The name on the back of the jersey means just as much as the name on the front here at DraftExpress, so if you're watching the NCAA tournament with an eye on scouting future NBA players, you've come to the right place.
Note: The numbers listed next to players represent their standing in our top-100 prospect rankings for the 2013 draft.
All listed times are Eastern Standard (EST)
7:15 PM EST CBS
Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, IN)
1 Louisville: #24 Gorgui Dieng, #51 Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear, Chane Behanan, Montrezl Harrell,
12 Oregon: Arsalan Kazemi, Tony Woods, Damyean Dotson, Dominic Artis
Louisville is the best defensive team in college basketball, and this won't be much of a contest at all if Oregon's freshmen backcourt of Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson don't show up tonight in a major way. Both are talented guards with solid athleticism and perimeter shooting ability, but their ball-handling skills will be constantly tested by Louisville's experienced and relentless backcourt duo of Russ Smith and Peyton Siva. Pat Forde's excellent story about Rick Pitino's obsession with charting deflections is a good preview for this matchup.
In the frontcourt, Oregon will need rebounding machine Arsalan Kazemi to continue to do what he does best, after grabbing an astounding 33 rebounds in their two wins last weekend. Kazemi isn't particularly big, athletic or skilled, but he's somewhat of an Iranian version of Kenneth Faried with how dominant he's been on the glass the past four years. It will be interesting to see how he'll fare against Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan, two very solid offensive rebounders in their own right, on Louisville's misses.
7:37 PM EST TBS
Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX)
1 Kansas: #2 Ben McLemore, #26 Jeff Withey, #97 Elijah Johnson,
4 Michigan: #10 Trey Burke, #20 Glenn Robinson, #46 Mitch McGary, #83 Tim Hardaway Jr, Nik Stauskas
Kansas will need Ben McLemore to be a lot more aggressive than he's been lately. The highly touted redshirt freshman has made just four field goals playing 96 minutes in his last three games spanning the Big 12 tournament championship and the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. While he's a tremendous athlete and perimeter shooter, some NBA scouts question whether he's too comfortable blending in at times and if he's a good enough ball-handler and shot-creator to warrant consideration as a top draft pick. This type of pressure-packed environment could be a good place to dispel some of those concerns.
While Michigan is a fantastic offensive team (#2 in the NCAA according to KenPom), their defense is not very intimidating, particularly their wing combination of Nik Stauskas and [url=Tim Hardaway Jr]Tim Hardaway Jr, so McLemore should not have too much of a problem finding open looks if he elects to assert himself.
Look for Bill Self to throw a lot of different defenders at Trey Burke and try to keep arguably the top point guard in college basketball off-balance throughout the game. Jeff Withey will play a major part in that. He shuts down the paint like no other player in the NCAA, helping Kansas rank #1 in 2-point percentage defense thanks to his impressive timing as a weak-side shot-blocker and intimidator.
Michigan shoots the ball extremely well from the perimeter, with Tim Hardaway Jr being particularly effective in the tournament so far, scoring 35 points in two games on 8-15 from beyond the arc. Hardaway has been up and down throughout his career at Michigan, as he's neither a prolific ball-handler, nor an incredibly consistent outside shooter. A strong showing against Ben McLemore can help him continue to raise his profile amongst NBA scouts.