There was a time, not that long ago, when heralded freshmen Skal Labissiere, Stephen Zimmerman, Cheick Diallo, Malik Newman and Isaiah Briscoe were all projected as lottery picks by DraftExpress.com.
The 7-foot Labissiere was No. 1 — ahead of Ben Simmons — entering this college basketball season but has fallen ever since and the Kentucky freshman is now No. 14 on the latest Mock Draft for 2016 released Tuesday.
The 7-foot Zimmerman was a lottery pick at No. 14 in December, but the UNLV freshman now ranks at No. 21.
The 6-9 Diallo was as high as No. 4 in January of 2015 but the Kansas freshman now chimes in at 31.
The 6-4 Newman placed as high as No. 4 in May, but the Mississippi State freshman now lists at No. 37.
Briscoe, a 6-3 Kentucky freshman originally from Newark, N.J., now lists at No. 48 after ranking at No. 12 entering this season.
Still, six of the projected Top 10 picks are freshmen: No. 1 Simmons, No. 2 Brandon Ingram of Duke, No. 3 Jaylen Brown of Cal, No. 7 Jamal Murray of Kentucky, No. 8 Henry Ellenson of Marquette and No. 9 Diamond Stone of Maryland.
The exceptions are one international player — No. 4 Dragan Bender — and three non-frosh — No. 5 Kris Dunn of Providence, No. 6 Jakob Poeltl of Utah and No. 10 Buddy Hield of Oklahoma, the favorite for National Player of the Year honors.
Deyonta Davis, a 6-9 freshman from Michigan State, also made a huge jump to No. 13 from off the board.
Among Kentucky players, only two (Murray and Labissiere) are projected first-rounders with sophomore Tyler Ulis now at 47 and Briscoe at 48. Junior forward Marcus Lee and senior forward Alex Poythress are both off the board.
All of that raises interesting questions about who will leave and who will come back to campus. The Wildcats already have guards Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox signed for next year, so if Briscoe and/or Ulis were to stay they would complement the incoming freshmen. Fox is projected as the No. 4 pick in 2017, with Monk at No. 15.
In the frontcourt, Kentucky has signed Bam Adebayo, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Wenyen Gabriel and will also have Tai Wynyard and Isaac Humphries returning. Plus, the Cats are said to be looking for another big man from among the gorup of Marques Bolden, Jarrett Allen and Turkish star Omer Yurtseven. Adebayo is projected as the No. 8 pick in 2017.
The Top 10 in 2017 now looks like this:
1. Jayson Tatum (Duke)
2. Harry Giles (Duke)
3. Josh Jackson (TBD)
4. De’Aaron Fox (Kentucky)
5. Frank Ntilikina (International)
6. Dennis Smith (N.C. State)
7. Markelle Fultz (Washington)
8. Bam Adebayo (Kentucky)
9. Omer Yurtseven (International)
10. Isaiah Hartenstein (International)
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