March Madness: The Top Prospect Matchups To Keep An Eye On

There are a ton of quality games in the first round of the NCAA tournament. What are the best prospect games to keep an eye on ahead of the NBA Draft?

The round of 64 begins today. With a total of 32 games for the next two days, there’s a ton of talented players playing in all of the games. Get your popcorn ready and expect a ton of madness over the next couple of days. Here are a couple of games you should keep an eye on that will feature premium NBA talent.

(4) Virginia vs (13) Furman

There’s two NBA prospects that I really like in this game and ironically, they’re both defensive specialists. Reece Beekman out of Virginia is an elite point of attack defender that does a great job of forcing turnovers and taking teams out of their offense.

Furman's Jalen Slawson is a versatile defender with secondary playmaking ability. This game is a popular pick for a potential upset and if there was an upset to happen here, so expect Slawson to be the main factor in it happening.

(6) Creighton vs (11) North Carolina State

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Terquavion Smith is one of the most exciting scorers eligible for the draft and he’ll have his hands full going up against a talented Creighton team. Baylor Scheierman is an elite shooting wing with nice creativity as a passer. I’ll be interested to see how Kaluma will perform in the NCAA tournament for the Bluejays.

At the beginning of the season, Kaluma was a projected first round pick but since then, he’s looked like more of a fringe second round guy. He’ll need to play with a chip on his shoulder and have a productive tournament if he wants to see his name climb up draft boards again.

(5) Duke vs (12) Oral Roberts

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The Blue Devils have been one of the hottest teams in the entire country coming off of an ACC championship. With three projected first round picks on their roster in Kyle Filipowski, Dereck Lively II, and Dariq Whitehead, they’ll have their hands full going up against an experienced Oral Roberts team.

The bigs for Duke will be everything in this game as they’ll have to deal with the 7-foot-5 big, Oral Roberts' Connor Vanover who’s second in the nation in blocks per game while also having stretch big ability. This is a great opportunity for a guy like Lively to showcase his comfortability to defend in space and against size.

(6) Kentucky vs (11) Providence

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The big storyline in this game is the Bryce Hopkins situation. Last season he played for the Kentucky Wildcats and ultimately elected to transfer in the offseason to Providence and is averaging a team-high 16.1 points per game. An underrated prospect for Providence is Devin Carter, an elite defensive guard that stands at 6-foot-3 yet averages over a block per game.

The Wildcats have projected lottery pick, Cason Wallace, who some consider the best point of attack defender eligible for the 2023 NBA draft. I fully expect this game to be a close one and could come down to the star player for both teams.

(5) Miami vs (12) Drake

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This is going to be an exciting game to watch as Miami has a fun set of prospects including athletic guard Isaiah Wong and underrated wing Jordan Miller. They’ll have a tough task against one of the best mid-majors in all of college basketball in Tucker DeVries, who some consider one of the best shooters eligible for the draft.

His elite shot versatility at 6-foot-7 could give Miami some problems, but this is a great opportunity for someone like Miller to showcase his defensive ability. I could see this game going either way but if Drake is going to win, DeVries will need to get hot from three.

(8) Arkansas vs (9) Illinois

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Arkansas is one of the most talented teams in the tournament as it features two potential top ten picks in Nick Smith Jr and Anthony Black. Smith is one of the most skilled guards in the draft as he has elite shot-making ability, a great floater in the lane, and is creative with the ball. Black is a high level playmaker with defensive versatility.

For Illinois, Coleman Hawkins is a really good connecting piece, as he’s a versatile defender with great off-ball passing ability for a big. Terrence Shannon Jr. is going to be huge for Illinois as he has been widely inconsistent as a shooter from the outside and Illinois needs him to be the scorer that he has shown this year.

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