The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Jeremy Lamb

School:Connecticut

Height/Weight: 6’5”, 179 lbs.

NBA Position: Shooting Guard

Projected Draft Range: Mid-Lottery

Lamb Had An Enigmatic Sophomore Campaign

Overview: Coming out of high school, Jeremy Lamb was something of an afterthought in Connecticut’s 2010 recruiting class. While guys like Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith were expected to make an immediate impact with the Huskies, Lamb arrived in Storrs at the 43^rd ranked shooting guard in his class, according to ESPNU. And really, as the calendar flipped from 2010 to 2011, while Lamb had turned in some nice performances, he had done little to change that perception. But then, in the middle of January, he turned in a streak of eight straight double-figure scoring efforts (averaging 16.7 PPG over that stretch) and presented himself as a significant second option to alpha dog Kemba Walker. He faded back into obscurity down the stretch of the Big East schedule, but once the Huskies got into elimination basketball, he was excellent, scoring in double figures in each of his Big East and NCAA Tournament games as the Huskies swept to a national title. Along the way, Lamb displayed an excellent shooting touch in a variety of areas, posting a 62% eFG while scoring 15.3 PPG and grabbing a hold of the attention of NBA scouts. But last season, in the absence of Walker, the Huskies struggled with team chemistry as an arguably more talented Husky team struggled home to a mediocre 20-14 finish and a first-round NCAA loss. Lamb’s numbers looked much the same across the board (great offensive efficiency numbers, excellent shooting percentages, few turnovers, and fewer assists) albeit with a bump up in usage, but the team chemistry issues are of concern, as are Lamb’s limited trips to the free throw line and occasionally poor shot selection. Still, with an absurd seven-foot wingspan on a solid 6’5” frame, Lamb’s scoring ability and excellent athleticism make him a highly-regarded NBA prospect.

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The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Terrence Jones

School: Kentucky

Height/Weight: 6’9.5” / 250 lbs.

NBA Position: Power Forward / Small Forward

Projected Draft Range: Mid-First Round

Terrence Jones is really strong for such a versatile forward (AP Photo/M. Chastain)

Overview: Terrence Jones entered the 2010-11 season as one of Kentucky’s top two recruits, expected to become a potential one-and-done candidate with elite physical tools and versatile scoring prowess. But Jones decided to stick around for year two after a strong freshman season and was included on the 2011-12 Preseason All-American list, expected to be the leader of UK’s super crop of new rookies. While he was no doubt a key part of the Wildcats’ National Championship team, he regressed some as a player from his first to second year and fell off somewhat while his freshmen (Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist) and senior (Miller) teammates thrived more as team leaders. Jones averaged the fifth-most minutes on the team and saw his scoring and rebounding numbers dip from 15.7 PPG and 8.8 RPG to 12.3 PPG and 7.2 RPG, respectively. The loaded roster explains some of that regression, but Jones also displayed occasional poor body language with an inability to assert himself and fit in with the other stars during some games. He shot 85 fewer free throws as a sophomore and was at times an afterthought in the offense. But in other contests, he proved what a versatile beast that he can be, dominating the paint on both ends with his big, strong frame and extending out to hit some threes to keep defenses honest. He became a scouting report sleeper, not displaying any one skill that teams must account for but possessing the ability to do many things on the floor. His terrific defensive contributions are also notable, racking up nice steal and block numbers with an ability to guard several positions. Jones is strong and versatile but needs proper motivation to produce at a high level.

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For all the speculation that Anthony Davis could end up earning a spot on Team USA for the upcoming London Summer Olympics, it seems highly unlikely that the future #1 draft pick will make the final cut. The same goes for several other former college players – for example, Fab Melo and Scott Machado – who have had to focus their time this offseason on the NBA Draft Combine and other local workout preparations rather than try out with their respective countries to make their Olympic squads. But Basketball Australia announced Friday afternoon that Matthew Dellavedova, St. Mary’s rising senior guard, has made the 12-man Aussie squad heading to London. The release notes that there’s “a strong possibility [Dellavedova] will be the only current college player to participate in the sport of men’s basketball at this year’s Games.” Dellavedova joins Patty Mills, another former St. Mary’s star, as lead guards for the ‘Boomers.’

