2025 NBA Draft Prospects to Watch in March Madness

We break down the top NBA draft prospects to watch during March Madness, focusing on the talent-stacked East bracket that features eight potential top-15 picks across teams like Duke, Maryland, Arkansas, Georgia, BYU, and UConn.

• Cooper Flagg (Duke) gives vibes of an athletic Larry Bird with Andre Kirilenko-like defense
• VJ Edgecombe (Baylor) demonstrates "ridiculous, stupid dumb bounce" reminiscent of Jaylen Brown
• Derrick Queen (Maryland) draws comparisons to Alperen Şengün, Nikola Jokić, and Draymond Green
• Khaman Maluach (Duke) stands 7'2" at age 18, comparable to Mark Williams and Rudy Gobert
• Boogie Fland (Arkansas) boasts an elite 3.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio
• Asa Newell (Georgia) provides Joakim Noah-like energy and defensive versatility
• Jace Richardson (Michigan State), Igor Dimeen (BYU), Kon Knuffle (Duke), and Liam McNeely (UConn) all present intriguing skill sets
• JT Toppin (Texas Tech) delivers a combination of Obi Toppin and Bobby Portis energy

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to NBA Draft Prospects
• 1:10 Cooper Flagg: The Number One Pick
• 2:45 VJ Edgecombe and Baylor's Athletic Potential
• 4:30 Derrick Queen: Maryland's Dominating Freshman
• 6:01 Duke's Kamen Malik and Confidence Factors
• 7:18 Boogie Fland's Elite Assist-to-Turnover Ratio
• 8:23 Asa Newell and Georgia in March Madness
• 9:48 Jace Richardson and Other Rising Prospects
• 13:38 Attention to JT Toppin and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

What's up everybody. It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, trey, and as usual, I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're going to talk about here the NBA draft prospects during March Madness at least my top ones, right, and there's a bunch to talk about too. And specifically point in time right now, the East bracket looks like it's going to be World War III because there's so much NBA talent in that bracket. You got eight of my possible top 15 NBA picks in this bracket. You got players on Duke, maryland, arkansas, georgia, byu and UConn. That's a stout bracket to follow. So, again, I'm looking forward to that and it also helps my final four wish list too. So I'm really hoping there's not too much moving out of this. Maybe a couple things to shake some things up. Just make sure we get my personal final four possibilities. But let's go ahead and talk about some of these teams right, because I want to talk about exactly what I'm focusing on in March Madness for these specific players.

Speaker 1: 1:10

So we'll start at the top with my boy, cooper Flagg. Keep in mind I'm a Blue Devils fan, ladies and gentlemen, so you might think this is biased. I'm telling you right now he's number one across the board. Argue with your mama, but I will tell you this I do give him some type of vibes. He gives me vibes of an athletic Larry Bird, just not from the shot, right Like the shooting. Yes, he's shooting. What is it? 38% from three, 83% from the free throw. That does help me out. I do think Larry was a little bit better though. So I don't think the shot, but the athleticism piece. We easily beat Larry. And then he gives me defensive vibes of Andre Karolinko, ak-47, right. What I want to see pretty much is does this maintain, does this hold up? During March Madness, we've seen you do work in the regular season, but let's not remember, let's not forget too, during ranked opponents we did slip a little bit, a little bit. Granted, it was early on in the season and hell, he was even 17, just turning 18 for a lot of those games. I want to make sure that was in the past, not in the present.

Speaker 1: 2:14

So for March Madness, you got to watch Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils because, again, he's the number one option, number one, potential draft pick. You got to see what he's looking like, star-wise, because I think he has star quality. But let's go ahead and go on down the list, shall we? Because we also got to talk about Dylan Harper who, well, he's not going to be in March Madness. Aw, that's tough. All right, so I guess we'll get to save him for another day. But keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, rutgers, I wish they were in March Madness, that would have been nice.

Speaker 1: 2:43

Let's move on down to Vijay Edgecombe for Baylor. All right, now Baylor got themselves a stud, a hell of an athlete, like ridiculous, stupid dumb bounce. That's what I'm talking about. Reminds me of Jalen Brown and Stanley Johnson. I know y'all know Jalen Brown. Stanley Johnson was Jalen Brown-esque in high school and college. I'm letting y'all know that right now they were similar type players. Stanley might've even been viewed a little higher than Jalen Brown.

Speaker 1: 3:07

But the thing about it again, it's the athleticism piece. He does have a good defensive motor. I'm trying to figure out is it elite? Because when he goes to the NBA at 6'5" with this athleticism we can do work Like we can do solid work. Maybe let's clean up a little bit on the fouls, but again, averaging 2.1 steals, I'll take 2.6 fouls, I really, truly will. And then the streaky shooting. If he shows his form look all right If he can start converting. Buddy looks scary Like I might have to consider. Is he higher than Dylan Harper? But the decision-making tells me I might keep him below. But the athleticism piece is that stout, ladies and gentlemen, baylor, you have to watch out for Baylor because they also could get to the final four fingers crossed. Ace Bailey again, I said he's on Rutgers, so y'all know. Same thing with Dylan Harper.

