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March Madness has arrived with postseason play beginning for all leagues this week.
That means we only have a few more weeks to see some of the top college players in action before they head off to the pros. That includes several Kentucky Wildcats who are likely heading to the NBA when their season ends.
The latest ESPN top 100 NBA draft prospects have one Cat on the rise, while others continue to fall hard. The latter is in regards to Hamidou Diallo, who now checks in at No. 44 in ESPN’s top 100. After spending most of the season firmly in the top 30, Diallo’s recent funk has caused him to drop out of the Round 1 range.
I doubt that means Diallo returns for the 2018-19 season, but this should at least cause him to pause and re-evaluate his options when that decision comes.
Despite Jarred Vanderbilt continuing to improve and make a major impact for UK, he’s still ranked No. 57 overall in this ranking. That puts him barely in draftable range. Part of that is probably due to his history of foot injuries.
If he gets a clean bill of health in the pre-draft process, Vanderbilt should be safely projected in that 30-40 range of the draft. If that’s enough for him to go pro is the million dollar question.
At the top, Kevin Knox is back at No. 10 as he continues to solidify his status as a top-10 prospect in this year’s draft. That should have him locked into going pro when the season ends.
As for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he’s checking in at No. 19 overall. That’s probably enough for him to go pro this year, but he’ll probably go through the pre-draft process to make sure his stock is high enough to guarantee he’ll be a first-round pick, then sign with an agent.
No longer listed in this ranking are PJ Washington and Nick Richards. They’ve been projected in that 50-60 range for much of the season, but neither is anywhere close to being ready for the pros.