Archive - Apr 2012 - Article

Andrew Wiggins is a 6'7 sophomore small forward who is making a case as the top player on the high school level regardless of class. We caught up with Wiggins earlier this month after a Hoop Summit practice. Wiggins went on to lead the World Select team to an upset victory over Team USA. He matched up with Shabazz Muhammad and held his own scoring 20 points and 7 boards despite being the youngest player in the game.

Many teams draft seniors because of an immediate need on the roster. They're looking for someone to come in and contribute right away. While none of these guys are finished products, many of them should get the chance for early minutes due to their maturity and role playing potential.

Updated Senior Rankings

1. Tyler Zeller

By Ian Powers

Former Vanderbilt Center Festus Ezeli didn’t start playing the game of basketball until he was a teenager, but since then he has made the most of his opportunities. After being primarily a backup for much of his first two seasons, Ezeli started his Junior and Senior years while averaging double digit scoring in each season. He also holds the Vanderbilt single season record for blocked shots with 87. Now that his college career is over, Ezeli has set his sights on the NBA.

Jeremy LambRemember Jeremy Lamb, the guard from UConn? No, not the one you saw this year that underachieved, the one that was an intergral his squad to the NCAA Championship alongside Kemba Walker. He had as an impressive a tournament during UConn’s title run as any freshman in college basketball that year. People were surprised that he’d even bother coming back to school this past season despite being perceived as a lock to be picked in the lottery.

There's a lot of parity in this year's first round draft pool. Outside of Anthony Davis, every prospect has a positional nemesis that can offer a similar package of services. Here's a look at who each prospect will be directly competing against when scouts and GMs conduct their evaluations.

After falling behind early, UCLA commit Shabazz Muhammad was able to bring the West team back and then hold on after a late charge by the East for the 99-95 win. The West built an 18 point second half lead. Muhammad shared MVP honors with the East's top scorer Rodney Purvis (22 pts). Each of the participants received roughly 20 minutes of action to showcase their skills.

West

Shabazz Muhammad -- 20 pts, 8-14 fg, 0-3 3p, 4-8 ft, 4 reb.

Front and center for the first three days of this year’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, I watched the event’s entire 64-man roster play in two games. By the time I weaved onto I-95 South headed back to Raleigh my brain had locked in on the five guys at the event most likely to make an NBA roster for next year. You may not find some of these names on the all tournament team, but they showed me enough to give them the nod.

Day 1 PIT Recap

Kim EnglishMissouri’s Kim English impressed once again on Friday. The wiry shooting guard (measured 6'3"3/4 barefoot,190.8 lbs, and with a 6'7" wingspan) found teammate Eric Griffin early on with a pinpoint post entry that led to an easy. English understands angles and spacing well in the half court – he pumped faked before putting the ball on the deck trying to find Griffin and eventually relocated below FT line extended to feed the ball down low, c

Tony MitchellWe previously reported that Tony Mitchell would declare for the draft. Our report turned out to be false. We would like to issue an apology to Tony Mitchell and North Texas.

A source close to the situation told NBADraft.net on Monday that North Texas' forward Tony Mitchell will leave for the NBA Draft this year.

The decision makes sense as within the past few days, head coach Johnny Jones took the LSU job.