 As March is now upon us and the 2020 conference tournament slate is underway, the PBC scouting team will provide a snapshot of some intriguing professional prospects to watch at the outset of each conference tournament. March 3rd marked the start of conference tournament play for automatic NCAA Tournament bids, with the first wave of conferences including the Atlantic Sun Conference, Big South Conference, Horizon League, and Patriot League. Current NBA players that played collegiately in one of these four conferences include the following:
Though there may be no surefire 2020 draft picks among these conferences, there are certainly a handful of prospects with futures as professional basketball players, whether it be in the NBA, G League, or overseas. Santi Aldama 6’11’’ | 215 lbs. | Forward | Fr. | Loyola (MD) | #34 | Patriot League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Aldama is the most likely player among these four conferences to carve out an NBA career. The uber-talented Spanish forward has been on NBA radars for a while as a result of his strong international youth tournament play, most notably in the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships. Aldama was named the tournament MVP after averaging 18PPG and leading his team to the gold. Aldama, unfortunately, suffered a knee injury this fall and was only able to return for the final 10 games of his freshman season. Despite his stretch forward three-point shooting not meeting expectations over a small sample, Aldama was really impressive in his short stint this season, ultimately earning All-Rookie honors. He has a really intriguing skill set at his size, is able to face up and attack off the dribble, has nice passing vision/instincts, and has great feel on the defensive end. Aldama is easily a top 100 prospect in this class (realistically much higher), but hasn't been included on many boards/mocks due to his knee injury and the likelihood that he returns for his sophomore season. Expect Aldama to warrant draft consideration in 2021 or 2022. Eliminated from Patriot League tournament on 3/3/2020. Dantez Walton 6’6’’ | 215 lbs. | Wing | Sr. | Northern Kentucky | #32 | Horizon League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Walton has battled injury difficulties all season, but when he’s been able to take the court he has proven to be an interesting mid-major senior prospect. He takes on a unique playmaking hybrid forward role at NKU, which may translate nicely into a role as a versatile, switchable rotation wing/forward at the next level. Walton has a strong frame, long arms, and has shown enough shooting improvement to warrant a bit of interest from NBA teams during the pre-draft process. Although he’s unlikely to be drafted, he’ll likely score a Portsmouth invite (assuming health) and will be firmly in the X-10/Summer League wheelhouse. Expect Walton to begin his professional basketball career in the G League. Andrew Kostecka 6’4’’ | 189 lbs. | Wing | Sr. | Loyola (MD) | #10 | Patriot League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Kostecka led the Patriot League in scoring and earned both First Team All-Conference and All-Defensive Team accolades for the second season in a row. He’s a versatile three-level scoring threat capable of sticking it from deep, pulling up off-the-bounce, and earning his way to the free throw stripe. He has also shown a propensity to use his instincts and athleticism to cause chaos and make impact plays on the defensive end. Although he'll miss the Patriout League tourney with an ankle injury, expect Kostecka to be heavily considered for a Portsmouth invite in April. Eliminated from Patriot League tournament on 3/3/2020. Caleb Homesley 6’6’’ | 205 lbs. | Wing | Sr. (RS) | Liberty | #1 | Atlantic Sun PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Homesley was named the 2019-20 A-Sun Player of the Year and has been scorching hot over the two weeks leading up to the A-Sun tourney. He really put himself on the map by notching 30 points in an NCAA tournament victory over #5 seed Mississippi State last season. Look for him to step up, yet again, in big March moments. Homesley is a nice under the radar mid-major prospect that projects to earn a Portsmouth invite and has a good chance of landing a spot on an NBA Summer League roster. Jermaine Marrow 6’0’’ | 182 lbs. | Lead Guard | Sr. | Hampton | #1 | Big South PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ In 2018-19, Marrow ranked third in the nation in points produced per game behind Ja Morant and Chris Clemons and was one of two NCAA DI players in the past ten years to average 25+PPG, 5+APG, and 4+RPG (Stephen Curry). Marrow tallied similar production (on slightly lower efficiency) this season as a senior and earned First Team All-Conference honors (finished second in Player of the Year voting). The Newport News, Virginia native very well may get the opportunity to showcase his skills in front of his hometown at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in April. Hampton's all-time leading scorer will look to prove that he’s more than your typical big-numbers undersized mid-major scoring guard. Antoine Davis 6’1” | 160 lbs. | Lead Guard | So. | Detroit-Mercy | #0 | Horizon League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Davis put himself on the map by surpassing Stephen Curry’s freshman season three-point makes record in 2018-19. The 2019-20 First Team All-Conference