Matthew Dellavedova, the reigning WCC Player of the Year, has qualified for Australia’s Olympic roster (St. Mary’s Athletics photo)

There are some other college players or recent graduates who did not get invited to the NBA Draft Combine that still have a chance to make their international homelands for the Olympics. Yahoo! Sports‘ Jeff Eisenberg detailed seven NCAAB players vying to make the Olympics, but all of those players have faced challenging training camps to qualify for their countries, and none have yet made their teams. Deividas Dulkys has a good shot to make the Lithuanian team, but he’s also a recent graduate of Florida State and won’t return to the college game. Dellavedova, on the other hand, has already notched his spot for the Aussies and will represent his country in the Olympics as part of his training regimen for his rising senior season at St. Mary’s.

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The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Arnett Moultrie

School: Mississippi State

Height/Weight: 6’11” / 235 lbs.

NBA Position: Power Forward

Projected Draft Range: Mid-First Round

Moultrie has explosive athleticism but needs work on his post game (AP Photo/B. Newman)

Overview: Arnett Moultrie is one of the few potential lottery picks in this draft who didn’t receive a lot of attention throughout his college career. Moultrie played in just one NCAA Tournament game in three seasons — back in 2010 with #12-seed UTEP when he had four points, three rebounds, and three turnovers in a loss to Butler. But he offered intriguing size and skills at that time and transferred to Mississippi State, where he consequently had a tremendously productive season in 2011-12 for the Bulldogs. The smooth big man averaged 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds last season on 54.9% shooting, good for second, first, and fourth, respectively, in the SEC. He also improved his free throw shooting to an intriguing 78% last year on over five attempts per game. Moultrie displays ‘bouncy’ athleticism; a solid combination of leaping ability and agility for his 6’11” frame that allows him to explode at the rim and run the floor effectively. His 12’0” maximum vertical reach ranked third of all prospects at the Combine, showing an impressive 7’2.25” wingspan and finishing third-fastest of all power forwards in the sprint test behind Perry Jones and Thomas Robinson. Moultrie spoke out in frustration with his team’s late-season collapse last year, which drew conflicting attention but appears to work now as a positive as he’s followed up those comments with a strong showing in Combine interviews. He doesn’t play a whole lot of defense at this stage and needs work on paint skills on both ends, but his offensive productivity is very intriguing.

