NCAA Basketball Mailbag: Ja Morant’s stock, Murry Bartow’s chances, and more

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

The NCAA Basketball season is less than two months away from Selection Sunday. Can you believe it? Less than two months!

I find it 1) crazy that we’re already at this point of the season, 2) exciting that the NCAA Tournament is so close and 3) sobering that there’s limited time left for teams to make statements and pull off the big wins necessary to improve their tournament resume.

This is the time when college hoops is really exciting. Every game has added meaning and upsets can be the difference between a team going dancing and being relegated to the NIT. Seeding is also in play, as a loss now could make things that much tougher come March.

What is on your minds as we approach the best part of the year? Let’s get to the mailbag and a team that might be turning it around in Syracuse.

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.

Can Syracuse build off of their win at Duke and make a strong run? – Hayden Miller (@hbmiller27)

Can they? Absolutely. Will they? I’m not so sure.

Let’s look at the positives. The Orange are a great defensive team with three legitimate top-end players in Tyus Battle, Frank Howard, and Oshae Brissett. The problem with this group is – and always has been – their inconsistent offensive production.

All three shot the ball well in that 95-point explosion against Duke and all three are certainly more than capable offensive players. However, that hasn’t been the norm for them, and they benefitted from Duke not having Tre Jones or Cam Reddish defensively.

Syracuse is too talented to be as bad as they were before that Duke win, yet they’re also too inconsistent to start going on a tear. But there’s now no doubt that they’ll make the Big Dance.

Who from the ACC is likely to go? – Al Dente (@Tarheelcat)

I think the ACC gets nine in.

Virginia, Duke, Virginia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, and NC State are all locks. That’s six right there. Then there’s Syracuse, Louisville, and Clemson, all of whom expect to be in as well. Clemson’s the least likely of that group to get in, but Pitt is also surging and trying to get into the bubble conversation. I’ll settle on nine.

Speaking of Pitt, the Panthers are gaining steam under Jeff Capel after beating Louisville and FSU over the past two weeks. Both have bright futures but it’s definitely Louisville. Chris Mack is already has a top recruiting class coming in next year and has a better track record than Capel does.

Again, love where both programs are headed, but Louisville is on a higher trajectory than Pitt right now.

I don’t know if he’s a first-teamer but he’s definitely going to be up there. His play, coupled with Louisville’s success and the role he has played in it, makes him a virtual lock (assuming they don’t collapse down the stretch.

Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett are locks to make the first team, as is one or two players from Virginia (likely De’Andre Hunter, but Kyle Guy or Ty Jerome could sneak in there, too). Virginia Tech’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker will also be in the mix, as will Boston College’s Ky Bowman and Clemson’s Marcquise Reed.

Nwora will at least be a second-teamer for sure, but first team is much more tricky.

He does. Even though it’s not a great one, it’s a better chance than he had two weeks ago.

UCLA is obviously still set in the Earl Watson/Fred Hoiberg/Eric Musselman thinking, and all three might be better long-term. That said, if the Bruins continue to win, it will be hard for them to just kick him to the curb. If they finish in the top three in the Pac-12, that’s when I think he might have a real chance.

Do you think Maryland can win the big ten? – Ryan Acree (@Acree410)

Not at all. The Terps are a good team but there’s a very clear line between Michigan, Michigan State, and the rest of the Big Ten. Maryland has a great chance to be No. 3 but they won’t get any further than that (no one else will get in that two-team race, either).

Though I think they’ll finish No. 3 in the Big Ten, I don’t think Maryland gets out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. I don’t trust Mark Turgeon and I don’t trust their youth in a second-round game against a quality four, five, or six-seed.

I think Fernando is definitely gone, but I’m not so sure about Smith (although I think he’s probably gone, too). Fernando has played well this year yet his draft stock hasn’t done anything more than stay solid as a late first-round prospect. And, given his success, I don’t think he’ll pass on the draft again.

Smith is projected to go anywhere from late in the first to middle of the second round, making things more complicated for him. This is a weak draft class, so that helps his draft stock and he might not go as high next year. Plus, he’s extremely talented and has shown why he was a five-star recruit. That said, would he benefit from being the No. 1 option in the frontcourt with Fernando (likely) gone? Absolutely.

My guess is they both go but Smith is the one with the better chance of returning to school.

I’m still taking Barrett and Williamson before him, but I’d take him No. 3 and I wouldn’t think twice about it – especially if I needed a point guard. I mean…

That kind of athleticism is rare. He’s quick, is fearless attacking the basket, and is an excellent playmaker (leads the nation in assists) on top of being a quality defender. Morant is not a great perimeter shooter but has shown some improvement in that area and is more than athletic enough to make up for it.

Worst case, he’s essentially what Elfrid Payton was supposed to be. Best case, he’s something like Russell Westbrook.

They’ll probably finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the SEC. This 4-0 start for them has been absolutely incredible and improbable, with three of those wins coming in overtime or being decided in the final minute.

What changed? A couple of things – they’re healthy and their freshmen have really improved, particularly defensively. There’s a definite learning curve for most freshmen on that end of the floor and that curve is made steeper by Frank Martin’s system.

I think there’s a lot to be excited about for the future in Columbia but, this year, I can’t imagine them finishing higher than sixth or seventh. There are just too many really good teams in the conference and South Carolina still doesn’t have the talent level to consistently match up against them.