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 South Region.
1. Cody Williams, forward, Colorado
2. Kyle Filipowski, center, Duke
3. Rob Dillingham, guard, Kentucky
4. Reed Sheppard, guard, Kentucky
5. Jared McCain, guard, Duke
Welcome to the main event when it comes to draft prospects. Because of the arbitrary cut-off of five prospects in each region, we had to make some decisions here, but there is a plethora of pro-level talent. At present, four players in the region are widely projected as lottery picks, and the fifth, McCain, could easily get there by June. Williams is the brother of Oklahoma City Thunder standout Jalen Williams, and he is a tools-y wing with sky-high upside on an interesting Colorado team. Of note, Colorado is playing in Dayton, so there is a chance he won’t be in the tournament for all that long.
Sheppard won the USBWA Freshman of the Year award this week, and the Kentucky guard has been the model of absurd shooting efficiency this year. Scouts are split on his ultimate ceiling as a 6’2 combo guard, but Sheppard can definitely shoot and pass at a high level, and he has great hands defensively. Dillingham is arguably the most explosive pure scoring prospect in the entire class, and he has drawn comparisons to All-Star guards or players like Lou Williams as a potentially elite sixth man prospect. Either way, he would be a lottery pick this year, and Dillingham could skyrocket if he shows anything at all on defense.
Filipowski and McCain are operating with a talented Duke team and, along with UConn’s Donovan Clingan, Filipowski is a top returner as a sophomore. He has played at an elite level from a college production standpoint and, just as importantly for draft purposes, his defense has popped this year. McCain is a real shooting prospect, and he could do wonders for his stock with a big tournament to mitigate some of the concerns about his length.
