|
by
Dan Vance
Franchise484@aol.com
College basketball in the
state of Indiana is not on a downward spiral. It has, however, found itself
stuck deep in a dark bottomless pit.
Look at the mock draft
boards. Any mock draft board will do. And what is missing? Players from
Indiana colleges are missing. Hey, maybe that shows promise to the future
with the outstanding players continuing with their education.
But without a player from
Indiana, this draft is a little lonely. Thirty players from the ten Division
1 schools in the state are eligible for the draft, only one of those is an
underclassmen and the Indiana college player with the best shot at getting
drafted isn’t even part of a D1 program.
Surreal facts to say the
least. But, how is this for surreal, only seven of those players really have
even the smallest shot at being drafted.
Indiana University boasts
two senior players who hold a small outside chance. George Leach (6’11,”
240) is a big player, but he is a little slow to pickup plays. There is a
big need for centers in the league, but a lot of foreign centers sould push
Leach out of any consideration.
A.J. Moye (6’3,” 215) has
been a major role player for the Hoosiers in recent years. Moye’s strength
is his ability to bang around inside. But this is not the Big Ten anymore,
and at 6’3” Moye is not going to be able to play bigger than a small
forward.
That considered, Houston
(No. 56) might be the best place for Moye, as they need a variety of
backups. Their need for backups at the 1, 2 and 3 spots would give Moye room
to roam. Houston may also keep an eye out for Purdue’s Kenneth Lowe (6’3,”
197).
Lowe will need to look for
a team searching for a point or shooting guard. Lowe’s size also will not
help him. Neither will his injury history, which kept him out of the
2001-2002 season. That injury led to surgery on his right shoulder, followed
by surgery on his left shoulder in the summer of 2003. Mid-season, Lowe
injured his ankle against IPFW and had problems with it for a portion of the
late regular season.
Lowe could also be helpful
in Milwaukee (No. 46) and Portland (No. 47) and has been mentioned by scouts
in Phoenix. However, the Suns select at No. 7 only and would have to make a
trade to pick up a late second round selection.
Another outside
consideration for those teams could be Odell Bradley (6’4,’’ 240) from IUPUI.
Despite averaging 37.6 minutes, 23.1 points and 8.5 rebounds, Bradley
doesn’t have the height he needs at this juncture, which could lead to a
career in the NBDL.
Another player positioning
himself for the late second round is Tom Timmermans (6’11,” 270) out of
Notre Dame. Timmermans is one of only three players from Indiana colleges to
attend the Chicago Pre-Draft camps. Unfortunately, his 22.2 minutes/game
didn’t give him much experience as Notre Dame’s fifth scoring option.
Timmermans should run into the same problems as the aforementioned Leach.
Another player in the
Pre-Draft camp is also the only underclassman from an Indiana college.
IPFW’s David Simon (6’10,” 260) has yet to really establish himself due to
IPFW’s lack of name recognition. Yet Simon does have impressive numbers with
18 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Simon’s best hope is that
Philadelphia continues to show interest in him. While the 76ers continue to
be impressed at Simon’s wingspan (7’3.5’’) and standing reach (9’1’’), they
have no second round selection. If Philly wants to fill the void at the
backup forward and center positions, they need to pick up a late pick.
The man with the biggest
impact on scouts is Chris Garnett (6’11,” 275) from Indiana Southeast (NAIA).
Garnett averaged a double double (20.3 points, 10.9 rebounds) in his second
year at Ind. SE. Garnett’s edge is that he has experience on all levels of
college basketball (Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana Southeast).
Garnett is getting a lot of praise from San Antonio (No. 58) and Detroit
(No. 55).
That said, Garnett, Simon
and Lowe stand the best chance at being selected in this year’s draft. But
there are downfalls to Simon and Lowe and may make Garnett the only college
player from the state of Indiana to have his name called on June 24.
|
