as another year he got at least 5 guys in the first round, and it's likely to help him recruiting future talent like Giles. Kentucky has too much for Michigan inside, and the Cats guards are too big and too good. Kentucky is also too deep as they showed with no dropoff inside after losing Cauley-Stein. Expect Kentucky to beat Michigan and cover the 2 point spread. That puts Kentucky in the Final 4, and regardless of what happens there these guys are all going pro this year. So I'd say Dakari Johnson and Poythress are also at least 50% likely to come out this year.

I really wish Wichita State had drained that last 3. I hate Calipari's approach of total mockery of the first words in the oxymorons "student athlete" and "college basketball". But this shows the one and done recruiting approach can be extremely successful. Kentucky will make the Final 4 coming out of the NCAA's toughest bracket and with the toughest road to the championship of any team in the field. They have to be considered just as likely to win it all as Florida, Michigan State, and Arizona. I hope I'm wrong and that Michigan beats them tomorrow. I really want to be wrong. Worst case scenario for this year's NCAA is Calipari regaining his stranglehold first choice on all the nation's top elite recruits. The 20 and 2 rule would make Kentucky even more dominant if he regains a monopoly on this talent.

Bottom line - Go Wolverines!

[MCFinARL]

ANY? There are 6 or 7 freshman on UK. There will be some returnees. Randle is gone, but after that it is anybody's guess. The Harrisons and Young each could go or could stay. Johnson should stay but could go. Anybody else in that class should stay.

Other commenters here have said much of what I would have in reply, but I just want to note I wasn't thinking about who SHOULD stay, only who WOULD stay. And, yes, I may have exaggerated a bit for effect.

[CDu]

Other commenters here have said much of what I would have in reply, but I just want to note I wasn't thinking about who SHOULD stay, only who WOULD stay. And, yes, I may have exaggerated a bit for effect.

I could see any of the 5 freshmen that play significant minutes going pro, along with sophomore Cauley-Stein. Sophomore Poythress had a very down year, but you never know. The other freshman (or freshmen?) will stay.

[NSDukeFan]

This is way off topic, but I have to agree. I dislike him and his methods, but he's doing a heckuva job this year.

They are having a great tournament, but it is it a great job when it takes a couple of upsets for one of the greatest recruiting class ever to get to the elite 8?