We're now roughly 10 games into the college season for everyone and we continue to be treated to huge game after huge game nearly every week.
NBA draftniks can breathe a huge sigh of relief after the NBA and NBPA worked out the new CBA. There will be no change to the draft eligibility rules at the moment -- meaning everyone playing college basketball will be eligible for the draft in 2012. That may change down the road -- the league and players' association are forming a committee to explore a higher age limit -- but for now everyone's in.
Here's a quick look around the world based on notes I've collected from NBA GMs and scouts:
Does anyone want to be No. 1?
Kentucky's Anthony Davis (Top 100 Rank: 1) is still the consensus No. 1 pick in the draft, but he's struggled in two straight big games versus North Carolina and Indiana. In each case Davis couldn't really get anything going offensively. Defensively he's been his dominant self (with the exception of some foul trouble against the Hoosiers). So can a guy who has some serious limitations on the offensive end really go No. 1? Let's just put it this way: I polled a number of top NBA execs over the weekend after the Indiana game, and Davis was still No. 1 on all of their boards.
Davis isn't the only top prospect that's struggling. North Carolina's Harrison Barnes (Rank: 2) is scoring the basketball -- but he's doing it all through jump shots. He lacks buckets at the rim, doesn't trust his handle, has a horrendous assist ratio (just 5 percent of Barnes' possessions end in an assist) and isn't rebounding (just 6.9 percent of missed shots). Those factors are all causing some alarm. If Barnes is just a jump shooter ... is he really worth a pick this high? A few GMs have Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and even Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ranked higher. We're not moving him off No. 2 yet, but he's in a tenuous position.