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1. UCLA head coach Ben Howland’s recruiting success with the 2012 class went a long way towards re-establishing the thriving program we had come to expect after his first few seasons in Westwood, but questions remained about what he could do in the future. Some of those questions were answered this past week when Howland earned a commitment from 2013 guard Zach LaVine, a four-star player out of Bothell, Washington. LaVine has the reputation of a point guard prospect, but has enough size and scoring ability that he could play either position at the next level. Aside from getting UCLA’s 2013 class off to a strong start, it also shows Howland’s ability to go into other states and steal local kids from his Pac-12 opponents, as Washington, for one, certainly considered themselves a strong candidate to land LaVine.
2. Speaking of Washington, head coach Lorenzo Romar confirmed this week that they are “pretty much done” with the 2012 recruiting class. Assuming no last minute surprises emerge, the new class for the Huskies is made up of just junior college transfer Mark McLaughlin and San Francisco transfer Perry Blackwell, who will not be eligible until 2013-14. However, Ben Knibbe of the UW Dawg Pound tells UW fans not to worry, because Romar has designs on a monster 2013 class, with his staff hot in pursuit of #1 overall recruit Jabari Parker as well as three other top-15 recruits: Aaron Gordon, Jabari Bird and Isaac Hamilton.
3. Also on the Lorenzo Romar front, he is the latest Pac-12 coach to hop aboard the Twitter express, signing up for the social media platform this week as @CoachRomar. With Arizona head coach Sean Miller buying in last week, now more than half of the league’s coaches have a Twitter feed, some of which are used more than others. However, if you California fans out there are waiting for Mike Montgomery to start tweeting, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
4. Sean Miller, meanwhile, had plenty to be happy about, as he inked a contract extension with Arizona in the last week that will keep him prowling the sidelines (and, likewise, will keep the Wildcats very relevant nationally) through at least 2016-17. In his three seasons in Tucson, he has posted a 69-35 record with a Coach of the Year award and an Elite Eight mixed in, despite missing the NCAA Tournament twice over that span. While missing NCAA Tournaments is definitely not something that Wildcats fans are used to, most understand that Miller has done an excellent job keeping this program chugging along, especially considering his top three national recruiting class this past offseason.
5. Lastly, David Piper of Addicted to Quack writes that this 2012 Oregon recruiting class will determine whether the Dana Altman era in Eugene will ultimately be considered a success or not. With 12 of the 16 most-recent Duck recruits having transferred out of the program, Altman needs to show that he can not only bring in quality recruits, but that he can keep them and use them to get Oregon back into the NCAA Tournament. Four-star point guard Dominic Artis heads the 2012 class, and he could be a key cog over the next four years, provided of course that he remains in the program.

1. The University of Kentucky athletic department announced its decision to increase ticket prices by as much as $10 for a single game ticket next season. In addition, the K Fund donation required to buy season tickets has increased by as much as $1500. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said the jump in prices were due to several factors including: the increasing cost of tuition, additional travel costs due to SEC conference realignment, and the rising costs of paying upper echelon coaching salaries like John Calipari’s $5.2 million dollar annual salary (it is worth mentioning at least some of which is paid through annual endorsements). However, when you are coming off a 2012 National Championship and have the most passionate fan base in all of college basketball, fans in the Bluegrass State will pay whatever the asking price to watch their Cats in Rupp Arena.
2. Talent wins championships, and while the 2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats have plenty of talent, there is something missing from next year’s roster — experience, particularly in Calipari’s system. Basketball pundits clamored over UK’s one-and-done stars from last season, but it was senior Darius Miller who stepped out of the spotlight to quietly lead his team.  “He does everything the team needs him to do. He completes everybody. He’s not competing, he’s completing,” Calipari said of Miller towards the end of the 2012 season. “If he needs to rebound, defend (he will). He plays some guard, he plays some four (power forward). Whatever position we ask him, he just completes.” It is clear that Calipari’s Cats have the talent to compete for a repeat performance next year, but the question (asked by Kentucky blog A Sea of Blue) becomes, who replaces Darius Miller? And at this point, the answer is, it’s too early to tell.
3. New LSU head coach Johnny Jones has added David Patrick to his staff to serve in the role of assistant basketball coach. Patrick has served as an assistant with Saint Mary’s and Nicholls State before his most recent stint as player personnel scout for the Houston Rockets. “We are definitely excited about the addition of David Patrick to our staff,” said Jones. “He will not only be able to help us with game planning and practice preparation, but we look forward to him helping to raise our level of recruiting at LSU, both regionally as well as nationally. With his background in both Division I and professional basketball, he brings a level of experience to our program that will help us to move forward.” Jones has built a lot of momentum since being announced as the head man for the Tigers in April. In addition to luring Patrick to Baton Rouge, he initially recruited former UNT assistants Shawn Forrest and Charlie Leonard and added former Georgetown assistant Robert Kirby over a month ago.
4. A couple of SEC players made Eamonn Brennan’s list of 10 potential breakout players for 2012-13. Okay, so these lists aren’t exactly news, but it’s at least a conversation starter. Brennan puts Arkansas guard BJ Young, who briefly considered a jump to the NBA after his freshman year, on the list. Can a guy who averaged over 15 points per game really be a breakout player? Regardless, Young and his young teammates (see what we did there) could elevate Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks back into the Top 25 this year after a long hiatus from the national college basketball landscape.The other SEC player on Brennan’s list is Kentucky’s Kyle Wiltjer. Wiltjer saw just over 11 minutes per game last year, but when he was on the floor he took the highest percentage of shots on the team. Wiltjer isn’t afraid to hoist the ball up there, and we are likely to see even more shots from him this season.
5. Incoming Florida transfer Dorian Finney-Smith has ties to the Florida program and he wasn’t going to choose against the Gators again. Finney-Smith is close friends with former Gator center Vernon Macklin. “Vernon is like a brother to me,” Finney-Smith said. “I saw how successful he was at Florida and that played a role in my decision.” It’s a decision that Finney-Smith seems happy with. “Coach Donovan said we’re going to be going up-and-down the floor, every day,” he said. “I like that. It will be fun.” It isn’t sounding like much fun for the rest of the SEC though. Florida’s 2013-14 front line is coming together with the addition of several quality transfers. In addition to the 6’8″ Finney Smith, Billy Donovan added 6’9″ Damontre Harris earlier this summer, a transfer from South Carolina. Both big men will sit out this season, but will be able to practice with the team.

