Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans: ‘Most likely I’ll be back’
INDIANAPOLIS -- What players say about their
INDIANAPOLIS -- What players say about their
By LARRY LAGE
(AP) — Marcus Keene, the nation’s leading scorer, is entering the NBA draft, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement had not been made.
Keene scored 30 points per game at Central Michigan this season, the highest scoring average by a Division I player since Charles Jones averaged 30.1 points for Long Island University during the 1996-97 season.
The 5-foot-9 point guard was born in Germany, where his parents were employed by the U.S. Air Force, and raised in San Antonio. Keene spent two seasons at Youngstown State before transferring. After sitting out last year as a redshirt, he was a scoring sensation this season as a redshirt junior.
With their loss to the Nets on Sunday night at Barclays Center, the Knicks dropped to 26-41 on the season and now own the NBA’s seventh-worst record.
The latest Mock on DraftExpress.com has the Knicks taking 7-foot Arizona star Lauri Markkanen, a native of Finland, at No. 7.
Perhaps because he plays on the West Coast, Markkanen hasn’t gotten as much national attention this season as some other freshmen, including UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, Kansas’ Josh Jackson, Duke’s Jayson Tatum and the Kentucky duo of De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. All except Monk (No. 8) are projected ahead of Markkanen.
NEW YORK — Wearing a gray sweatsuit
Washington freshman Markelle Fultz is “unlikely” to play in the Pac-12 Tournament, meaning his college career could well be over.
Still, when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver steps to the podium at the NBA Draft on June 22, the 6-foot-4 Fultz is widely projected to be the No. 1 pick.
Fultz, who is averaging 23.2 points, 5,9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game, would then become the second straight No. 1 overall pick to have not played in the NCAA Tournament, following LSU’s Ben Simmons a year ago.
Yet with March Madness upon us, several other candidates will have a national platform to surpass Fultz for the No. 1 pick, most notably UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball and Kansas freshman wing Josh Jackson.
In the past few days, LaVar Ball has been compared to famous sports fathers ranging from Marv Marinovich to Chris Cook to Richard Williams.
Yet despite LaVar’s outspoken comments regarding his son, UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, they are unlikely to impact the the young man’s draft status, several NBA personnel and experts told ZAGSBLOG.
Asked if NBA executives had concerns about LaVar, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com said, “Yes, but thankfully for Lonzo, he’s good enough and stable enough that it shouldn’t affect him too much.”
