Gene Wang of The Washington Post has put together his own predictions for the first 15 picks of this week’s NBA draft.  Ex-SEC players make up more than 25% of his picks and exactly one-third of his selections are ex-Kentucky Wildcats.

No surprise.

But what might surprise some is the fact that Wang doesn’t have ex-SEC’ers landing in the top three slots as many other mockers of drafts do:

1.  Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky — New Orleans

3.  Bradley Beal, SG, Florida — Washington

5.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky — Sacramento

15.  Terrence Jones, PF, Kentucky — Philadelphia

Now, do we trust Mr. Wang’s knowledge of drafts or his prognostication skills?  Not, really.  I couldn’t tell you a thing about the man.  Other than the fact that he — and his story — were posted on this site for the simple reason that it gave me a chance to post this clip… which still makes me laugh:

The NBA held its draft lottery last night and a gaggle of sites have posted mock drafts today as a result.  We’ll not bother you with all of them, but to give you a basic idea of the SEC’s prospects, here’s how Sean Deveney of The Sporting News sees things playing out:

1.  New Orleans Hornets — Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky

3.  Washington Wizards — Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky

6.  Portland Trail Blazers — Bradley Beal, SG, Florida

16.  Houston Rockets — Terrence Jones, SF, Kentucky

18.  Minnesota Timberwolves — Arnett Moultrie, PF, Mississippi State

22.  Boston Celtics — Festus Ezeli, C, Vanderbilt

25.  Memphis Grizzlies — Marquis Teague, PG, Kentucky

28.  Oklahoma City Thunder — Jeff Taylor, SF, Vanderbilt

That’s four first-rounders for Kentucky — less than the six John Calipari is hoping for — and two for Vanderbilt.  A player apiece from Florida and Mississippi State bring the SEC’s total number of projected first-rounders to eight.  Not bad for a football league.

And by official MrSEC.com estimations, at his current rate of production with one-and-doners, Calipari will have each NBA roster made up completely of ex-Wildcats by the year 2023.  (First, that’s a joke, math heads.  Second, that’s a compliment, Kentucky fans.  Third, it’s a shame that I have to clarify things like that.)

With the draft lifts finalized, the folks at DraftExpress.com have posted their latest NBA mock draft.  In it, they have six SEC players — seven if you count Enes Kanter — being selected in June’s selection process.

According to the site, two players should make pretty darn good money — going in the first 15 picks of the draft.  Two other players should get guaranteed money by being selected in the late stages of the first round.  And two others are expected to be chosen late in the second-round which is far from guaranteed money or even a guaranteed roster spot.

Their expectations:


Brandon Knight, PG, Kentucky — 1st Round, Pick 5 to Sacramento

Tobias Harris, PF, Tennessee — 1st Round, Pick 15 to Indiana

Travis Leslie, SF, Georgia — 1st Round, Pick 25 to Boston

Trey Thompkins, PF, Georgia — 1st Round, Pick 29 to San Antonio

DeAndre Liggins, PG/SG/SF, Kentucky — 2nd Round, Pick 23 (53 overall) to Orlando

Scotty Hopson, SG/SF, Tennessee — 2nd Round, Pick 24 (54 overall) to Cleveland


Kanter — the UK big man who never received NCAA clearance last year — is projeced as the #8 pick in the draft to Cleveland.

If these projections are accurate, Liggins and Hopson might be left wondering why they didn’t return to school for their senior seasons.