The 2024 Men’s NCAA Tournament gets underway across the country this week. There is a four-game appetizer in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday before the main event, complete with madness, begins in earnest on Thursday afternoon. Casual observers and die-hard fans will dive in at the same time, following their brackets and the general excitement in the event.
Still, there is another defined angle for evaluation over the next few weeks, and it comes through the lens of the 2024 NBA Draft. The consensus is that the 2024 class is not terribly inspiring in comparison to previous groups, especially when it comes to college prospects, but some players always leap up the board in March and there are plenty of prospects to monitor. We’re going to let you know which players you need to watch as the Tournament begins, and here, we look at the top prospects in the Midwest Region.
1. Dalton Knecht, guard, Tennessee
2. Ryan Dunn, forward, Virginia
3. Kevin McCullar, forward, Kansas
4. Johnny Furphy, forward, Kansas
5. Zach Edey, center, Purdue
Dalton Knecht is about to turn 23 years old, and he was playing Division II basketball a year ago. How on earth is he on this list, you ask? Well, he’s been unbelievable this season for Tennessee. In fact, he’s the highest-rated prospect in the Midwest Region and one of the most prolific scorers in the entire class. He is a big-time shooter with real craft for scoring at all three levels, and there isn’t much concern about Knecht’s ability to at least translate into a potent offensive role player in the NBA. The questions come on defense and with regard to his gigantic one-year jump, but he’s a monster.
After that, there is a trio of potential first round selections in Dunn, McCullar, and Furphy. Dunn is the best defensive player in the country, swallowing up opponents across the positional spectrum. He projects as an impactful defender immediately at the NBA level, but his offense is, to be generous, a work in progress. Furphy has been rising throughout the season as a freshman at Kansas, and he is a dynamic transition presence at 6’9 with the ability to shoot it. On the other end of the age curve on the Jayhawks, McCullar is a wily veteran at the college level who has come a long way on offense, but he’s battled injuries this year and his age might be seen as a weakness at the NBA level, at least on draft night.
(Update: Not long after we published this post, Kansas coach Bill Self ruled McCullar out for the entirety of the NCAA Tournament with an injury.)
And, finally, Edey is, to say the least, a divisive NBA prospect. To be clear, Edey is the best college basketball player in the country. That is very clear, and he is about to earn his second straight National Player of the Year award with hilarious numbers, both in traditional and more advanced categories. At the NBA level, it will be interesting to see how he’s able to hold up in space defensively, and there is a huge range from scouts on Edey, with some viewing him as a potential top-20 pick and others unwilling to draft him at all.
