Kenneth Faried, Brandon Knight Star In March Madness, Hope To Boost NBA Stock

The rap on Brandon Knight, John Calipari’s latest hot freshman guard at Kentucky, is that he’s too much a scorer and not enough a distributor. Coach Cal products Derrick Rose and John Wall met no such concerns this late in their frosh seasons, and while Tyreke Evans was seen as a likely NBA shooting guard because of a relative lack of committment to the pass, he still racked up plenty of assists.

Knight, though, is almost surely an NBA two-guard. That means that you’d expect his scoring prowess to be on display in Kentucky’s first game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament against Ivy League champ Princeton. But Knight struggled from the floor all game long, starting the game 0-7. He did have five assists to just one turnover as the Wildcats sought to avoid the day’s second huge upset (after Kenneth Faried led Morehead State past Kentucky’s archrival Louisville Cardinals).

You probably now know Kenneth Faried’s name after No. 13 seed Morehead State’s shocking 62-61 upset win over No. 4 Louisville in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Faried had 12 points and 17 rebounds in the game, as well as the game-saving block to preserve the upset win. What you might not know is that NBA scouts have had their eyes on Faried for quite some time, and he could certainly carve out a role for himself in the league.

Indeed, Faried is not some NCAA Tournament flash in the pan. Faried is the nation’s leading rebounder, at 14.3 per game, and has more career rebounds than any NCAA player since 1973. Yes, even more than men like Tim Duncan and Paul Millsap. Faried is also an incredible athlete that showed that side of his game off in the game against Louisville. Rebounding translates better than any other stat, so Faried should have a carved-out role in the NBA.

NBA teams scout the college ranks all year long, but the NCAA Tournament provides an opportunities for front offices and fans alike to sneak looks at the next great pro players in one rather convenient setting, especially now that every game of March Madness will be televised. To help you catch as many future NBA players as possible as you enjoy March Madness, we laid out the schedule for all of DraftExpress’ top 30 NBA prospects who will play in the tourney.

For more info on the prospects themselves, visit DraftExpress or read our profiles of those in the top 15. Otherwise, schedule your March Madness viewing around this guide to the first two days of action.

We know that Jimmer Fredette is a tremendous college player. Nothing that Fredette could do in the 2011 NCAA Tournament could change anyone’s opinions about that. Nothing that Fredette does can even affect his college legacy as a whole. But what can Fredette do to show he’s a legitimate NBA prospect?

It’s a good question. NBA scouts are very divided about Fredette, with some really confident about his game and others not so sure. Most agree that he has good scoring capability, but is going to have trouble playing defense on the NBA level. The question then is whether Fredette has the kind of scoring capability that can translate to the NBA level.

Despite San Diego State’s lofty No. 2 seed, the 2011 NCAA Tournament might be just the first or second opportunity for most NBA fans to see star sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard in action. The then-unheralded Leonard burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2009-10, and the Aztecs’ larger national profile has been pushed considerably by Leonard and teammate Malcom Thomas. Leonard could have been a first-round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft; staying in school one additional year looks like a boon, though, as DraftExpress currently slots him at No. 13 in the weaker 2011 derby.

Leonard is a scoring forward with middling to poor efficiency. But given how large a role he soaks up for San Diego State, one could reasonably expect his floor percentages to boost with fewer shots at the NBA level. An athletic outside-in ball of energy, Leonard shouldn’t have trouble getting his shot off in the pros, despite a somewhat small stature.

Kyrie Irving could play in the 2011 NCAA Tournament after missing Duke’s entire ACC season with a broken toe. Irving warmed up for Duke’s final two ACC Tournament games but remained out; Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski added some dynamite to March Madness on Tuesday by announcing Irving could play in the tourney. Given that Irving has been the apple of many NBA fans’ eyes despite wearing a walking boot the last couple months, and given that DraftExpress still has the point guard at No. 1 on its top 100 prospects list, Duke has our attention in the tournament.

Duke, of course, is just fine without Irving. Despite losing the ACC regular season title to North Carolina, Duke is a No. 1 seed, the ACC Tournament champion and a popular pick for the national title. You’ll understand why: Most of Duke’s 2010 National Championship team returned, with Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler leading the way. Irving’s almost gravy. But he’s a very, very good, delicious and wonderful gravy. Sausage gravy.

Isaiah Thomas is a forgotten or scorned player to many NBA Draft scouts, but those guys really should be paying more attention to him as the 2011 NCAA Tournament gets underway. There’s really no reason why Thomas is not considered a legitimate NBA prospect going forward.

