Spurs draft prospects to watch in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16
Potential Spurs draftees to check out in the Sweet 16.
Is anyone else’s bracket busted? Outside of a few major first-round upsets like Oakland and Yale taking down the SEC’s best, the tournament has gone chalk. If you’re like me and predicted multiple double-digit seeds to make the Sweet 16, you’d be wrong. In fact, the final sixteen schools left are made up of top-50ish (NC State is 52) teams in Kenpom rankings.
There are still plenty of NBA Draft prospects in the tournament for San Antonio Spurs fans to watch, despite early exits from the Kentucky guards and Colorado’s Cody Williams. Duke, UCONN, Tennessee and Marquette all feature intriguing players who could go anywhere from the lottery to the second round. Spurs fans should check out some exciting matchups in the next two days, and get a look at some players who could wear the Silver and Black one day.
In this series, Pounding the Rock will look at NBA draft prospects to watch in each round of the NCAA Tournament. The Spurs have the possibility of getting two first-round picks (Toronto owes San Antonio a top-6 protected pick) and two second-round picks (their own, and another belonging to the Los Angeles Lakers.)
Trey Alexander, 6’4” combo guard, Creighton
Regular season stats: 17.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.7 apg, 45.1%/33.5%/81.6% (51.0% EFG)
Creighton is one of my favorite teams to watch in the tournament. They have a big three comprising of Trey Alexander, Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner. The junior guard, Alexander, has been one of their best players in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 19 and 20 points in their two wins.
Alexander is a bigger combo guard who has steadily improved as a playmaker in his time with the Blue Jays. Last season many considered him to be a fringe first-round pick. Instead of declaring, he decided to go back to Creighton and improve his stock. That hasn’t necessarily happened in the way Alexander wanted it to. He’s scoring more, but his three-point percentage fell from 41% to 33.5%. He saw a big bump in usage (from 21.3 to 26.7,) so a drop in efficiency makes sense, but you’d still like to see the guard be able to efficiently handle a ball-dominant load.
Alexander won’t be relied upon at the next level nearly as much as he is at Creighton. For San Antonio, Alexander profiles as a bench guard who has shown the potential to be a floor spacer. The Spurs need guards who can stretch the floor. As of right now, Tre Jones, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley are all unreliable three-point shooters. If Alexanders shoots well in the tournament and pre-draft process, maybe San Antonio could talk itself into a second-round flier.
Alex Karaban, 6’8” wing, UCONN
Regular season stats: 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 50.1%/38.7%/87.5% (60.7% EFG)
The Spurs need shooters, and UCONN has some of the best in college basketball. Alex Karaban is a big wing who can nail threes from NBA range. The Huskies’ offense is designed to get their shooters moving and playing off one another. Karaban is smart at finding angles and running to his spots to find open threes off movement. NBA teams will be high on his basketball IQ and shooting.
Karaban has struggled to shoot it in the tournament thus far. He’s just 2-9 from deep in UCONN’s two games. If the Huskies want to repeat, they’ll need him to find his stroke.
Similar to guys like Dalton Knecht and Scheierman, the Spurs could see Karaban as a floor-spacing wing at the next level. He’ll likely be available for them in the second round where they have two draft picks. If San Antonio keeps both of those selections, drafting a shooter could provide them with some low-cost floor spacing.
Zach Edey, 7’4” center, Purdue
Regular season stats: 24.5 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 2.3 bpg, 62.3%/50%/71.4% (62.4% EFG)
I can see the comments now. This will be an unpopular pick, but how can you talk about the NCAA Tournament without mentioning its best player? Zach Edey is the biggest star of men’s college basketball and has dominated the field so far. He put up 30 points and 21 rebounds in the first round!
There are questions about Edey’s fit in the NBA game. He’s slow and doesn’t space the floor. However, it’s hard to deny Edey’s presence in the college game. He’s strong, uses positioning well and is a good finisher. Some draft experts have him as a lottery pick, other have him in the second round. There are really no solid answers to Edey’s fit in the NBA – teams will just have to bet on talent.
… But could you imagine Edey and Victor Wembanyama playing together? Two 7’4” guys just wreaking havoc on the interior. Or if you don’t play them together, you can ensure you have a giant on the floor at all times. This likely isn’t a priority for the Spurs front office, but it sure is fun to think about for a second.
Tyler Kolek, 6’3” guard, Marquette
Regular season stats: 15.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 7.9 apg, 49.7%/39.7%/85.4% (56.5% EFG)
Intangibles can be an underrated aspect of a prospects appeal. It’s part of what makes Tyler Kolek such an interesting draft prospect. He’s had a great senior season at Marquette, and willed them to the Sweet 16 with a clutch performance against Colorado. The point guard got to the basket at will on his way to a 21 point and 11 assist performance.
Kolek is a strong, smart guard who lacks the explosion that most highly-coveted draft prospects have. He’s a steady three-point shooter and dynamic in the pick and roll. In fact, he might be the best pick and roll point guard in the 2024 draft class. If Marquette makes a run to the Final Four, it will be on Kolek’s back.
Kolek’s draft range seems to be late-first round to early-second round. If the Spurs don’t end up taking a point guard in the lottery, grabbing Kolek in the early second round could make some sense. He’s a player who has the intangibles to step into high pressure situations of the NBA right away, despite his lack of burst. This is another buy low guard who could provide the Spurs with some playmaking and floor spacing.