After a week’s worth of breaking down the Golden Bears, it is time to give a way-too-early preview as to their chances in 2012-13. With five newcomers, three of whom are expected to play very big roles, and five returnees who will carry an even bigger load than they did last season, there are plenty of questions whose answers will remain unknown until we get a chance to see this team in action. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t make predictions. Simulating basketball in our minds is the closest we’re going to get to the real thing until late October, so here we go.

Cal’s Leading Scorer – Allen Crabbe. The one-two punch of Crabbe and Justin Cobbs will have opposing defenses scrambling all night long. Cobbs can definitely score the ball, but the Bears are better with him distributing. With Cobbs dropping dimes to Crabbe, sharpshooting transfer Ricky Kreklow, and incoming freshman Tyrone Wallace, defenses will eventually be so preoccupied with the trio of shooting guards that they forget about the point guard. That’s when he can make his move. Similar to last season, this will be a team with balanced scoring. Crabbe, Cobbs, Kreklow, Kravish, and Solomon could all be averaging 8+ PPG by season’s end.

The Potential On This Year’s Roster Should Have Cal Fans Packing Haas Pavilion On A Regular Basis, Like On This Unknown Night When Jordan Farmar Is Attempting To Convert A Jumper Into The Teeth Of The Straw Hat Band. (credit: Arun Nevader)

Cal’s MVP – Justin Cobbs. Just as Cobbs could very well win the scoring title, Crabbe could very well be the team MVP. But we already named Crabbe as the leading scorer, and taking two titles is just plain selfish. If Cobbs can find that balance we were talking about above of taking only good shots and always looking to pass first, he will be by far the most important part of coach Mike Montgomery’ s offense. And as we all know, defense may win championships, but good offense wins MVP awards.

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When news broke this week that 10 teams would receive postseason bans due to insufficient Academic Progress Reports, immediate reactions all centered around the one big name team on the list – Connecticut. Sadly, the National Champions of just two seasons ago won’t even have a chance to participate in March Madness next season. But there are nine other schools that also flunked the APR test and are therefore disallowed from the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Did any of these other teams have shots at the Big Dance next year? The answer: Three teams in particular lost out big time from the punishment, while the five others will find rebuilding that much more difficult.

