The All-March Sadness Team: Top NBA draft prospects who fell short in NCAA tournament

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(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

March Madness is supposed to be about winners, but for NBA scouts, it’s just as much about what we learn from the guys who go home early. Some flame out. Others show flashes before their teams fall short. But the tournament can provide both good and bad glimpses of what’s to come.

So let’s build an All-March Sadness team with five starters and two reserves. From microwave scorers with tunnel vision to late-bloomers making a lottery push, here’s what we learned about seven prospects on college basketball’s biggest stage.

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There’s a moment burned into my brain that crystallizes the worry with Tre Johnson’s NBA future. Late in Texas’ First Four loss to Xavier, down one with 17 seconds still on the shot clock, Johnson sized up his man and launched a heavily contested step-back 3. He held his pose as the ball clanged off the back iron, taking himself completely out of the play. Xavier grabbed the board, fired an outlet over Johnson’s head, and seconds later he was fouling the breakaway scorer for an and-one that buried Texas. It was a trailer for every concern scouts have had about Johnson: erratic shot selection, shaky decision-making and a disengaged defensive motor.

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And yet, I can’t forget the highs. Yes, he takes bad shots, but he makes a lot of them. Coming off screens, pulling up, step-backs, leaning 3s. It doesn’t matter. He’s a microwave scorer trapped in Rodney Terry’s unimaginative Texas offense. It’s hard to fault a guy for trying to create his own spark when the system gives him nothing.

Johnson could be another shot-maker archetype bust prospect like the OJ Mayo, Shabazz Muhammad, and Dion Waiters types that came before him. But then you see the flashes. The moments where he makes the right read. The possessions where he locks in on defense. The emotional swings — his joy when things go well, his frustration when they don’t — suggest a player who cares deeply. And that might mean there’s more to tap…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/the-all-march-sadness-team-top-nba-draft-prospects-who-fell-short-in-ncaa-tournament-193939370.html

Author : Kevin O'Connor

Publish date : 2025-03-26 19:39:00

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