A week from now, we'll be gearing up for this year's NCAA Tournament to get underway in earnest. In the meantime, here's the latest on a number of the prospects whose teams will be participating in March Madness:
- Chad Ford of ESPN.com and Chris Mannix of SI.com have both published the fifth editions of their respective big boards for the 2013 draft. Both scribes have Ben McLemore, Nerlens Noel, and Marcus Smart ranked first, second, and third respectively.
- Within Ford's big board, he reports that Gary Harris, Ford's No. 10 prospect, is "strongly contemplating" returning to Michigan State for his sophomore year. Pittsburgh's Steven Adams, ranked No. 23, is also a good bet to return to school next year, according to Ford.
- Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com also updated his list of top 100 prospects for 2013, which still has Noel in the top spot, despite yesterday's knee surgery.
- Ford's weekly chat at ESPN.com included plenty of interesting draft-related tidbits. Among the highlights: A number of GMs believe Texas' Myck Kabongo could be a great value in the 20s or 30s, and Ford believes that James Michael McAdoo of UNC is one player whose stock would benefit significantly from a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament.