The Draft Digest team took on the Ferrell Center in Waco on Saturday afternoon to get a closer look at the the abundance of future NBA talent on the Baylor and Arkansas rosters. In what was a close contest, Baylor came out on top, winning by a score of 67-64.
It’s worth noting, Nick Smith Jr. and Trevon Brazile missed this game for Arkansas with injuries, but both will be in the NBA as early as next season. Smith Jr. has lottery upside as a microwave scorer and Brazile could be taken early in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft despite currently recovering from an ACL injury.
Even with those two sitting this one out, there was still more players that have a great shot to play in the NBA than you could count on one hand.
Let’s take a look at each team’s top three draft prospects and our notes on them.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Anthony Black
Admittedly, this wasn’t the best game to scout Black. He suffered a knee injury in the first few minutes of the game and never looked like himself the rest of the way.
Regardless, all of the things that make Black special were still on display. You can easily see the rebounding upside of the jumbo guard and the incredible vision. While he plays a bit methodical at times, he also flashed some pop, most notably on a contested dunk off a back cut.
Black really fought through pain all game long. It was was physical contest as he got hit a lot and was slow to get up a few times. He finished with seven point, six boards and three assists.
Ricky Council IV
Where would Arkansas be this season without Council? Given all of the injuries, he’s really kept this team afloat as he’s been one of that best scorers in the entire SEC.
There’s still some questions around the mechanics of his jumper, most notably his base and the amount of movement at the top of his shot. However, Council is still a decent shooter and has many other ways to generate points.
Simply put, he’s bigger and stronger than almost ever other guard he’s gone up against this season. The 6-foot-6 prospect is a walking mismatch at the college level and also has a variety of advanced moves to free himself from defenders.
He’s extremely precise and efficient with his dribble moves and has sneaky quickness for being a physical type of player. Once he gets to the rim, he finishes with a ton of power.
If it weren’t for his age, the third-year college player would really be a solidified first-found pick. Council finished with game-high 25 points, including a 50% clip from beyond the arc.
Jordan Walsh
It’s been hard to evaluate Walsh this season given his role on this Arkansas team. Now seeing him in person, it’s even more clear he’s definitely worth a late first-round pick. He’s got incredible size and length that should translate on both ends at the NBA level.
Walsh moves very well without the ball, making smart cuts and finding his spots on the offensive end. He’s the ultimate connector and complimentary piece that keeps an offense flowing.
Defensively, he guarded nearly every position against Baylor on Saturday. While he did foul out, the work he did on Keyonte George specifically was impressive. Walsh finished the game with two blocks and a steal.
Baylor Bears
Keyonte George
As soon as I walked in the gym, it was clear George owned the place. If you had never watched Baylor play before and had no knowledge of the team going into pregame warmups, you would still be able to immediately tell he was the alpha of the group.
Starting with defense, some of George’s reads early were very impressive. He made smart switches and ensured he was in the right spots off-ball. As the game went on and fatigue set in, there were certainly times he wasn’t as crisp on that end of the floor, but overall was impressive defensively on Saturday.
On the other end of the floor, George ultimately had a decent night shooting the ball. However, over a quarter of his shots were borderline bad looks. While some of these extremely tough shots did go in, you’d like to see him find ways to generate easier looks. Several times he had to double clutch on a jumper or shoot with a hand right in his face.
George scored seven-straight points late in the game to help the Bears come out on top, further proving he’s a lottery talent. He finished the game with 24 points, although it took him 20 shots to get there.
Jalen Bridges
Bridges was his best in transition on Saturday, proving to be a good rim runner. He’s overall just an extremely active player on both ends that does the little things to impact winning.
The shooting touch for a guy of his size is impressive, which is why it was great to see how well he relocates on the perimeter. He moves along the 3-point line as his teammates drive to ensure they have the best angle for a kickout to him.
Between the smooth jumper and the length, it’s easy to see why Bridges has the chance to go in the second round this summer. He could absolutely thrive as a screener in the NBA with his ability to pick and roll as a lob threat or pop as a perimeter shooter.
The thing that jumped out most about Bridges was the lateral quickness. There was one possession in particular in which Council tried a variety of dribble moves to get by him, but Bridges cut off every angle and stayed in front of him with great foot speed.
The 6-foot-7 forward finished the night with ten points and seven rebounds.
Adam Flagler
He doesn’t have the elite size some of these other top prospects have, but he’s explosive and has the shiftiness to get by anyone. At 6-foot-3, Flagler is a great scorer, although he really struggled on Saturday.
On the defensive end, he causes chaos with an immense amount of effort and physicality. That said, I’m curious what he’ll look like having to defend bigger guards every night at the next level.
In what was one of his worst games of the season from an efficiency standpoint, Flagler finished with five points on 1-of-11 shooting. Was he bothered by the NBA size of Arkansas, or was it simply a single poor performance that should be taken lightly?
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