INDIANAPOLIS — Greetings from a Champions Classic that, in accordance with tradition, ended very late at night. The annual, unofficial beginning of college basketball season—which always features some combination of Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Michigan State—was well attended by the NBA as usual, with most teams sending multiple high-level decision makers.
While blueblood programs have down years too, this event is often viewed as a litmus test for the general talent level in college basketball in a given season—you always show up hoping to see prospects and expect as much from these particular programs. But due to the advent of alternative pathways to the NBA as well as the broader trend of top players attending nontraditional college hoops powers, the Champions Classic is no longer a one-stop shop for elite prospects—at least not always. Regardless, we got an interesting pair of games, with a handful of potential first-round picks taking the court. Here are some early takeaways.
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Kentucky’s Cason Wallace is a star
I was among those with very high expectations for Wallace entering the season, and he announced himself as a bona fide college star Tuesday night. Wallace dominated defensively in a marathon double-overtime loss to Michigan State and finished with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists, eight (!) steals and one highlight-reel block. The list of freshman guards in the past decade who can actually take over a game on the defensive end is rather short. Wallace did his best.
The way I view it, the three top freshman guard prospects are Arkansas’s Nick Smith, Wallace and Baylor’s Keyonte George: They play differing styles but are ready to be difference-makers for their respective teams. Wallace may already be the best defensive guard in college basketball, with a cerebral yet also nonstop approach that almost never leaves him out of the play. He’s quite capable guarding on the ball and excels roaming away from it, as well. It’s rare to find guys who defend the way he does and who can also manage a game as a point guard. It’s a winning combination.
Wallace may get nitpicked a bit due to his measured, generally risk-averse offensive style—he’s a talented scorer with a consistent floater and good catch-and-shoot skills who knows where his strengths lie. You won’t see him break off many plays or hit a ton of flashy jumpers, but he’s efficient and effective. He’s not the same level of self-creator as some of his peers, which is likely where some of the upside debate will center, but Wallace is someone who’s going to win games in the NBA for a long time. He’ll likely hear his name called in a fairly deep-looking lottery—it’s simply a matter of where.
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Oscar Tshiebwe might be Kentucky’s second-best prospect
There’s going to be some debate around who the second-best Kentucky prospect actually is, and it may not be settled for a while. But I’m starting to wonder whether it’s actually Tshiebwe, who returned to school to make big NIL bucks this season but continues to build a pretty decent case as a potential NBA role player. He’s not going to get drafted high and he plays a position that’s been devalued, but you can’t question his motor, he produces at a high level, and he’s fairly agile for his listed 6' 9" and 260 pounds. Tshiebwe won pretty much all the awards last year, and while he turns 23 in a couple of weeks, you’ll be able to drop him into an NBA game next year from a physical perspective.
Granted, this is not a particularly sexy argument to be making on behalf of an undersized center who doesn’t space the floor. Nor does he protect the basket at a super high level by NBA standards. But Tshiebwe was making his season debut coming off knee surgery and very much got it done—Kentucky lost control of the game only after he fouled out—and there will be more to come. He finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks and an unfortunate five turnovers in 34 minutes. How high he goes will ultimately hinge on the depth of this draft at his position, but I’m looking at this situation with fresh eyes after Tuesday. I’d bet he’ll get drafted and wind up on a two-way deal. If he can cut down on his unnecessary mistakes, his mentality and effort will likely play up in some capacity.
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Duke’s Tyrese Proctor deserves patience
The second game featured Duke and Kansas and tipped after 10 p.m. Eastern time. Predictably, it was pretty sloppy. It was also a better watch from an NBA perspective, with more legitimate prospects on the floor despite the absence of Duke’s projected lottery pick Dariq Whitehead, who could be back in time for next week’s PK85 tournament in Portland (where much of the NBA front office community will again descend).
The prospect I was most eager to check up on was Proctor, an Australian import via the NBA’s Global Academy program who had drawn rave reviews from scouts who’d seen him practice recently. The wrinkle here was that Proctor had surprisingly turned in two dud games to start his college career. There were some puzzled executives curious to figure out what the issue was Tuesday, and Proctor more or less passed the eye test, albeit not with flying colors and not in a way that was necessarily convincing of his status as a projected late-lottery pick. He will be judged off more than a few games, thankfully, but he has not hit the ground running, and expectations may need to be tempered a bit.
Proctor didn’t play especially well in the first half of Tuesday’s game, which Duke lost 69–64, but he did play much better in the second half, showcasing some shot-making skills and playing with more confidence as a playmaker. Proctor has terrific size for a lead guard and is naturally quite unselfish, and he hasn’t been helped by Duke’s spacing, but his struggles with efficiency and getting to the rim are notable. Still, Proctor deserves some patience and should eventually back up the buzz. Whether or not he’ll wind up a lottery pick is more semantics right now than anything—he’s a first-round talent, I think, regardless.
Wait and see on Duke’s other prospects
As for the other Duke guys, it was also a pretty mixed bag—projected first-rounder Dereck Lively, a mobile 7'1" rim protector, was coming off a minor injury and didn’t impact the game much at all. That was a bit disappointing to see, as he was viewed as one of the top prospects in the incoming high school class and doesn't seem to have made massive strides in the physicality or skill department. Still, it's early, and there aren't many guys Lively's size with his movement skills, but if he projects as a more traditional center it certainly limits how high you can feasibly draft him. Like most of these situations with young guys making adjustments, it's better to wait and see.
Kyle Filipowski finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, and was Duke’s most productive player, but he’s a little bit of an acquired taste despite his impressive ball skills at his size. He’s not super efficient or physically dominant, but he did have some nice moments and made a difference in the game. Duke’s other key freshman, Mark Mitchell, is more of a multiyear project, but has excellent physical tools for an NBA forward, plays hard and could eventually turn that corner. I never like to draw much from early-season games, but it’s fair to say that the five-stars on the roster didn’t quite wow anyone on this stage. Jon Scheyer continues to recruit well, but there are always growing pains with a young team, and the approach here seems to be more ball-movement centric than Coach K’s occasionally stodgy, star-driven offenses of years past. That’s going to take some time to implement.
Keep an eye on Gradey Dick
Kansas prefers to build its roster over time and has made a point of not loading up on one-and-dones in recent years, but it’s possible Dick, a freshman, will wind up as the exception to that rule. Dick came up with some key late-game buckets and was extremely poised most of the night, showcasing his skill level and feel to play on the perimeter. He scored 14 points but had just one rebound and no assists, and this wasn’t a game to get carried away over, but he does look ready to contribute heavily as a freshman and should gain some steam as a possible first-round prospect if he keeps playing well. He does just enough defensively, has a quick, clean release on his shot, and a good frame to play on the wing in the NBA. Whether Dick will make the one-and-done jump is less the point here than the fact he seems to be settling in quite well. I left the building more convinced of his acumen than I’d been in previous viewings.
Also keep an eye on Jayhawks forward Jalen Wilson, who scored 25 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and assisted on five baskets—he missed all seven of his three-point attempts, but I do think he’s making strides toward draftability. The junior is a crucial component for Kansas and had a pretty good late-season run as the Jayhawks rolled to last season’s title. He has legitimate size and looked pretty agile Tuesday, the main issue being whether he can space the floor and guard at a high enough level to play a useful supporting role. I do think he may play his way into draftability, but I’m also not fully sold yet.
Anyway, it’s a long season. Nothing sweeping or conclusive need be said. Sometimes it’s good to just sit and watch the games. There’s a lot more of that ahead. Stay tuned for Sports Illustrated’s first mock draft of the season, coming tomorrow.