The biggest knock on Thomas is that he’s small. There aren’t very many 5’8” players in the NBA, especially those that are combo guards. But over the last two months, Thomas has dramatically improved his point guard skills, to the point where I have a hard time believing he couldn’t make it as an NBA point guard. He’s nearly doubled his assist average per 40 minutes this season, jumping from 3.8/40 as a sophomore to seven a game as a junior. He had double-digit assists in five games this year, all in Pac-10 games. Getting his teammates involved may have been a challenge in the past, but not anymore.

John Henson’s voyage through the 2011 NCAA Tournament is focused on helping Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller win a national championship a year after Henson, as a freshman, missed March Madness entirely. But there’s another important target for Henson to keep an eye on, a goal all top recruits work toward every day: the NBA Draft. And Henson, frankly, could use a boost in his stock.

Henson had a rough freshman season at North Carolina, and while he improved dramatically in 2010-11, he still has ground to make up. He’s an infrequent scorer (10 points per game) and, even worse, an inefficient one. His value comes on defense (where he’s among the nation’s very best shotblockers) and on the boards, where he projects to be a very good defensive rebounder and a solid offensive rebounder at the NBA level.

No player has seen his draft buzz change more this season than Harrison Barnes. When the season began, Barnes was a consensus No. 1 overall pick that was expected to dominate college basketball like Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and John Wall before him. When the season reached its midway point, Barnes was struggling mightily, and a lot of people forgot about him. Now, fresh off a strong performance in the 2011 ACC Tournament, Barnes’ stock is rising again as we enter the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

The difference between Barnes and those three players mentioned earlier is that Barnes needed some help to get the most out of his skills. Whereas one could plop Durant, Rose and Wall onto any team and they would immediately become the alpha dog, Barnes needed someone to help facilitate his development.

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WHO: Terrence Jones, forward, Kentucky. 6’8, 200 pounds. Off-the-dribble scorer/rebounder.

Kemba Walker enters the 2011 NCAA Tournament as a household name after four incredible performances in the 2011 Big East Tournament. In that way, all college fans know him. The question for NBA fans, though, especially those who have their eye on the 2011 NBA Draft already, is whether he can translate his impressive college production into the pro game. Here, the jury is still very much out, and I’m honestly not sure if there’s anything Walker can prove in the NCAA Tournament that he hasn’t proved already.

The positives with Walker are obvious from anyone who saw the Big East Tournament. He’s incredibly quick and tricky with the ball, able to find seams and change speeds to squeeze through any hole in the defense. He’s capable of hitting the three-pointer, pulling up from mid-range and finishing at the rim, and I see no reason why he can’t do all those same things on the next level. The ability to change speeds is what impresses me most about him, because that’s exactly the skill that matters most when running an NBA pick and roll. He also has all the intangibles, willing his undermanned team in whatever way necessary.

Jared Sullinger is the best big man on the best team in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, so it’s no surprise that NBA fans of high-lottery teams in the 2011 NBA Draft have had their eyes on him for quite some time. Sullinger came out of high school as one of the nation’s top big man prospects, and went to Ohio State to follow in the footsteps of Greg Oden and Byron Mullens. Like Oden, Sullinger led his team to the No. 1 ranking and a No. 1 seed. But that’s where the similarities between Sullinger and his fellow Ohio State big men prospects end.

Despite being only 19, Sullinger possesses a remarkably refined game, especially offensively. He uses angles extremely well and finishes pretty much everything around the rim. He has also flashed a developing face-up game, and hits a pretty solid percentage of his free throws (71 percent). That skill has allowed him to put up nearly 23 points per 40 minutes while shooting nearly 54 percent from the field, with a 59 percent true shooting percentage. He also doesn’t turn the ball over much, surrendering it on only 10.8 percent of his possessions. The only thing teams can do to stop him is to prevent him from getting he ball, which has happened on occasion -- Sullinger has had 11 games where he played more than 25 minutes and attempted fewer than 10 shots. But a lot of that can be attributed to the poor spacing in the college game and the Buckeyes’ slow pace.

Derrick Williams isn’t exactly a household name for NBA fans, but he will be, and maybe as soon as this week when March Madness tips off. Pac-10 basketball fans know Williams as the ultra-productive forward who led the Arizona Wildcats to a No. 5 seed in the West regional of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. A sophomore, Williams came out of high school in Southern California relatively unknown, especially compared to other Class of 2009 big man prospects like DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Favors and John Henson. The first two of those prospects ended up as one-and-done products landing in the top five in the 2010 NBA Draft. Henson figures to be in the top 10 in the 2011 boogaloo.

Williams should be right there in that elite range; the excellent DraftExpress currently places Williams as the No. 5 prospect in the 2011 NBA Draft, behind just Kyrie Irving, Jonas Valanciunas, Jared Sullinger and Perry Jones. Like Sullinger, Ohio State’s incredible power forward, Williams is a devasting scorer and solid rebounder. But Williams is much more of a perimeter-oriented player, which -- given each players’ height, around 6’8 -- might translate better to the NBA game.