[treytalkssports.comParticipant]

Smart and McLemore don’t really look like top 3 picks tonight.

[llperez]

Obviously u can never judge anybody on any 1 game but watching tonight just further confirmed how wide open this draft is. I wrote in my last PAC 12 blog that bazz has a chance to go number 1 overall and Aran deleted it. I would love to hear his reasoning on that if he truly feels he is no longer in the top pck debate.

[HaleParticipant]

He’s still #1 on my big board.

[Beard13Participant]

I don’t put that much stock into one game. But i think it shows that this is a down year with no clear cut #1 pick. I have the top 3 prospects almost graded the same. So it doesn’t really matter if your picking 1,2, or 3

[417basketballfanParticipant]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tharpe got busted for point shaven for this game lol

[cuseflynn10Participant]

McLemore just turned 21 while Bazz is only 19.
McLemore averages 16.7 points per game to Bazz’s 18.5 points per game.
McLemore averages 5.5 rebounds per game to Bazz’s 5.2 rebounds per game
McLemore averages 1.9 assists per game to Bazz’s 1 assist per game
McLemore averages 1.2 steals per game to Bazz’s .7steals per game
McLemore averages 2.2 turnovers per game to Bazz’s 1.7 turnovers per game
McLemore shoots 51/43/87 to Bazz’s 46/43/73 (FG%/3P%/FT%)

Obviously they play in different conferences, so you can’t directly compare their statistics without taking into consideration that McLemore plays a harder schedule.

While I still give the slight edge to McLemore, I don’t see why Bazz is slipping on most mocks. A lot of people have him falling to 5 or 6 or some even lower. Most people say it’s because Bazz isn’t a team player and his passing stats reflect his selfishness. But McLemore only gets .9 more assists. Obviously he should have been celebrating when Drew hit that game winner instead of being pissed, but that just shows his competitive nature to me. Sure Bazz needs to work on getting his teammates involved more and being a better teammate himself, but he shouldn’t fall out of the top 5.

If Bazz changes his attitude and becomes a better teammate, we may not be having this discussion right now. For now it’s close between these two, but McLemore has the better shooting percentages which is the most telling sign to me to take Ben over Bazz (but the margin isn’t as great as most think.)

[Ghost01Participant]

You can’t judge professionals on stats in college. I honestly have no clue what’s going to happen with this draft at the top. Its a mess.

[alex23Participant]

Have been mclemore and bazz , I like Marcus smart and I can see him going top 5 but I don’t think he’s better than bazz

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

As in top picks if you mean top 5 then yes. This draft not only lacks star power but it lacks boom or bust picks, it’s full of average roll players to 3rd options on good teams. There isn’t anyone in this draft I would count on to save a franchise . I think it’s safe to say both these guys will be solid pros and that’s all you can ask for at this point.

[cuseflynn10Participant]

The way I look at it, is that Shabazz has the most potential to be great in this draft class that is weak at the top (Noel gave him a run for his money but he blew out his ACL.)

If I’m a GM and I pass on Bazz, and he reaches his full potential, I’m going to look like an incompetent player analyzer / drafter, which isn’t the type of person an owner wants in the GM position. The risk of passing on Bazz is high for GM’s while if you do pick him and he busts, you can say that he had the most potential.

If anyone in the consensus top 5-8 players should be falling, I think it should be Zeller. I don’t see superstar or top 3 or 4 pick worthy screaming out at me when I see him play. I see a player that likely has a high floor, but won’t ever be an all star. He’s the guy you want, but not the guy you want to build around. My top six draft prospects in order would be: McLemore, Shabazz, Smart, Noel, Bennett, Zeller. I think it’s a top 3 with Ben/Bazz/Smart than there’s the next 3 with Noel/Bennett/Zeller and maybe you could add Porter and/or Len into the mix in that tier. Noel/Bennett/Zeller could be mixed in any order depending on how Noel returns from injury and how Zeller and Bennett finish out the year.

[PaulsJayhawksParticipant]

Huge Ku fan obviously but bmac looked scared tonight while smart looked like a beast….neither one shot it well but at least smart attacked…both will do well but bmac needs to learn to get to the rim and get to the line to complete the package

[Mr. 19134Participant]

I’ve been vocal about saying B Mac doesn’t have a complete enough tool set to go number one and while I would like to say this game pointed that out, it also pointed out again that nobody in this draft at the top has a real complete skill set in terms of skill, physical tools, and potential. I do think Smart is a better prospect because he’s going to make an instant impact and tonight’s game showed how. Even tho he shot a terrible 2-14 from the floor Smart still attacked and played great defense and kept his team in the game. He also managed to finish with 16 points while only being able to hit 2 shots, while Mac got 9 on 3 made field goals.

There has been a lot of movement at the top of the draft and I stay firm in my prediction that Willie Cauley Stein and Austin are going to get top 5 consideration in this draft. WCS had 20 points tonight and has continued to show that he’s rounding that learning curve at warp speed.

[Author]

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