NCAA Tournament: Four Impressive Upperclassmen Stat Lines From Opening Round

The NCAA Tournament isn’t just a place where future McKinsey consultants hit shots against future first-round draft picks, despite what one may think upon watching these games – it’s also a proving ground for the elite of college basketball, a place for those NBA Draft picks to show off what makes them such enticing prospects.

This has been a strange year for college basketball given many NBA legitimate prospects are upperclassmen. 

Over the last 10 or so years especially, most of the top selections have been freshmen and sophomores, but as the transfer portal has changed the game with more and more players in their junior and senior seasons have been given full attention on the biggest stage as NBA scouts watch on. 

Look at Oakland’s win over Kentucky for example – Jay Wright put it perfectly when he said that the days of winning with over-talented one-and-done rosters are over because of the age differences. There are grown men playing against 18 and 19 year old kids. Even if a team has Anthony Davis or Carmelo Anthony, they still need juniors, seniors, and super seniors.  

That being said, here are some of the top performances by draft prospect upperclassmen from the first two days of the NCAA Tournament. 

KJ Simpson | Guard | Colorado

23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists in win over Florida

Colorado’s KJ Simpson did again what he’s been doing all season long: hitting big shots for his team. After blowing a lead late in Friday’s game against the No. 7 seed Florida Gators, Colorado’s hopes to avoid overtime came down to one shot, taken by none other than KJ Simpson, who drained the midrange jumper, giving the Buffaloes a 102-100 lead with 1.7 seconds left. The score held until the end. 

The  Buffaloes are a team with multiple guys getting NBA looks – Cody Williams and Tristan da Silva are both considered first-round talents, but KJ SImpson is beginning to establish himself as a guy that could be worth a swing early in the second as a sparkplug scoring guard that comes off the bench and provides some efficient offense. 

While Williams and da Silva already on most radars, it’s time for Simpson to be a player on which NBA teams spend some resources.

Kam Jones | Guard | Marquette

28 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists in win over Western Kentucky 

An underrated player who is starting to gain quite a bit of traction as the season progresses, Marquette’s Kam Jones lit up the Vermont defense to the tune of 28 points on 10-for-16 from the field and 5-for-10 from deep. 

As many stars as Marquette has, including two first-round hopefuls in Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, Kam Jones stood out today and, for those who have watched the Golden Eagles, has stood out all season. 

Jones is another guard who can come in and get you quick points, which is an important piece to most NBA teams at this point. At 6-foot-5, Jones is also not an undersized player whose minutes on the floor will have to be justified on the defensive end. 

That’s not to say Jones is an excellent defender, but the size lends itself to, at the very least, being able to physically handle opposing players in the NBA. Watch out for Kam Jones as draft season moves on – he will be a guy that gets real consideration in June. 

Jaedon LeDeem | Forward | San Diego State

32 points, 8 rebounds in win over Alabama-Birmingham

Houston's own Jaedon LeDee, who has played for Ohio State and TCU in the past before arriving in Southern California to play for the Aztecs, had an absolute bombshell of a performance against a very legitimate frontcourt on Friday. 

LeDee played against another NBA prospect in the UAB’s Yaxel Londeberg, who himself managed just 11 points on 2-for-7 from the field. Londeberg also fouled out. 

LeDee on the other hand was automatic, which has fit with the theme of the season. On last year’s National Runners-Up squad that lost to Connecticut in the NCAA Final, LeDee averaged just 7.9 points per game – now, he leads the Aztecs with 21.1 points per game. 

He went from 18.1 to 32.8 minutes per game, more than doubled his field goal attempts (from 5.7 to 12.8) and upped his field goal percentage from 48.9% to 55.7%. He is college basketball’s most improved player, and the type of forward that can lead an already good SDSU squad further into the tournament than expected. 

DaRon Holmes II | Forward | Dayton

18 points, 9 rebounds in win over Nevada

The most insane game of the tournament involved one of the biggest meltdowns in March Madness history. Nevada held a 56-40 lead with 6:28 left in the game before the Flyers embarked on an astounding 17-0 run over the next few minutes. 

DaRon Holmes II, Dayton’s best draft prospect and their best all-around player, was a major part of the last six minutes of this game after not scoring for the first 14 minutes of the second. 

The epic comeback that resulted in a 63-60 victory for Dayton heavily featured Holmes II, as did most of the Flyers’ victories this season. On the year, he’s averaged 20.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game on 54.7% from the field, 38% from three, and 71.3% from the line.

An efficient big that can stretch the floor a little bit, DaRon Holmes II’s game translates easily to the next level, and, depending on the rest of his tournament run, he could find himself much higher than he was as a preseason prospect. 

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