Big Ten Basketball: Top Players from the Conference in the 2018 NBA Draft

He wins Big Ten Player of the Year and then declares for the NBA draft. Keita Bates-Diop honestly would have been odds on favorite to win it again. The Buckeyes wouldn’t be sweating at the possibility of making it back to the NCAA Tournament and having to go after a transfer player. He could have returned and Ohio State would be a serious threat to make a big time run.

Bates-Diop is gone though and he’s going to get drafted. At first, he didn’t seem like a guy who would be pushing first round status. He gets lost behind Bridges and Jackson in his own league. The Buckeye forward stands like a small forward, but he plays big.

It’ll be hard for him to find a position in the NBA. He doesn’t have the ball handling to be a three and he’ll get eaten alive in the front court. Bates-Diop will have to develop as a wing player. He can certainly shoot the ball from outside. The fourth-year junior made 66 three-pointers this past season. That’s 30 more than he shot in any other season.

He played in only nine games in the 2016-17 season due to surgery to repair a stress fracture. His numbers from this season compared to those two seasons ago are tremendously better. His points per game increased by eight, rebounds by almost three and he went to the line more often.

Once again, instead of him drawing a ton of mismatches, he’ll have to adjust playing bigger and taller guys in the NBA. Bates-Diop will more than likely spend some time down in the G-League, but if he shoots the way he did in his final season in college, he’ll be up before you know it.