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Keegan Murray a Top 10 NBA Draft Pick (per ESPN, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated & Bleacher Report)

Franisdaman

HR King
Nov 3, 2012
82,246
104,228
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Heaven, Iowa
Seems about right.

Per USA Today (April 6, 2022):


NBA mock draft 2022: Will Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith or Paolo Banchero get selected with No. 1 pick?​



Jeff Zillgitt

USA TODAY
April 6, 2022

Here is USA TODAY Sport’s mock draft following the Final Four:

1. Orlando Magic – Paolo Banchero, Duke

Forward, 6-10, 250 pounds, freshman

2. Houston Rockets – Jabari Smith, Auburn

Forward, 6-10, 250 pounds, freshman

3. Detroit Pistons – Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga

Center, 7-0, 195 pounds, freshman

4. Oklahoma City Thunder – Jaden Ivey, Purdue

Guard, 6-4, 195 pounds, sophomore

5. Indiana Pacers – Shaedon Sharp, Kentucky

Guard, 6-6, 200 pounds, freshman

6. Portland Trail Blazers – Keegan Murray, Iowa

Forward, 6-8, 225 pounds, sophomore

7. Sacramento Kings – Jalen Duren, Memphis

Center, 6-11, 250 pounds, freshman

8. New Orleans Pelicans (via Los Angeles Lakers) – Johnny Davis, Wisconsin

Guard, 6-5, 194 pounds, sophomore

9. San Antonio Spurs – A.J. Griffin, Duke

Guard-forward, 6-6, 222 pounds, freshman

10. Washington Wizards – Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona

Guard, 6-6, 210 pounds, sophomore


The First 30 picks and the Story are Here:




Per ESPN (Jan 26, 2022):


(1) On Jan 26, 2022, they have him at #6.







(2) Chad covers the NBA Draft for ESPN. On Dec 2, 2021:





Per Yahoo Sports (Jan 24, 2022):

Complete 2022 NBA mock draft projections:

1. Orlando Magic: F Paolo Banchero

Ht./Wt.: 6-10, 250 pounds | Class: Freshman | Duke: 17.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.7 apg

2. Detroit Pistons: F Jabari Smith

Ht./Wt.: 6-10, 220 pounds | Class: Freshman | Auburn: 15.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.1 apg

3. Houston Rockets: C Chet Holmgren

Ht./Wt.: 7-0, 196 pounds | Class: Freshman | Gonzaga: 13.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.4 bpg


4. Oklahoma City Thunder: G Jaden Ivey

Ht./Wt.: 6-4, 195 pounds | Class: Sophomore | Purdue: 16.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.9 apg


5. Indiana Pacers: G Johnny Davis

Ht./Wt.: 6-5, 194 pounds | Class: Sophomore | Wisconsin: 22.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg

6. San Antonio Spurs: F Keegan Murray

Ht./Wt.: 6-8, 215 pounds | Class: Sophomore | Iowa: 22.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.2 bpg

7. Sacramento Kings: C Jalen Duren

Ht./Wt.: 6-11, 250 pounds | Class: Freshman | Memphis: 10.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.5 bpg

8. New Orleans Pelicans: G Shaedon Sharpe

Ht./Wt.: 6-5, 215 pounds | Class: Freshman | Kentucky: Has not played this season

9. Portland Trail Blazers: G Jaden Hardy

Ht./Wt.: 6-4, 198 pounds | G League Ignite: 17.7 ppg, 3.2 apg

10. Atlanta Hawks: G Bennedict Mathurin

Ht./Wt.: 6-6, 210 pounds | Class: Sophomore | Arizona: 17.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.3 apg


The Full Story:




From Sports Illustrated (Nov 23, 2021):

NBA Mock Draft: Banchero, Smith and Holmgren In the Mix For No. 1

The top-three conversation is heating up with college basketball in full swing. Here's our first look at how the 2022 draft could play out.

