College Seniors Get Ready to Graduate to the NBA

For college seniors entering the NBA Draft, the most pressing – and depressing – question is: If you’re talented enough for the NBA, why aren’t you in the league already?

In 2009, the only college seniors to hear their name called in the first round were Tyler Hansbrough, who went No. 13 to the Indiana Pacers, and Toney Douglas, who went No. 29 to the New York Knicks. That’s not surprising, as many of the most talented players jump to the NBA long before graduating with a degree.

This draft figures to be similar, with freshmen like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Derrick Favors coming off the board near the top of the draft. The first four-year player might be waiting a while to land an NBA home. Here’s a rundown of some of the best seniors by position.

Wing Players

Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia

No one who watched West Virginia in the Final Four will forget Da’Sean Butler going down with an ugly ACL injury. Will he ever recover? That’s a question that will scare away many NBA teams. However, someone might take a chance on him in the second round, especially because Butler is a warrior and leader who proved he can score. But even when healthy, Butler was a streaky shooter with inconsistent range.

Damion James, Texas

James was a double-double machine for the Longhorns last season, averaging about 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. He’s a strong three-point shooter and figures to transition nicely as a small forward at the next level. However, his lack of explosiveness will likely cause him to fall to the bottom half of the first round.

Quincy Pondexter, Washington

Pondexter’s game is on the rise. During his senior season with the Huskies, he improved his outside shooting to about 35 percent from behind the arc. And his scoring jumped to nearly 20 points per game. He’s a lean, athletic forward who could become a steal for a team at the end of the first round.

Stanley Robinson, Connecticut

Although Robinson is blessed with NBA-caliber athleticism, his inconsistency could land him in the NBA Development League. Just check out his three-point shooting stats. As a sophomore, he torched the nets, shooting 42 percent from behind the arc. But his shooting dropped like a rock as a junior, to 13 percent. During his latest campaign, his shooting touch was better but not spectacular at 34 percent. Robinson is a solid rebounder, but his total per 40 minutes dropped from his junior to senior season. Robinson is a classic tease – a super athletic forward who could be a star or complete bust.

Big Men

Jerome Jordan, Tulsa

Jordan flirted with the NBA Draft last season but pulled out to play for the Golden Hurricane in a season that was supposed to be special. The plans didn’t work out, and Jordan fell off the radar. He is a legitimate 7-footer – always a plus when looking to score an NBA job. And Jordan averaged more than two blocks per game in addition to contributing about 15 points and nine rebounds per game. His skills are unexceptional, which might scare away teams that need more post production. But he could become valuable to someone in the second round. It will be interesting to see if Jordan or Mississippi State’s James Varnado comes off the board first.

Dexter Pittman, Texas

The Longhorns’ beefiest post player will be lucky to hear his name called in the second round. In four years at Texas, Pittman struggled to maintain his weight around 300 pounds. He also frequently got in foul trouble, never averaging more than 20 minutes per game in four years. He’s a big guy, and if an NBA team can whip him into shape, he could become a solid reserve for a team’s post players.

James Varnado, Mississippi State

Varnado is a defensive maestro who dominated the post in college, averaging better than four blocks per game for the past three seasons. His great field goal percentage is largely attributable to his ability to collect offensive rebounds for putbacks and overwhelm undersized opponents in the post. That game won’t translate to the NBA, which requires big men to dominate on the level of Dwight Howard or possess a repertoire of offensive moves. Varnado is a risk in the first round but could be valuable to a team that wants to use a second-round pick to improve its interior defense.

Brian Zoubek, Duke

With Kyle Singler returning to Durham, Zoubek becomes the most likely Blue Devil to get drafted this year. That’s not something anyone expected eight months ago. However, the 7-footer turned out to be a late bloomer. After struggling with foul trouble for three and a half seasons, the light went on for Zoubek midway through the season, and he helped propel the Blue Devils to their fourth championship under coach Mike Krzyzewski. He averaged only about six points and eight rebounds per game – but that’s in less than 19 minutes per game. Take a look at his per-40-minute stats: 12 points and 16 rebounds per game. Those numbers and his recent development could land Zoubek an NBA spot in the second round. His lack of athleticism will likely keep him out of the first round.

