The NCAA season has hit its stride and is streaking towards March, which means conference tournaments followed by the Big Dance.
At this point, every college basketball team has played well over 20 games, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that teams have begun to separate themselves from the pack as we gear up for what figures to be another hotly contested NCAA Tournament.
As the NCAA Tournament nears, it also signals that college basketball is ending, and with that, we will be even closer to the 2024 NBA Draft. While many pundits have declared this a less star-filled draft class for months, there is still a plethora of prospects that could develop into meaningful NBA contributors down the road.
Duke has done its part for the last decade in producing NBA talent, which figures not to stop this year. The Athletic released a new mock draft (subscription required) on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils have two projected first-rounders as things stand right now.
The obvious choice is their talented big man, Kyle Filipowski. Filipowski is having a solid year, and writer Sam Vecenie has Filipowski projected to go ninth to the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite the Thunder being the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, the abundance of draft capital they have accumulated over the years will remain valuable. They are ahead of schedule in their rebuild and can still land lottery-caliber talent despite playing some of the best basketball in the NBA this year.
Adding Filipowski would give the Thunder a multi-faceted big man to play behind Chet Holmgren and allow them to stretch defenses due to Filipowki’s ability to shoot 35% from a distance.
Elsewhere in the first round, long-range assassin Jared McCain was mocked to the Atlanta Hawks at 19th overall. McCain is shooting 41% from deep and has showcased a well-rounded offensive game, scoring at all three levels. Despite his smallish size and the fact that he may never be a true point guard, McCain’s offensive upside as a shooter has him being compared to former Blue Devil Seth Curry. He is also a terrific rebounder for his size and position and plays tough.
If McCain continues shooting at or above 40 percent, he will be drafted in the first round in June.
Notably, Mark Mitchell and Tyrese Proctor are nowhere to be found in this mock draft. Both returned to school to improve their draft stock and while Mark Mitchell has improved this season, his lack of a 3-point shot has impacted his pro prospects. He’s a tweener forward with a good inside game but cannot stretch defenses the way the NBA prefers.
Is it possible for Mitchell to come back for a junior season? With NIL, money is less of a worry for prospects not guaranteed to go to the second round. The same can be applied to Tyrese Proctor. Two unfortunate injuries have cut into many games for Proctor. He has yet to leap like many thought he would in year two, but his value to Duke is notable. They are a better defensive team, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is one of the best in the ACC.
Would Proctor consider coming back to Duke? Or transfer out for opportunities elsewhere following the season? If Proctor were to come back and run the backcourt with Caleb Foster and be the ultimate facilitator as Duke welcomes the nation’s number one player in Cooper Flagg and a plethora of talented freshmen shooters in Isaiah Evans, Kon Knueppel, and Darren Harris, it would be a boost to his pro prospects as a lead guard.
These decisions are looming for the Duke basketball program, and we still have tournament season before we see how it all works out.