2010 NCAA Tournament Player PoolBy: Aran_Smith

The gang at NBADraft.net and its sister site, HoopsDaily.com, are revisiting our player pool from last year.

The field consists of NCAA Tournament players based on who scores the most points in the Big Dance. The rules are simple: eight teams with eight players each. Total points per player in the NCAA Tournament.

At 5:30 PM Monday, we all logged into an AIM chat room and banged out the draft in just under an hour. The draft order was taken randomly.

We kept the exact same rules from a year ago with four members from NBADraft.net, four from HoopsDaily.com. The contestants were NBADraft.net’s Borko Popic (last year’s champion), Aran Smith, Adam Ganeles and Jon Wasserman against HoopsDaily.com’s Eric Guilleminault and Jon Pastuszek, plus Mike Misek and Brian Cerone (on loan from NBADraft.net). (Guilleminault, Misek, and Wasserman are newbies to the game).

Here was how the draft went down:

1. JP: John Wall, Kentucky
2. AS: Sherron Collins, Kansas
3. MM: Xavier Henry, Kansas
4. EG: Wes Johnson, Syracuse
5. BC: Evan Turner, Ohio St.
6. JW: Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
7. BP: DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky
8. AG: Patrick Patterson, Kantucky

9. AG: Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia
10. BP: Jon Scheyer, Duke
11. JW: Kyle Singler, Duke
12. BC: Nolan Smith, Duke
13. EG: Cole Aldrich, Kansas
14. MM: LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor
15. AS: Jacob Pullen, Kansas State
16. JP: Austin Freeman, Georgetown

17. JP: Marcus Morris, Kansas
18. AS: Corey Fisher, Villanova
19. MM: Greg Monroe, Georgetown
20. EG: Denis Clemente, Kansas State
21. BC: Chris Wright, Georgetown
22. JW: Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh
23. BP: Andy Rautins, Syracuse
24. AG: Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky

25. AG: Kris Joseph, Syracuse
26. BP: William Buford, Ohio State
27. JW: Devin Ebanks, West Virginia
28. BC: Kevin Jones, West Virginia
29. EG: Trevon Hughes, Wisconsin
30. MM: Darrington Hobson, New Mexico
31. AS: Lazar Hayward, Marquette
32. JP: Jon Diebler, Ohio State

33. JP: Gordon Hayward, Butler
34. AS: Rick Jackson, Syracuse
35. MM: Jimmer Fredette, BYU
36. EG: Tweety Carter, Baylor
37. BC: David Lighty, Ohio State
38. JW: Kalin Lucas, Michigan St.
39. BP: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
40. AG: James Anderson, Oklahoma St.

41. AG: Antonio Pena, Villanova
42. BP: Ekpe Udoh, Baylor
43. JW: Jamar Samuels], Kansas St.
44. BC: E'twaun Moore, Purdue
45. EG: Jordan Crawford, Xavier
46. MM: Draymond Green, Michigan State
47. AS: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
48. JP: Roman Martinez, New Mexico

49. JP: Brad Wannamaker, Pittsburgh
50. AS: Randy Culpepper, UTEP
51. MM: Jon Leuer, Wisconsin
52. EG: Jerome Randle, California
53. BC: Truck Bryant, West Virginia
54. JW: Jimmy Butler, Marquette
55. BP: Scoop Jardine, Syracuse
56. AG: Tyshawn Taylor, Kansas

57. AG: Curtis Kelly, Kansas State
58. BP: Corey Stokes, Villanova
59. JW: Wayne Chism, Tennessee
60. BC: Donald Sloan, Texas A&M
61. EG: Damion James, Texas
62. MM: Aubrey Coleman, Houston
63. AS: Jermaine Beal, Vanderbilt
64. JP: Ryan Brooks, Temple

FINAL ROSTERS:

Team HoopsDaily.com
JP: Wall, Freeman, M. Morris, Diebler, Hayward, R.Martinez, Wannamaker, Brooks
MM: Henry, Dunn, Monroe, Hobson, Fredette, D. Green, Leuer, Coleman
EG: W.Johnson, Aldrich, Clemente, Hughes, Carter, Crawford, Randle, James
BC: Turner, N. Smith, Wright, K. Jones, Lighty, Moore, Bryant, Sloan

Team NBADraft.net
AS: Collins, Pullen, Fisher, L.Hayward, Jackson, Harangody, Culpepper, Beal
JW: Reynolds, Singler, Gibbs, Ebanks, Lucas, Samuels, Butler, Chism
BP: Cousins, Scheyer, Rautins, Buford, Vasquez, Udoh, Jardine, Stokes
AG: Patterson, Butler, Bledsoe, Joseph, Anderson, Pena, Taylor, Kelly

ANALYSIS:

The first round consisted of 6 of 8 players taken from 1 seeds. Evan Turner and Scottie Reynolds both from 2 seeds went in the first round.