Tweeners

Trevor Booker, Clemson

Booker falls into the dreaded category of tweeners. He is probably too small to be an NBA power forward, and he’s not a good enough shooter to be a small forward. However, some NBA team could be as happy with Booker as the San Antonio Spurs were this past season with Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair. Booker is a warrior and a winner. He’s tough as nails and hustles on every play. And his stat line backs that up: 15 points and eight rebounds per game with a little more than one block and one steal per game, too.

Point Guards

Sherron Collins, Kansas

Collins led the Jayhawks through one of their most successful four-year runs in team history. That’s quite a feat for any Jayhawk to crow about. However, his game might not make as much noise in the NBA. At 6-foot, Collins is rather short for an NBA guard. And he doesn’t shoot exceptionally well at 42 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. Collins figures to be a second-round pick who could back up an established point guard.

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland

Vasquez is a curious case. He has the fire to lead teams and talent to take over games. He single-handedly beat North Carolina in 2009, when the Tar Heels won the championship. However, he’s also prone to committing lots of turnovers and can be a streaky shooter. His upside is higher than most projected second-round picks, especially among guards, but his risk factor is also fairly high. He’d be a great fit on a team with a strong locker room and talented lineup, especially a veteran point guard. That would allow Vasquez to be a sparkplug off the bench and learn the ropes, in hopes that he could eventually take over the starting point guard spot.

For West Virginia, the Butler Keeps Doing It

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – West Virginia’s most important player isn’t someone that anyone would have imagined a few years ago.  But Da’Sean Butler is closing the book on a fine career that has come a long way from his days growing up in Newark, New Jersey.

Butler wasn’t the pick of many to play in the Big East.  He got plenty of notice from playing at Bloomfield Tech a little north of his hometown, at that time a burgeoning powerhouse that was dormant for many years before Courtney Nelson, DaShawn Dwight and Jason Wilson brought them into prominence that included trips to some major in-season tournaments.  Still, Butler was at best an Atlantic 10-level prospect, a nice player with some good skills but not all that athletic and not with one thing in particular that he hangs his hat on.  He was, in many respects, a typical John Beilein recruit: he’s talented, but doesn’t look like a Big East player at first glance.

Nearly four years and 30 pounds of muscle later, he’s more than just a Big East player.  He’s arguably the best player in the conference.  What’s not up for debate is that he’s underrated.

“I think Da’Sean is probably as underappreciated as anybody in America for just the things he can do,” said head coach Bob Huggins.  “I don’t know if there’s a more complete player anywhere in the country.”

All Butler has done is be a model of consistency and improvement.  He’s scored in double figures 98 times in 133 career games, and has started every game since the start of his sophomore year after being a solid reserve as a freshman.  When Huggins took over as head coach, Butler thrived, and has looked like the perfect bridge between coaches.  He should surpass 2,000 career points before his career is over and will leave in third place on the school’s all-time scoring list.

And this is a player who barely topped 1,000 career points in high school.  What hasn’t changed is the winning: he helped Bloomfield Tech win 97 games in four years, and in his nearly four years at West Virginia the Mountaineers have won 96 games.

Huggins was quick to note how versatile Butler is, and that was probably a big reason Beilein recruited him.  The Mountaineers have played him at every position except center, and that gives them a lot of options since they can go big in the backcourt with him at one of those positions.  He’s been adept at filling the stat sheet, and in Wednesday night’s win over Providence, he had another day at the office: 16 points, five rebounds, three assists with just one turnover.

Following a season where his teammates selected him as their MVP, Butler played for USA Basketball at the World University Games last summer, averaging 8.6 points per contest.  Just being selected was proof of how far he had come, but he’s followed that up with an excellent senior year that has had some big moments.  It started with being named the 76 Classic MVP as the Mountaineers won the title, as he scored 26 points in the title game and averaged 18.7 points per game while shooting nearly 56 percent from the field in the three games.  But that was just the beginning.

As the season has gone along, Butler has been Mr. Clutch for his team.  At Cleveland State, he scored a driving layup with 1.2 seconds left for the winning basket.  Against Marquette, a long jumper with 2.3 seconds left gave the Mountaineers a one-point win.  He also hit a game-winner against Louisville with 16 seconds left.

The Mountaineers have the personnel to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, although they haven’t been able to pull out some games against other elite teams.  Close losses at Purdue and at home to Syracuse stand out in that respect, while they also lost at home to Villanova and more recently lost a tough triple over time game at Pittsburgh.  If they are going to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, the person most likely to lead them is Butler, the versatile senior who has come a long way and is still underrated.