Speaker 1: 4:01

We will not talk about him too much, but again, that is a player that I wish we got to see in March Madness. That is a treat that we don't get, unfortunately. But who we do get to watch is Derrick Queen. And keep in mind, all of these are freshmen. All of these have been number one options, right, but Derrick Queen, like Cooper Flagg, like a VJ edge, like Cooper Flagg, has his team ranked and you can talk about the team being good, but this brother has been dominating. He's their best player, for me at least. And again, they're in March Madness.

Speaker 1: 4:34

He reminds me of Derek Queen, reminds me of Alperin Jokic. That's Alperin Singun and Nikola Jokic, and then also Draymond Green as well. That's a lot of names out there. That's a lot of names out there. That's a lot of heavy hitters and, again I said before the season started, people are going to be talking about Derrick Queen by the end of the season, and I'm glad he proved me right. The only thing I want to see is defensively can he move to them puppies? Can his motor hold out for the March Madness, because that's a lot of basketball to be played, and he's on the stockier side. You can always work on your physical, and that can happen before the NBA season starts, but right now I want to see what happens. He's a good kid, stayed home, right, loyal plus production. You love that. But again, I'm focusing on the physical aspect, just like I did before the season started.

Speaker 1: 5:21

I also got to talk about here, because this is another person that I talked about before the season started Trey Johnson. Okay, now Trey gives me one good vibes because of the name, right, like he spells his name similarly to me. I just got a little asterisk over the top of my E. You know what I'm saying. He's good stock, he comes from good stock, unfortunately, though, can't talk about him too much. He's good people's, though can't talk about him too much. He good people, though he good people, but we can't talk about him because Texas is not going to March Madness Again.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Another player that I wish we got to watch in March Madness. It's unfortunate, but we will be watching them get drafted pretty highly. I will say that, kamen Malik though we can talk about him because he's on my Blue Devils. Ladies and gentlemen, long story short 7'2" and at 18. Biggest thing for me, well, his comparison is Mark Williams, who also was a former Blue Devil, and then Rudy Gobert, who y'all all know him right.

