NCAA Basketball Mailbag: Texas Tech’s ceiling, Carsen Edwards NBA prospects and more

What are the biggest NCAA Basketball and NBA Draft questions you have this week? We answer them all in this week’s NCAA Basketball Mailbag.

The NCAA Basketball season came to its annual virtual standstill this week thanks to final exams (who is school to get in the way of our basketball?), yet despite the lack of quality games, many of you had pressing questions that were on your mind.

Do you have a college basketball or NBA Draft question you want to have answered? Join the conversation on Twitter @brauf33. Thanks as always to those who contributed this week.

Here we go:

I don’t think so. The Red Raiders are much better than pretty much everyone expected and look like the biggest threat to Kansas in the Big 12 but last year’s team – with a healthy Keenan Evans – was capable of beating anyone. They made the Elite Eight and really could’ve made the Final Four in any other region. That wasn’t a fluke. Texas Tech was deeper with top-tier talent last year, so I’ll go with them.

I wrote last week about how much I love the future of this Georgetown team and I think what we’re seeing is simply the inconsistency that comes with playing a lot of young guys in major roles. They’ve flashed the ability to compete with some of the country’s better teams but, because they’re so young, don’t maintain that level of play and can get sloppy at times.

James Akinjo and Mac McClung are both future stars and Patrick Ewing is a much better coach that he may get credit for. This season is all about building for next year for the Hoyas.

NEVER! Just kidding.

Furman is undefeated and ranked after being the likes of Loyola-Chicago and Villanova earlier in the year, but at the same time, their schedule has been quite poor. Those are the only two wins they have against teams ranked in KenPom’s top 200. I don’t think the Paladins are going to go undefeated and I see that inevitable first loss coming next Friday at LSU. The Tigers have the size and athleticism that should give them a major advantage.

As for Buffalo, I don’t think they will. The game will be really close and they certainly can beat Syracuse, but I think the Carrier Dome will make a difference – and some big shots from Tyus Battle in the final minutes.

That’s a question a lot of NBA teams are asking themselves and is why Edwards is only looked at as a second-round prospect. We know what he can bring to the table offensively and athletically, and all of that is NBA-level good. However, if he wants to hang around the league, he has to prove he can be better defensively.

Teams cannot afford to have defensive liabilities at the point guard position due to how many quality players there are at that position and, with his size, Edwards is automatically at a disadvantage. His best chance to make a roster is as a gunner off the bench, and only a certain number of teams will let him play that game. Who drafts him will be just as important to his NBA future as anything.

He’s not a first-round prospect and I doubt he turns into one, but I would not be surprised to see Nwora have more than a cup of coffee in the NBA as a second-round pick. Nwora has excellent size for a wing at 6-8 and can really shoot it. I think some team may take a chance on him and hope they can improve his defense enough to make him a 3-&-D guy.

What has happened to all of Florida‘s “stars,” really? No one on the team is averaging more than 10.3 points per game but Hudson has really seen his role decrease. His minutes have dropped from 26.6 per game to 16.6 and his scoring has had a similar drop off from 15.5 points per game last year to 5.8.

Hudson – and really everyone on Florida – has not been playing with any intensity and it seems like they’re constantly playing at 50 percent, which just won’t get it done. It’s maddening, but it’s almost like he isn’t invested, which is probably why his role has decreased so much.