Nov 23, 2021

1. Rockets: Paolo Banchero, PF, Duke

Height: 6' 10" | Weight: 250 | Age: 19 | Freshman

2. Pelicans: Jabari Smith Jr., F, Auburn

Height: 6' 10" | Weight: 210 | Age: 18 | Freshman

3. Magic: Chet Holmgren, F/C, Gonzaga

Height: 7' 0" | Weight: 215 | Age: 19 | Freshman

4. Spurs: Patrick Baldwin Jr., F, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Height: 6' 9" | Weight: 220 | Age: 19 | Freshman

5. Pistons: Jaden Hardy, SG, G League Ignite

Height: 6' 4" | Weight: 185 | Age: 19

6. Kings: Jalen Duren, C, Memphis

Height: 6' 11" | Weight: 250 | Age: 18 | Freshman

7. Thunder: Jaden Ivey, G, Purdue

Height: 6' 4" | Weight: 200 | Age: 19 | Sophomore

8. Pacers: Kendall Brown, F, Baylor

Height: 6' 8" | Weight: 205 | Age: 18 | Freshman

9. Timberwolves: Keegan Murray, F, Iowa

Height: 6' 8" | Weight: 215 | Age: 21 | Sophomore

10. Raptors: Dyson Daniels, G, G League Ignite

Height: 6' 6" | Weight: 200 | Age: 18



Link to FULL story:

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/11/23/nba-mock-draft-paolo-banchero-chet-holmgren-jabari-smith




From Bleacher Report (Jan 5, 2022):

 
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While it's unreasonable to expect him to keep this pace up against better competition, I can absolutely see Keegan having a stellar all B1G season and getting mention for AA teams as the season progresses.

I'll hate to lose him early, but I really hope he has a spectacular year and makes it into the top 10 in the draft.
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Wow that's dumb. He played his role perfectly. We already had two draft picks who had a ton of experience that we went through on offense most of the year. Hard to blame Fran for using Garza and Weezy last season IMO
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Also dumb is the part about him not being a shot creator. We don't really know that yet, as we have seen Iowa play at their preferred pace virtually all season. It's hard to know whether or not Keegan can create off the bounce in the half court yet, as we have rarely had to play half court offense so far. Yesterday he looked pretty good at breaking his man down off the dribble a few times. I will be interested to see if Keegan has developed a mid range jumper though. Virginia should slow us down at times and then we'll finally get to see stretches of what Keegan can do as a 1 on 1 scorer in the half court offense. .
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Yep how dare Fran do his best to feed the national player of the year...stupid Fran!
 
At 21 Keegan is the oldest of the 10 players listed. It will be too bad if this is his last year as a Hawkeye, but best of luck to him.
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
That is a ridiculous comment considering you had the POY in Garza and another draft pick in Weiskamp as the team leaders. Also, Murray is simply better this year. You know, things like that happen when you have a work ethic and the skills to build upon.
 
Even if Keegan calms down a bit once conference play kicks off don't be surprised to see him be a lottery pick this next draft. Keegan has all the tools and the work ethic NBA teams love.

I'm calling it now Keegan will be playing in the NBA next year if he wants to. 1st Rd draft pick somewhere between 10-20. Yes that is good for Iowa and the future. That would be Garza, Weiskamp and Murray within a calendar year. Recruits pay attention to that. Obviously it would affect the 2022-23 season but I really love this young core of Kr. Murray, Patrick, Sandfort, Ulis, Perkins and Mulvey. Some nice recruits coming in as well.
 
Wow that's dumb. He played his role perfectly. We already had two draft picks who had a ton of experience that we went through on offense most of the year. Hard to blame Fran for using Garza and Weezy last season IMO

No it isn't dumb. Anyone outside of the Fran family and his friends on this board could see Keegan should have started last year and Kris was vastly under used.

CMAC started over Keegan and PMAC played all the sub minutes instead of Kris. Fran botched last year. Getting bounce out in Round of 32 was poor outcome with 3 future NBA players on the squad (Garza, weezy, Keegan). Kris very well might get an NBA smell too, which would be 4.

