NBA Scouts Discuss NCAA Tournament Prospects

Central Florida’s Tacko Fall stepped into the national spotlight with Sunday’s game against Duke, but he may not have improved his draft status, relays Sam Amick of The Athletic. Amick talked to three unidentified NBA scouts about their impressions after the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and found opinions have changed on a lot of players, but not necessarily on Fall.

“I don’t think (it helped his cause), on the whole,” one scout said of the 7’6″ center, who had 15 points, six rebounds and three blocks against the Blue Devils before fouling out. “I think most scouts, most teams, are going to evaluate him based on (what came before). … Now if you liked Tacko Fall before the game against Duke, then you’ll probably like him a little bit more maybe. And if you didn’t, then I don’t think it’s going to sway you one way or another. He’s so unique that I think he’ll get a chance in some capacity. I don’t know if he gets drafted in the second round, or whatever it is, but I do think he gets a chance.”

The scouts’ consensus is that Murray State point guard Ja Morant has helped himself with his March performances and would likely be the second player taken if the draft were today. He held up well against larger schools and has been consistently good from game to game.

Duke’s Cam Reddish may have fallen the most, not only because of his March Madness games, but his output throughout the year. Once projected as a possible No. 3 pick, Reddish may be slipping out of the top five. “Even when Zion (Williamson) was out, he had opportunities where he could really take a step forward and take advantage of the opportunity,” one scout said. “And he did on a couple of games, but it wasn’t as consistent as you’d like him to be. He’s a tough one, man.”

Here are a few more takes from the scouts on prominent players:

• Duke forward R.J. Barrett — “Yeah, I do think Barrett has the third spot. … I do think Barrett, the fact that he competes (is good). He’s got a little more, to me, obvious flaws in terms of shot selection. Obviously he has some tendencies, in terms of being all left and dominant where he’s going to have to get the right hand at the next level to be as good as he can be. The one thing about Barrett is that he competes and he gets after it and he wants to win, but there are moments when he falls asleep.”
• Oregon forward Kenny Wooten — People know about (Wooten), but this is the time where owners start watching and other people — even GMs who don’t get a chance (to see them) — they start seeing these guys and (the prospects) start to jump off the page because they have a good game or they play well.”
• North Carolina forward Nassir Little — “There are still question marks with his game, but it was the Washington game where he made a three and he was efficient, right? And he was efficient for multiple games. He didn’t have any assists or anything like that, but there are some signs there where if you want to find a reason to like Nas. I think you can go look at those two games and say, ‘Oh, ok.’ This guy is doing well.”
• Michigan guard Jordan Poole — “He’s a good player, man. He knows how to play. He’s skilled. I think (an NBA team) could work on his efficiency. If he continues to play well, I think he could help himself throughout the rest of the tournament as well and be one of those guys who’s a late riser.”