Final Four doubles as NBA showcase

Final Four doubles as NBA showcase

David J. Phillip/AP

Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist looks like a top-3 pick in the NBA draft after just one season with the Wildcats.

NEW ORLEANS This Final Four may turn out to be the one with the most talent in basketball history.

Lottery picks and potential future NBA stars were all over college basketballs signature event the past four days and many of t he names you heard during the games will be uttered again when the NBA holds its draft on June 28. If there is a lock, it is that Kentuckys Anthony Davis will be the first to hear his name called and shake commissioner David Sterns hand shortly after it all begins.

Davis, the 6-10 Wildcats freshman, is projected to be No.1, but the Final Four also is projected to produce two of the the following three picks. His teammate, 6-7 freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is projected at No. 2 and Kansas 6-10 junior Thomas Robinson could be No. 3. All these projections are according to several websites, as well as the services the Daily News has contacted.

This may be the best Final Four in terms of NBA talent that I have seen, said an NBA scout with 13 years of experience. This event has players who will be playing on the highest level. Its a scouts dream to have so many good college players in one place at one time.

Kentucky likely has six players who will be sele cted. In addition to Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist, the phenom out of Elizabeths St. Patrick High, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb (from Queens) and Marcus Teague could be first-round selection. And Darius Miller projects as a second-round pick

Kansas could not only produce Robinson in the first round but also 7-footer Jeff Withey and Tyshawn Taylor, the Hoboken, N.J., product who attended St. Anthony in Jersey City, as second-rounders.

Semifinal loser Ohio State has a probable first-round pick in 6-10 Jared Sullinger and a potential second-round pick in swingman William Buford.

No one on Louisvilles roster curently figures to be one of the 60 draft picks, though some think Cardinals point guard Peyton Siva could see his stock could rise. But even without Siva in the group, according to the site NBADraft.net, that would give this Final Four 11 of the first 55 selections and make it a rival to the 2008 Final Four, which netted 11 of the first 56 choices in the f ollowing draft.

Kentucky coach John Calipari, whose Memphis team was in the 2008 Final Four and produced top pick Derrick Rose said the talent level here rivals (the 2008 Final Four). . . . Were looking at a lot of tremendous players.

Steve Kerr, the former Phoenix Suns director of basketball operations who is serving as an analyst for CBS, said that the plethora of NBA talent at the Final Four made it one worth watching. People tune in to see the best college players, he said. This Final Four (has) a lot of them. Thats good for the fan.

With three of the Kentucky players in their first season, Calipari has used the forum of the Final Four to push for changes in the NCAA rules that allow players to go to the draft after one year. Id like it to go two years, minimum, Calipari said in an interview on CBS. He also told reporters that players should be rewarded for remaining in school an extra year by shrinking the maximum first-year NBA contracts from th ree years to two so they get to the bigger contract quicker.