NCAA UNDERGROUND: Conferences tournaments edition

YOU DON’T KNOW (OR MAYBE YOU KNOW….) HOW GOOD IS…

G – Josh Adams (Wyoming)
The NBA pick you never heard of. Give him only 3 more inches and he’ll be a future first rounder. Watching him playing from courtside the feeling is that he’s gonna lose control of his body sometime soon, like for Westbrook or Derrick Rose… Vocal and technical leader of the Wyoming Cowboys, he dominated the Mountain West tournament showing Derrick Marks why he’s got better chances to succeed in the Pros as we speak.

He’s got everything a stat sheet cannot explain, like the crazy dynamic game he got on both halves of the court. Plays both on and off the ball as a guard, with wild intensity and can hit the jumper on everybody’s face being able to raise 40-inches on the pullup. By the way, in 3 tournament games we haven’t seen him beaten one single time off the dribble by his man…

SPORTANDO-U. TEAM OF THE WEEK (UNRANKED TEAM)

G – Joseph Young (Oregon)
Give it to Joe… the Ducks are coached as well as anyone in the conference, more they got someone like the little Young who knows how to play hot possessions. Thanks to his 25 points including an amazing buzzer-beater vs #17 Utah he leads his teammates to seed number 8 staying on the west coast. Give it to Joe…

G – Ryan Boatright (UConn)
Why? After going 1-for-12 in the AAC final? Of course, he picked a bad night to spoil his fantastic season shooting percentage. But what about the previous three games he won for his Huskies? If you need more details ask the Cincinnati Bearcats… it’ll be tough to see him in the NIT.

G – Peter Hooley (Albany)
Beyond any personal story, this nominee has a pure technical value. The aussie leads Albany again to the big dance (this time with seed #14 with no preliminary round) after a 15-1 season, with his clean basketball style. The buzzer beater with which they go to the NCAA is a shot he can score easily with 70% even if we got the feeling it’ll be much harder against the Sooners…

F – Christian Wood (UNLV)
Hiding from the big radar in the Mountain West Conference (probably the most underrated conference in the NCAA), we watched him vs Nevada and again we saw him almost bored by his talent… with such wingspan it’ll be hard to find him available after the 15th pick, but the feeling we got is that he still doens’t control the game in the way he should. Which is scary…

F/C – Larry Nance Jr. (Wyoming)
The second half of the Cowboys success. He’s got the weight our man Josh can’t bring to the game. He’s strong, he loves to fight and, even if he hasn’t got the best basketball IQ in the game, when it’s about intensity you better have him by your side. If they still got some energy, nobody will have fun against Wyoming…

SPORTANDO-U. TEAM OF THE WEEK (RANKED TEAM)

G – Monte Morris (Iowa State)
Another buzzer-beater, versus Texas, in a tough Big12 tournamnet… and then we got zero when looking at his turnover numbers in three conference games. This is totally unreal, having played 110 of the 120 minutes available….

G – Jerian Grant (Notre Dame)
Unstoppable. He’s got quickness, basketball instinct and great execution. He’s the best guard in college basketball for consistency and level of performances. The ACC tournament has been just another confirmation. We heard some NBA people start talking about lottery….

F – Brandon Ashley (Arizona)
We start hearing late first rounder here… Versatilty and defensive lateral steps are top3 amongst forwards in college basketball. In Pac-12 tourney scores 20 on average with over 70% from the field and the feeling that whatever he still misses in the game, you can teach him.

F/C – Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky)
Upside. This is the reason why more than half of NBA GM will chose him over Okafor today. The SEC exhibition (tournament will be too much…) gives a further evidence about what his real value will be for the next level of basketball. He doesn’t need to score to change a game.

C – Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga)
No aesthetic, all substance. The polish guy dominates the West Coast tournament not having competitive strength both versus San Francisco and Pepperdine. We’re not sure about his pro future, for sure in Europe with that body and those hands can make some noise in the paint…

Written by Marco Ridolfi