Plenty of college players showed their NBA potential with their performance in the NCAA Tournament
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Having the most NBA talent on a college basketball team doesn’t always equate to NCAA Tournament success — if that were the case, Duke and Kentucky would be out of banner space in the rafters by now — but UConn is once again showing that there’s a real correlation. The Huskies won the national championship in 2023 and had two players drafted in the top 40 and another make the NBA.
The Huskies have now repeated their NCAA Tournament feat in 2024, and this year’s NBA Draft might be even more ripe for them to conquer. In our latest mock draft below ahead of this weekend’s Final Four, UConn has two projected top-10 picks and as many as four potential first-rounders in the 2024 draft on its roster.
The player they vanquished in the title game? Yes, Zach Edey has his own weaknesses but is generating plenty of buzz himself, playing himself firmly into the first round discussion. He lands in the late first below as well.
At the top of the draft there remains the same central figures based on how NBA teams project ahead and view upside long-term, thus Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr are firmly planted in the top three once again. But big NCAA Tournament runs from UConn and Purdue specifically have altered the landscape of the draft this summer. So as we look ahead to this weekend’s Final Four, all the latest movers and shakers are settled into spots for now to reflect what’s transpired over the course of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
