Tag: DJ Carton

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 2.0: How has the NCAA season changed rankings?

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Former top recruits like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs have made a great first impression and have confirmed why many already feel they are going to be solid future professionals in the NBA.

Of course, considering the unusual nature of the college basketball season, some players are struggling a bit more than others. The performance on the court will likely stray closer to the mean with a larger sample size as the year continues.

But to get a better sense of where everyone stands right now, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, The Athletic and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

We highlighted the prospects who have been the biggest risers since we published our last edition of this exercise.

College basketball standouts who have most drastically improved their draft stock through the early parts of the season include Keon Johnson (Tennessee), James Bouknight (UCONN), Jared Butler (Baylor), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Day’Ron Sharpe (UNC), Aaron Henry (Michigan State), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois), Marcus Bagley (Arizona State), Moussa Cisse (Memphis), Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky), Jason Preston (Ohio) and Luka Garza (Iowa).

Below are the rankings based on the latest mock drafts from top analysts and experts:

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

Ohio State Basketball snubbed in USA TODAY way-too-early 2020 top 25

Ohio State Basketball was snubbed from USA Today’s way-too-early top 25, and their lack of consideration does not come as a shocker.

With the mourning over the loss of the 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament ongoing, many are releasing the initial look at next year’s polls in order to fill the spirit of those upset about the void of March Madness.

USA Today was one of the sites to recently publish a way-too-early top-25 for the 2020-2021 season, and sadly, they left the Ohio State Buckeyes off the list. Columnist Scott Gleeson included Iowa and Wisconsin in the top ten though.

The top five include Kansas, Baylor, Virginia, Kentucky, and Gonzaga.

Michigan and Michigan State also cracked the top 25, but the Big Ten, who may have easily had the most teams in the tournament this year, had just four teams represented. Ohio State was unranked, and that’s ok.

Until rattling off nine straight victories and defeating two top-ten teams handily, the team this season was receiving little love as well. They were a resilient group and was that was destined for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

However, skeptics may be right to worry. Kaleb Wesson may have played his last game as a Buckeye and DJ Carton is entering the transfer portal. That will leave a good bit of uncertainty surrounding this Buckeyes roster. Though USA TODAY’s piece was written before the Carton news hit today.

Ohio State has the 56th-best 2020 recruiting class according to 247Sports. The potential loss of their star big man and then the lack of incoming talent gives columnists the right to doubt the Buckeyes. Then again, guys like E.J. Liddell and Alonzo Gaffney should develop and there’s still a lot coming back.

No matter. Just like this past season, Chris Holtmann’s team will find a way to win games. You can bank on that.

Ohio State leapfrogs Nova, Kentucky in CBS Updated Top 25

The Ohio State Buckeyes, behind the play of a couple new freshman, and returning guys like Kaleb Wesson, are looking like a top ten team.

The Ohio State Buckeyes, behind the play of three four-star recruits and Kaleb Wesson, have entered into the nation’s college basketball top ten. They do so on the back of a dominant effort against Villanova.

The Buckeyes, who had one of their best-recruiting classes of the decade coming into this season, opened up the preseason at No. 18. Now at No. 16, the Buckeyes are looking at a promising jump in the AP Poll.

For now, we’ll take a look at the Thursday edition of the CBS Sports’ updated top 25.

They have Ohio State at No. 10, jumping both Villanova and the former top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. However, in just a few short weeks, it’ll get its shot against the latter half of those programs.

CBS Sports’ columnist Gary Parrish had this to say on the Buckeyes impressive victory and terrific all-around start.

“OSU shot 60.0% from the field in Wednesday’s win over Villanova. Duane Washington was one of five Buckeyes to reach double-figures in points.”

Now 3-0, the Buckeyes are far past that concerning start against Cincinnati.

Also tallying a win over UMass Lowell, the Buckeyes entered their matchup with Nova confident with D.J. Carton starting to get acclimated to the speed of college basketball and Kaleb Wesson looking as dominant (and trimmed down) as ever.

Carton, Wesson and Washington Jr. led the Buckeyes against Nova, and it was an absolute show.

Now the Buckeyes will be preparing for Stetson this coming Monday. By then, we should officially be calling Ohio State a top-ten team one would think.