The Duke prospects shined the brightest in the Raleigh First and Second Round games
Raleigh, NC – The Duke NBA Draft prospects continued to impress in another NCAA Tournament win, this time an 89-66 win over Baylor. Freshman forward Cooper Flagg continued to demonstrate why he’s the consensus number one overall pick in this June’s NBA Draft. He recorded 18 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 block.
Junior guard Tyrese Proctor was both very efficient and very impressive, putting the game completely out of reach with three consecutive three-points with about five minutes remaining in the game. If Duke wins the title this year, I think their fans will fondly remember this as “The Tyrese Proctor game.”
Proctor made 9-10 shots from the field and 7 of his 8 three-point attempts. He finished with 25 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound. Freshman wing Kon Knueppel added 12 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound. Freshman center Khaman Maluach had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Baylor’s 6’3 freshman guard VJ Edgecombe did his best to keep his team competitive but Duke was able to limit his production somewhat by forcing him into taking too many long jumpers rather thang getting to the rim. He started the game 0-3 from the three-point line before finally hitting his first attempt 3 minutes into the second half. Edgecombe finished with 16 points (6-12 field goals), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
In the earlier game today, Florida prevailed over Connecticut, 77-75. UConn’s freshman wing Liam McNeeley racked up 22 points but he did so on 6-16 shooting from the field and 2-8 from three. He also chipped in 3 assists and 2 rebounds. This was still a substantial improvement from their opening round win where McNeeley had 8 points on 2-13 shooting from the field and 1-8 from three.
Florida’s guards may all find themselves on NBA rosters at some point and did most of the damage for the Gators today. Will Clayton had 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist. Alijah Martin provided 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Will Richard added 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
One of the best performances of the weekend came in Oklahoma’s First Round loss to UConn. Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears had 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He wasn’t particularly efficient, going 5-14 from the field, but he was almost impossible to keep out of the lane and seemed like the only Sooner who had a chance of making a play down the stretch.
Fears is largely an apathetic defender, giving perhaps the least effort on that end of the floor of anyone I’ve seen in person this season, but he is a fearless offensive player. Considering Fears is a reclassified freshman and should still be in high school, it’s impressive he’s been as productive as he has this year. He averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Somewhere in the back half of the lottery, he’s someone I’d be willing to take a chance on and assume I can expect more defensive effort from him as he matures. At about 6’3, I’m not sure how much sense he’d make for the Wizards given last year’s selection of Bub Carrington and how much they’d have to move up to select Fears.
Fear is currently at #10 on Rookie Scale’s Consensus Big Board, which is too low to reasonably take with the Wizards’ first pick and means he’s likely to be gone before they pick again. But it’s never too early to start a file on a player you may want to consider down the line for things like free agency so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring him for an interview and a workout this cycle.