Turner, Reynolds and Da’Sean Butler all went before any of the #1 seeded Duke players. Could that be due to people thinking Duke won’t make the final four? Or because they didn’t want to have Duke players on their team?

The Duke trio went in succession beginning with the 2nd pick in the second round. With all three averaging over 18 ppg and Duke’s soft region, all three are excellent picks.

Jon Pastuszek of Hoops Daily took John Wall with his first pick. JP’s middle name happens to be Wall and he actually is a Kentucky fan. Jon Wall (UK fan) drafting John Wall, what are the odds? Jon’s team has solid players through the first 5 rounds including a player that could score more than anyone should Kentucky make the final four in Wall. Pastuszek opted for some lesser names with high seeds in the late rounds (Roman Martinez (3) New Mexico 13.8 ppg, Brad Wannamaker (3) Pitt 12.1 ppg, Ryan Brooks (5) Temple 14.3 ppg).

Last year’s champ Borko Popic had another impressive showing as the only person with every pick coming from a top 4 seed. His team is well spread out (just 2 teammates Jardine and Rautins). Cousins and Scheyer are excellent picks where he got them. Rautins might be a slight 3rd round reach averaging just 11 ppg, but Borko was probably influenced by the Canadian factor. Buford is a very dangerous player in the 4th round and has been playing his best ball of the season lately. And he definitely got excellent value with his later picks, in particular with Vasquez in the 5th round and Stokes in the 8th round.

Brian Cerone took Evan Turner 5th and actually had him as his #1 rated player going into the draft. Cerone was the one person whose draft came off a pre-made list. Considering all of his players came from top 4 seeds, (aside from Sloan, a 5 seed) he should be able to put some points up after other player’s teams are close to finished.

Adam Ganeles did a solid job on the turn. Aside from James Anderson, his team consists of players solely from top 2 seeds. Anderson could easily put up big numbers particularly if OSU can beat OSU (Ohio State). 7th rounder Curtis Kelly could be this year’s Stanley Robinson, a lesser option on a higher scoring team that could have a big tourney on a team that could reach the final four.

Jon Wasserman took Scottie Reynolds of #2 seed Villanova over any of the Duke players. He then landed Singler who’s been on a tear of late with his second pick. With his third pick he got another top scorer for a 3rd team. His entire team also consists of high seed (top 6) players so he’s another candidate to keep his team intact longer than others.

Eric Guilleminault is no stranger to basketball drafts having hosted numerous NBA pools. We’ll have to see how strong he is at the NCAA tourney player pool. He took a couple long shots in the later rounds and will need some upsets to keep his team intact for long, taking two 8 seed players (Randle and James) late. His team consists of a number of players that seemed capable of more than what the did in the regular season (Wes and Aldrich) so maybe now’s their time.

Mike Misek aka "Both Teams Played Hard" from NBADraft.net’s forum, joined us for the draft. Misek made a number of solid choices. I liked the Henry pick at 3 that’s exactly where I had him ranked. Taking Dunn with his second round pick was a bold choice, and possibly a reach. Dunn is a prolific scorer but Baylor will likely need to make a nice run as he was the first non-top 2 seed player chosen. Monroe and Hobson appear to be solid choices in the 3rd and 4th rounds as 3 seeds. 3 games each can be hoped for with a chance for more from Monroe. Late, I like the Leuer pick better than the Coleman one. Coleman of Houston as a 13 seed was the lowest seeded player taken. Then again pickings are slim late and Coleman led the nation in scoring. he could outscore some Sweet 16 guys in one game.

I’m pleased with my top 3 picks (Sherron Collins, Jacob Pullen and Corey Fisher) I feel that each can average close to 17-18 per game and all have a real shot to make the final four. In rounds 4-6 I grabbed Lazar Hayward, Rick Jackson and Luke Harangody. I figure Hayward and Harangody are both quick hitters who should be good for 2 games and 40 or so points total. Any additional games/points will be gravy. I like the Jackson pick due to the fact that Onuaku is injured which should put more pressure on Jackson to score, although I was definitely tempted by Jimmer Fredette who was taken at the next pick. Finally rounds 7 and 8, I sort of hedged my bet taking 2 players in the same bracket, Culpepper and Beal. Both could get eliminated in the first round but I like my chances that both advance and one of them reaches the Sweet 16 and plays 3 games, that is if Butler doesn’t eliminate both teams.

Best undrafted players: Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga, Ryan Wittman, Cornell, Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame, Samardo Samuels, Louisville, JaJuan Johnson, Purdue, A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, Jeffrey Taylor, Vanderbilt, John Jenkins, Vanderbilt, Gerald Lee, Old Dominion, Avery Bradley, Texas

Overall the teams appear to be pretty balanced. We’ll see how it plays out. We’ll be back after the first weekend of action with standings.

2009 NCAA Player Pool
2009NCAA Player Pool: Final Results

More tournament coverage is on the way.