Give Fran credit for recruiting the Murrays. If Fran get get this years team to sweet16 that will go a long ways toward making up for his underperformance last year. It is not like we have been spoiled with B1G titles, deep BTT runs, or multiple sweet 16s under Fran.

Looks like Keegan will be gone after this year.
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Murray didn’t feed the post as well as other players. 🙄
 
Murray didn’t feed the post as well as other players. 🙄


neil-de-grasse-tyson-wheel-of-science-episodes.gif
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
We've seen this movie before in football.
 
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That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Hilarious isn't exactly the word that I would have used. Keegan was already clearly the 2nd or 3rd best player on the team last year and yet he played behind Connor, JBo, CJ, and PMac when they were healthy. Today it looks like we are about to witness part II of this saga with Kris assuming a secondary role behind Connor, PMac, and JBO. I'm not suggesting that Kris is Keegan either. There is a huge gap between Keegan and everyone else on this team. I'm just saying that IMO Kris has the best all around game after Keegan right now.
 
I'm just going to put this here for comic relief:

 
I remember when Murray twins committed to us people were upset boy weren't we wrong and we all wanted Xavier foster now look at him.

well, in defense of the upset crowd - cough*me*cough - this was the pic that accompanied the announcement of the scholarship offers and acceptance on this board...
maxresdefault.jpg


as far as i recall that was the first time annyone had even heard fran was interested. so it seemed like a last resort sort of deal... yeah, they've matured nicely.
 
Wow that's dumb. He played his role perfectly. We already had two draft picks who had a ton of experience that we went through on offense most of the year. Hard to blame Fran for using Garza and Weezy last season IMO
Well, Ive already gone on record saying Fran should have been starting Keegan in place of ConMac and CJ last year, so,I’m going to again agree with that take.

Fran allowed Keegan to develop, get his experience, but by mid way thru the 2nd half of the season it was evident that Keegan had earned more minutes, but Fran, if anything is a creature of habit, and much like Ferentz, is loathe to change horses, and Fran paid the price getting run out of the gym in both post season tourna,met games, because of poor defense, and doing so with POY and a 2nd NBA player.

recall Oregon game where iowa gave up 56 1st half points, because of poor defense and starters CJ, ConMac, JoBo comb8ned for zero,points for the game. all the while our top 10 NBA draft pick to be, sat and watched.

we should own that mistake

all that said, In Fran I Trust…
 
I'm just going to put this here for comic relief:


this might be a poor reflection on me as a person, but some people might laugh that sort of talk off... no, i want to kick every one of those d-bags square in the nuts.
 
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That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman
Yeah, I think that’s unfair. I could argue that he should have gotten more minutes from Connor, but sometimes, you get the PT when you’re fully ready. He came into a lineup that had the national POY and another guy who is getting NBA minutes right now, plus an elite shooter in Fredrick who has since moved on.

Part of coaching is playing the right guys. Another part of coaching is putting guys into positions where they can succeed. Murray’s PT increased as the season went on last year, which makes perfect sense.
 
Whoaaaaa, let’s see how he handles a big ten Double team first!!
My favorite thing about his game is that he can get his even if they’re not running the offense through him explicitly. He can have doubles follow him around and still make his money on the glass and in transition while opening things up for teammates.
 
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Is basketball like baseball now, where all the top picks are straight out of high school?
 
That writeup on Keegan has a sentence that's quite the shot across Fran's bow and I don't totally agree with it. Keegan has improved a ton since last year.

There’s a case to be made that Murray has been the best player in college basketball so far, and while Iowa hasn’t played anyone of quality yet, it’s hilarious in hindsight that Murray was so under-utilized as a freshman

B1G coaches like Fran, similar to how Crean, Izzo liked Lickliter.

We had Weezy, Keegan, and Garza and that was our year to do something. Keegan should have started and Kris could have backed him up at PF instead of perma-bench. That would have impacted CMAC PT directly and PMAC indirectly because Kris also could play Weezy's position--and that is the reason it did not happen.
 
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