guard still put up 10+ 3PA’s per game as a sophomore, but saw a significant drop in efficiency from 38.0% to 32.4% from deep. He did show some minor improvement driving and getting to the line, where he converted at 90+% this season. The context of Davis’ absolute green light and free reign to do as he chooses without consequence is tough to contextualize from a pro translatability perspective. He has a very small, thin frame which leads to him being consistently exposed on defense, which will only be exemplified at the next level. While the shooting and scoring ability certainly pops, Davis still has a long way to go to mold himself into a truly viable prospect. Marcus Burk 6’3’’ | 205 lbs. | Combo Guard | Jr. (RS) | IUPUI | #14 | Horizon League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Burk sat out last season due to NCAA transfer regulations after transferring from Campbell. He’s really hit the ground running and thrived in his new role, earning Second Team All-Conference honors. Burk is a thick, bulky combo guard with natural scoring ability. He ranks as an 88th percentile spot-up shooter (1.11 PPP with 200+ of his points on the season being derived from such shots) and is a bowling ball in transition. While he’s played well and accumulated nice numbers, he’ll really need to improve as a pick-and-roll initiator to build his case for the next level. Pick-and-rolls comprise only 8.6% of Burk’s offensive possessions and he converts at a very poor rate of 0.441 PPP on such possessions. If Burk can clean this up and become a more dynamic, efficient pick-and-roll threat, he could grow into a more viable prospect as a senior. Eliminated from Horizon League tournament on 3/3/2020. Carlik Jones 6’1’’ | 180 lbs. | Lead Guard | Jr. (RS) | Radford | #1 | Big South PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ The Cincinnati, Ohio native really stepped up his game as a junior, most prominently improving his three-point shooting (24.7% on 2.9 3PA/G in 2018-19, 41.1% on 3.6 3PA/G in 2019-20). The 2019-20 Big South Player of the Year is the only player in the country to average 19+PPG, 5+APG, and 5+RPG this season. While it remains to be seen if the shooting bump is sustainable (80+ FT% is encouraging), Jones has certainly helped his case to warrant tracking as a deep mid-major prospect with G League potential as he heads into his senior season next year. Sa'eed Nelson 6’2’’ | 190 lbs. | Combo Guard | Sr. | American | #0 | Patriot League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ The 2019-20 Patriot League Player of the Year finished second in the conference in PPG and APG, and ranks third in the nation with 2.8 SPG. He is the only active NCAA DI player with > 2,000 points, >500 rebounds, and >500 assists.Nelson is a very athletic, tough guard that’s incredibly dangerous attacking downhill and has nice feel as a playmaker. He causes chaos on the defensive end with active hands and a sense for when to jump passing lanes. The question remains whether he’ll ever become a reliable enough shooter to translate cleanly as a pro. He’s known to be a hard worker, so don’t put it past him to clean up the jumper and carve out a really successful career overseas. Max Mahoney 6’8’’ | 235 lbs. | Forward | Sr. | Boston University | #51 | Patriot League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Mahoney earned First Team All-Conference honors, his third such season being named to an all-conference team. Mahoney has posted a 60+ FG% clip over the course of his career and increased his rebound, assist, and steal production each successive season of his career. While he’s ultra-productive and efficient (#18 in the nation in BPM 2.0 and among KenPom’s leaders in Game MVP’s), he hasn’t attempted a three his entire career and his archetype as a traditional power forward makes his translatability to the NBA pretty murky. Mahoney projects to pursue a career overseas and will likely continue to be productive as a pro if he and his eventual agent can find a clean team/league fit. Cedric Henderson Jr. 6’6’’ | 190 lbs. | Wing | So. | Campbell | #45 | Big South PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ Henderson, whose father was a 2nd round pick in the 1997 draft and spent five seasons in the NBA, is flying a bit under the radar as a potential long-term NBA prospect. He took a non-traditional path to start his career by spending his freshman season playing for his father at Southwest Tennessee Community College in 2018-19. In his first DI season, the sophomore swingman has been a really efficient shooter (57.8/45.2/77.5% splits). On a decent sample of volume, he ranks in the 87th percentile as a spot-up shooter, 99th percentile as a pick-and-roll handler, and 93rd percentile as a cutter. Henderson is certainly worth monitoring as a prospect going forward. Eliminated from Big South tournament on 3/3/2020. Rapolas Ivanauskas 6’10” | 230 lbs. | Forward | Jr. (RS) | Colgate | Patriot League PBC Consensus Ranking: 100+ The Brewster Academy alum and 2018-19 Patriot League Player of the Year saw a notable decline in production/efficiency across the board this season (decreases in 2P%, 3P%, FT%, points, rebounds, etc.), but the Lithuanian forward still warranted being named 2nd Team All-Conference and seems likely to eventually carve out a nice career in Lithuania after returning for one more season at Colgate.
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