• Top incoming freshmen prospects

  • By Chad Ford | March 28, 2012 6:37:07 AM PDT

March Madness has been the primary stage for NBA draft prospects the past couple of weeks. But with games on hiatus until Saturday, a huge contingent of NBA scouts and GMs traveled to Chicago this week to attend the practices for the McDonald's All-American Game.

In the coming weeks, the Nike Hoop Summit and the Jordan Brand Classic will also feature the top high school players in the country.

This week I spoke with a number of NBA scouts, along with our own recruiting guru, Dave Telep, about which players from the high school Class of 2012 might be NBA players someday.

The consensus from scouts is that this class isn't particularly strong -- especially at the point guard position. ESPNU doesn't have one point guard ranked in its top 20.

Overall, scouts say that three or four players are serious one-and-done candidates and another five or six are potential NBA players down the road.

Here's a sneak peek at the top 10 high school NBA prospects in the country and the all-star events in which they'll participate.

1. Nerlens Noel, F/C, Uncommitted
Jordan, Hoop Summit

Scouts are hoping that Noel is Anthony Davis 2.0. Both are super-long, explosive athletes who are absolute menaces in the paint. Some scouts feel that Noel may be an even better shot-blocker than Davis, but Noel is even rawer on the offensive end. Right now he is a potential No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft. It looks like Noel has narrowed his schools down to Kentucky, Syracuse and Georgetown.


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