With March Madness underway, the nation’s eyes will be on college basketball’s best and brightest.
Many players will declare for the NBA Draft after the NCAA tournament, with one of those being UCLA freshman sensation Lonzo Ball.
While most see Washington’s Markelle Fultz as the No. 1 overall pick, Ball’s performance in the NCAA tournament will propel him into the top spot in the NBA draft.
Fultz has balled out this year for the Washington Huskies, averaging over 23 points per game, five rebounds and almost six assists. However, while Fultz has lit up the stats sheet, his team’s win column has been less than impressive. Finishing the season on a 13-game losing streak left the Huskies not even remotely close to an NCAA tournament bid.
While NBA scouts have marveled over his athletic and shooting abilities the entire year, they have overlooked Fultz’s biggest flaw: the inability to make the players around him better.
Insert Lonzo Ball.
The 6-foot-6 guard has been the backbone for UCLA throughout the entire year. He’s led them to a superb 29-4 record, sitting pretty as a three-seed in the NCAA tournament. Ball has set the tone the entire year with his selfless passing, efficient shooting and relentless defense and his team’s record shows that.
However, NBA scouts have looked past these wins due in part to the appeal of Fultz’s individual “upside” and “athleticism.” While these stats and natural abilities will serve him well at the next level, they do not always translate to wins in the NBA as we have seen with players like Russell Westbrook this year.
Westbrook has put up stats like Lebron James, but has not won games in crunch time like Lebron has been able to do for many years.
That is not to say that Lebron is not an athletic specimen himself — that would be both ludicrous and disingenuous. Yet Lebron has always been heralded as a player who elevates the play of those around. That can be said about Ball, not Fultz.
Ball’s record at UCLA, coupled with stellar performances in big games this year such as Kentucky, Oregon and Arizona, has shown he is battle-tested. Ball has the edge as a leader, as a competitor and in big moments. These intangibles cannot be taught, and they are what sets him apart from the rest.
Fultz has the edge on most draft boards right now, yet history has shown that big performances in March Madness can pay dividends come NBA Draft time.
In 2015, Duke's Jahlil Okafor was seen throughout the entire year as the consensus No. 1 overall pick. Yet a strong tournament performance by Karl-Anthony Towns while taking Kentucky to the Final Four caused NBA scouts to change their minds.
Towns was selected first overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves and has since blossomed into an NBA superstar.
Ball has the chance to do exactly that over the next couple of weeks and is both capable and ready for the task.
While NBA scouts have fallen in love with Fultz’s upside, Ball has the opportunity this March to make a deep tournament run with UCLA and show everyone why he truly is the best all around player in college basketball.