<div class=""> <h2 style="MARGIN: 0.25em 0px 0px">http://feedproxy.google.c.../exploring-the-nba-draft href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mrseccom/~3/sd_mllmoVjI/exploring-the-nba-draft">Exploring The NBA Draft</h2> </div> <div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.5em"> via http://mrsec.com/ href="http://mrsec.com/">MrSEC.com by John on 4/8/09 </div> <br style="DISPLAY: none">
Jodie Meeks. Nick Calathes. Devan Downey.
Those are three of the SEC's best basketball players and all three are going to explore their standing in the NBA Draft process.
None of the three is expected to sign with an agent, so a return to school is still possible.
Tasmin Mitchell, Patrick Patterson, Tyler Smith and Jarvis Varnado are all contemplating doing the same.
The Southeastern Conference had a rough go of it in 2008-09, as you know. Heck, as everyone knows. One of the biggest stories of the year was the SEC's sudden downturn.
With young players now a year older, 2009-2010 was expected to be a return to form. But what if those six players mentioned above - six of the league's best - went pro and did NOT come back to college?
Should we expect a return to normalcy in the SEC? I would think not.
So what are the odds that the guys mentioned above won't be back next year? Let's look at some mock drafts to get a gauge on that.
http://draftexpress.com/ href="http://draftexpress.com/">DraftExpress.com (a great site) currently lists the following SEC players in the first round of their mock draft:
Patrick Patterson - 24th
Nick Calathes - 30th
That's it. And remember, the NBA Draft is only two rounds long. And only the first round picks will receive guaranteed money. Second-round picks might not even make a roster. It happens every season.
In terms of SEC underclassmen in their Top 100 prospects:
Patrick Patterson 38th overall
Tyler Smith 50th overall
Jarvis Varnado 55th overall
Andrew Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) 57th overall
Scotty Hopson (Tennessee) 62nd overall
JaMychal Green (Alabama) 64th overall
Nick Calathes 73rd overall
Jodie Meeks 81st overall
Let's compare those grades to the mock draft of http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/mockdraft.htm href="http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/mockdraft.htm">CollegeHoopsNet.com:
Patrick Patterson - 13th
Tyler Smith - 27th
That's it for the first round.
How about http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm href="http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm">HoopsHype.com:
Patrick Patterson - 16th
Period. No other SEC players are listed as first round selections.
Check a few more mock drafts and you'll keep seeing the same thing - there's only one SEC underclassmen that projects as first round pick and that's Patterson.
All others, according to the draft gurus, are at risk of not being selected in the first round, not getting a guaranteed contract, and not even making an NBA roster.
For some players, like Tennessee's Smith who has a child and has already played three years of college plus one year of prep school ball, maybe the game checks of Europe would be motivation enough to leave.
But for players like Meeks, Downey and Varnado who actually might improve their draft status next year, the risk of landing in the NBA Developmental League should drive them right back to college.
If I had to guess which SEC underclassmen will go, I'd pick three:
Patterson because he's a sure fire first-rounder and some have him as high as a lottery pick.
Smith because of the reasons listed above.
Calathes because he and Billy Donovan have butted heads so many time publicly that I think he's ready for something else.
Other than those three players, I expect that the other SEC underclassmen will return for 2009-10. And that bodes well for the conference.
</p>
Those are three of the SEC's best basketball players and all three are going to explore their standing in the NBA Draft process.
None of the three is expected to sign with an agent, so a return to school is still possible.
Tasmin Mitchell, Patrick Patterson, Tyler Smith and Jarvis Varnado are all contemplating doing the same.
The Southeastern Conference had a rough go of it in 2008-09, as you know. Heck, as everyone knows. One of the biggest stories of the year was the SEC's sudden downturn.
With young players now a year older, 2009-2010 was expected to be a return to form. But what if those six players mentioned above - six of the league's best - went pro and did NOT come back to college?
Should we expect a return to normalcy in the SEC? I would think not.
So what are the odds that the guys mentioned above won't be back next year? Let's look at some mock drafts to get a gauge on that.
http://draftexpress.com/ href="http://draftexpress.com/">DraftExpress.com (a great site) currently lists the following SEC players in the first round of their mock draft:
Patrick Patterson - 24th
Nick Calathes - 30th
That's it. And remember, the NBA Draft is only two rounds long. And only the first round picks will receive guaranteed money. Second-round picks might not even make a roster. It happens every season.
In terms of SEC underclassmen in their Top 100 prospects:
Patrick Patterson 38th overall
Tyler Smith 50th overall
Jarvis Varnado 55th overall
Andrew Ogilvy (Vanderbilt) 57th overall
Scotty Hopson (Tennessee) 62nd overall
JaMychal Green (Alabama) 64th overall
Nick Calathes 73rd overall
Jodie Meeks 81st overall
Let's compare those grades to the mock draft of http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/mockdraft.htm href="http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/mockdraft.htm">CollegeHoopsNet.com:
Patrick Patterson - 13th
Tyler Smith - 27th
That's it for the first round.
How about http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm href="http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm">HoopsHype.com:
Patrick Patterson - 16th
Period. No other SEC players are listed as first round selections.
Check a few more mock drafts and you'll keep seeing the same thing - there's only one SEC underclassmen that projects as first round pick and that's Patterson.
All others, according to the draft gurus, are at risk of not being selected in the first round, not getting a guaranteed contract, and not even making an NBA roster.
For some players, like Tennessee's Smith who has a child and has already played three years of college plus one year of prep school ball, maybe the game checks of Europe would be motivation enough to leave.
But for players like Meeks, Downey and Varnado who actually might improve their draft status next year, the risk of landing in the NBA Developmental League should drive them right back to college.
If I had to guess which SEC underclassmen will go, I'd pick three:
Patterson because he's a sure fire first-rounder and some have him as high as a lottery pick.
Smith because of the reasons listed above.
Calathes because he and Billy Donovan have butted heads so many time publicly that I think he's ready for something else.
Other than those three players, I expect that the other SEC underclassmen will return for 2009-10. And that bodes well for the conference.
</p>