Plenty can happen between now and the NBA draft, scheduled for June 22, 2017. Plus, mock drafts are inexact at best, but draft express.com is one of the better ones.
Interestingly, as the site predicts the draft now, without knowing the order of the teams, obviously, the first eight players are freshmen, as are 16 of 30 first-round selections.
Other than the obvious, no Kansas player is projected to go in the first round by draftexpress.com. A look at the first eight:
**1 — Markelle Fultz**, 6-4, 195, Washington: He had made exactly half of his 124 2-pointers and half of his 40 3-pointers and the Huskies had won exactly half of their eight games before they defeated Cal Poly with a strong second half Tuesday night.
**2 –Dennis Smith**, 6-3, 195, North Carolina State: Averaging 18.5 points and 5.5 assists, Smith’s strong, a natural scorer and brings a charismatic personality.
**3 — Josh Jackson**, 6-8, 203, Kansas: He ranks in the top 15 in the Big 12 in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. No other player in the conference can say the same.
**4 — Lonzo Ball**, 6-6, 190, UCLA: The point guard’s doing it all for the No. 2 Bruins. He averages 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 8.7 assists. Playing time won’t be an issue the way he’s setting up the coach’s son for wide-open 3-pointers.
**5 — Malik Monk**, 6-4, 185, Kentucky: He lit up North Carolina for 47 points in an instant classic, a 103-100 victory Saturday for Kentucky in Las Vegas. Next up for Monk is Louisville, which has the nation’s top-ranked defense, per kenpom.com. The can’t-miss matchup tips off today at 6 p.m., so prepare to eat in front of the TV.
“I know they will have some kind of defensive trick for me,” Monk told the Associated Press,” but we just have to run through our offense and let the game come to you.”
Monk hit eight 3-pointers against North Carolina and lifted his season scoring average to 21.9.
**6 — Jayson Tatum**, 6-8, 204, Duke: Back for four games from a foot injury, Tatum is averaging 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds and is shooting .905 from the line.
**7 — Jonathan Isaac**, 6-11, 205, Florida State: Soft schedule has kept Seminoles (12-1) out of top 25, but Isaac (12.9 ppg, 7.0 rebounds) has a shot to play them into the rankings with his scoring versatility and ability to rebound and block shots.
**8 — Lauri Markkanen**, 7-0, 225, Arizona: Son of former KU center Pekka Markkanen (1989-90) and a far better player. It wouldn’t be fair to compare any freshman to Dirk Nowitzki, but Markkanen does handle the ball well, has great agility and shoots .435 from 3-point range. He failed to score in double digits just once, when he had eight points in 21 minutes before fouling out in a victory vs. Missouri. The Finnish forward is averaging 16.1 points and 7.3 rebounds.
**Likens a pro’s pro**
New Arizona State wide receivers coach Rob Likens took his demotion at Kansas from offensive coordinator to “walk-around guy,” as head coach David Beaty once put it, in a manner that could serve as a model for any demoted employee in any business. He remained loyal to Beaty, looked for ways to contribute and maintained his upbeat demeanor. The Sun Devils are lucky to have him.
Likens had $350,000 coming from Kansas for 2017. Typically in situations such as this, whatever ASU pays him will reduce by that amount what he will receive from Kansas.
As for how Kansas raised the money to pay Beaty his raise, don’t forget, it twins up perfectly with Charlie Weis finally coming off the books.