Rian Pearson is a great player for Toledo, but he won’t get a chance at the Big Dance next season (The Blade/J. Wadsworth)

• Toledo – The Rockets were just average in the MAC last season (7-9), but Toledo didn’t lose a single player to graduation. Rian Pearson, who averaged 16.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in his first year on campus last season, is a really good player who loses out on a shot at the Big Dance next year. The Rockets are not happy about the postseason ban, but it’s only a result of their own players’ inability to graduate or stay academically eligible at a strong enough rate over the past four years. Read the rest of this entry »

For a team that made the NCAA Tournament in 2011-12, California’s extra scoring opportunities per game rate was quite low. The Golden Bears only averaged 1.9 ESOPG last season, which came in at 91st in the nation and sixth in the Pac-12. That’s not terrible, but it only converts to nearly four points per game, five if you throw a three in there. Take a team like VCU for example. The Rams averaged 7.7 ESOPG last season, meaning that they gained nearly 16 extra points a game if they had converted all of those (and that’s assuming all of the extra buckets came in the form of two-pointers). VCU finished the season with a record of 29-7, and 20 of those 29 wins were decided by 14 points or less. But the Rams earned all of those extra points, mainly because of the great work that coach Shaka Smart and company do stressing the importance of offensive rebounding.

h/t to TeamRankings for statistics

Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon will be the key to those extra opportunities in 2012-13. Sophomore forward David Kravish was by far the leader among 2012-13 returnees in offensive rebounding, so he will serve as a catalyst for the other guys. Kravish averaged two ORPG last season, which is a good number, especially for a young and wiry freshman. But after him, things dropped considerably for the Golden Bears. If they can bring their extra scoring opportunities per game up to four, and convert three of those possessions a game for a total of say, seven points, it could be a very good year for Cal. The Bears lost five games by seven points or less in 2011-12, and if they could have won three of those their final regular season record would have been 27-6. Then, all of a sudden your Pac-12 champions are in the mix for top three NCAA seed, not playing in Dayton on the Wednesday before the Tournament even starts. While that may seem like a stretch, it can all be solved with just a few more offensive rebounds each game.

Of course, none of this is as easy as I’m making it sound. This will take an entire team effort, not just by the bigs and coaching staff. An important part of offensive rebounding is having your guards shoot the ball when your forwards and centers are in a position to get that rebound, not sitting on the wing or on top of the free throw line. While Crabbe and Justin Cobbs are great shooters, if they can make sure that their shots come in the rhythm of the offense, the Bears will see their offensive efficiency skyrocket.

The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting take from NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith at the bottom of each player evaluation.

Note: Click here for all published 2012 NBA Draft profiles.

Player Name: Meyers Leonard

School: Illinois

Height/Weight: 7’1” / 250 lbs.

NBA Position: Center

Projected Draft Range: Late Lottery Pick

Meyers Leonard (left) is a massive, strong center that loves to battle down low (Chicago Tribune photo)

Overview: Meyers Leonard get virtually no time as a freshman for the Illini (8.2 MPG), but he showed intriguing physical tools that started to develop the followin summer at the U-19 Championships before a breakout sophomore year for Illinois in 2011-12. Leonard is simply massive, standing nearly 7’2” in shoes with a 7’3” wingspan and cut body that put up the second-most reps on the bench press at Chicago’s Draft Combine. He became much more productive on the floor in year two for Illinois, averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks while shooting 58.4% from the field – the latter three numbers good for third, first, and third in the Big Ten, respectively. He shows terrific athleticism for his size, dispelling the belief that he turn out to be a stiff. Instead, Leonard actually uses his body well – especially on defense where he was able to alter many shots with his length in addition to swatting nearly two per game. He displays good maturity and basketball IQ as witnessed by numerous great interviews, and he has much room to develop as a player. The concerns are that Leonard just doesn’t do anything smoothly on offense, struggling to score easy baskets in one-on-one situations, and he isn’t confident enough in his abilities at this stage. He shoots it well from the outside and the line (73.2%), so he should start to develop more confidence in his offensive game in due time. At this point, Leonard is a project but one with big-time upside as there are few bigs in the league with his combo of size, smarts, and athleticism. He continues to rise on draft boards.

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