Speaker 1: 6:15

Biggest thing for me is Kamen Malik's confidence. Malik's confidence because he's yeah, he's young and I thought he'd have a little bit more confidence coming in, especially playing from for the olympic squad, but I'm not seeing as much. And then, defensively, I would have loved to see more than 1.1 blocks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not. I'm not trying to act like that's low, I'm just saying based on expectations, I did want to see a little bit more. Again, he's 7-2 and mobile. Granted pt he don't get as much. Sometimes I do view our backup center as more aggressive, but that also could be viewed because he's older. Right, that goes to the confidence factor. So march madness I want to see came and be more confident, because he does. He is a talented player and in what I view as a down year he gave it 8.7 rebounds, one assist, 0.2 steals, 1.1 blocks. That's not bad. So again, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to see that from Kamen Now. Outside of that, though, 7-2, you can't teach height. Now we also got to look at Boogie Fland out of Arkansas. They are in March Madness, so we can talk about him, and he reminds me of Darius Garland, and I want to see in March Madness if his elite assist to turnover ratio continues. Right now Buddy is given a 3.6 assist to turnover ratio. That means every 3.6 assist he gets, he gets one turnover. Y'all not turning the ball over. That much 're not like you guys are doing work. So I'm curious if that holds up, I might have to consider moving boogie up higher, because at 6-3 he's not a slouch. He gets what he gets 1.5 steals, a game not fouling a lot. Number one option like he plays both sides of the ball. We got to determine how elite of a defender he is, or how good of a defender he is. I might have to consider Boogie just off the assist turnover ratio alone. But that is elite status right there. So again, boogie Flan, arkansas. You got to pay attention to him in mark time. Alsa Newell is another person that you got to pay attention to, ladies and gentlemen. Now he's out of Georgia. This brother reminds me of Noah, of Joaquin Noah, all right, and he's and, like I said, they ain't March Madness. So it would be nice to see Joaquin Noah return to March Madness. I ain't going to hold you. I'm not saying Georgia is going to win the championship or even run it back to back, but I need to see how Asa's offense is because he seems raw to me offensively, 6'11", mobile. There are times where I think Asa actually can out-duel Kamen and Kamen's on my squad. He's one of my boys. You would think I'm biased, but I got to be honest Because, again, the physicality, the level of athlete that he is, I think could outmatch Kamen's. Kamen's supposed to have decent shooting. I haven't seen it as much. Asa's still raw offensively but again he's been producing and then defensively he's giving what we get from Kamen, but more steals. Kamen's not really getting steals, asa is. So again, the offense. I want to see if that holds up. And then also too, athletic-wise, I know what he is, so I'm not going to get too hype about the athleticism piece. It's the raw offensively, that's it. But if the athleticism holds up, true too, then maybe we got to move Buddy up a little bit, but I do have him at that 9-10 slot. And the reason why I have him at that 9-10 slot, ladies and gentlemen, because there's a brother by the name of Jace Richardson. This is Jason Richardson's son, and I only bring that up because I can't say he played like his daddy. Jason was an athletic freak of nature, you know what I'm saying. Like Jace can get up. Now Jace can get up. Jace is 6'3 and reminds me of Rip Hamilton and, like Jordan Hawkins, he's crafty. And I want to see if that holds up Because, again, he's not the athletic freak of nature that his dad was and again, he could be undersized unless he converts to the point guard position and on Michigan State team he doesn't have to playmate. They're a well-coached team Shout out Tom Izzo. So I want to see one. How his playmaking is. Is he because he is an efficient scorer? Does that hold up? Still, he is an active defender, so pretty much does his game translate during March Madness, even though he's not an athletic player, which, again, I did say he's crafty. So I expect it to. That's why I'm drafting him this high if I'm a team. But you know, maybe that's just me. Maybe y'all see a player like an Igor Dimeen out of BYU who's 6'9 and giving you quite good production but extremely athletic as daggone self I get you. And again, byu is going to be in March Madness, so that could be something nice to see. Averaging 11.4 rebounds, six assists on 2.9 turnovers, that's a solid assist turnover ratio. Also, I would just love it if he stays on BYU's team one more season and he plays with AJ DeBonta. That's all I'm saying. That would be really good basketball right there. But solid athlete, I can't be mad. He reminds me of Josh Giddey and Matas Bazulis, who just got into the league last year. So I want to see if that athleticism Also can his scoring improve. Like the efficiency, like the free throws, shooting 67 you listed as a shooting guard. For me I don't need that. That's a small forward, but then your playmaking tells me damn, maybe you need to be a guard. I don't know. I need to see what the free throw is looking like, because my guard is shooting that poorly from the free throw line. I don't like that. But I'm definitely focusing on that, on this, on on byu come march madness. If you also underperform, like I said, there's nothing wrong with returning next year and play with the number one player who might be coming out next year in next year's draft. Speaking of someone who's playing with the number one pick, con Canupple out of Duke, that's right. Be back on my boys. Be back on my boys. I don't have an exact comparison in the NBA for him. I think he's gonna be a solid role player, same with Liam McNeely out of UConn, and both of them are similar players, right. Six, seven, both similar age, similar stuff like scoring wise. It's just that Khan's a better shooter, better playmaker, uh, uh, I think better. No, liam could be better defender, but again, they both amount the same. I think Liam could be the number one on his team, maybe number two. Khan was the number two definitively, so maybe that helps out as well too, right, but I think both of them are similar players. I just view Khan a little higher than Liam and there's no bias. There's no bias. I understand. Khan goes to Duke and Liam goes to UConn. I just think if they match up we'll get to see who's better. And, ironically, liam actually did play with Cooper Flagg in high school. So I think that would be a solid matchup to watch Liam McNeely versus Khan Knuffle as they both played, or play, on the same team with Cooper Flagg. That's kind of cool. That's kind of cool. But let's move on down to Kasparas Yaki Zonis, because this man is actually very interesting. I'll say this Good playmaker, the big games that I've seen him in, he didn't do that well. When we, when, when we played illinois and keep in mind they'll be in march, madness, you get a chance to see him when we play illinois we beat the brakes off and we dog walked on. Come on, little fella, like we did. We did them dirty and he did not have the best game he's. He did. He did playmate, he had a good assist to turnover ratio, so that tells me all right, he can probably do well in in the NBA. From a playmaking standpoint, I'm not expecting much high scoring. So sometimes I'll get like a Goran Dragic vibe. You know what I'm saying. But then Goran could score a little bit. But we got to remember too Goran had to get to that progression as well. So maybe a Goran Dragic I could lean with there. He's 6'6", so he's a little taller. See, goran could shoot, though that's the problem, buddy's shooting 33%, I don't know. And then the assist turnover ratio is cool, but they're not at the same time though. So that's why I have hesitancy on giving him Goran completely. He does do some nifty passes. I will say that, ladies and gentlemen, and maybe we can say Illinois don't have the support and cast it needs, like what, if he was on my boys right, would he look a lot better? Maybe, who knows? But that's what I'm curious to see. What's his assist to turnover ratio looking like? Because I know he can score. I know he can score. And then also his shooting ability, because if his three improves, all right, cool, good, solid free throw mechanics. But that'd be nice. For me to focus on Ian Jackson out of UNC though I got to say this because it might be viewed as a jab. Can't talk about him too much, ladies and gentlemen. He's on UNC and they are not making March Madness. Let's move on down. I'm sorry, ian is a decent player, though, at least. Sorry, ian is a decent player, though, at least. But let's move on down to Jeremiah Fears. Now he's on Oklahoma and they are going to March Madness. And I'll say this he does give me Monte Ellis vibes, just less athleticism, right? So Monte Ellis light, that's pretty decent too. Also, his brother plays, and he's one year older, plays at Michigan. I thought that was pretty cool. Also, his brother plays, and he's one year older, plays at Michigan. I thought that was pretty cool. But the fact that he gives me the Monte Ellis vibes, I'm wondering. He's got to showcase his scoring ability in March Madness. So if he can't get off the way he needs to in March Madness, bro, it's going to be a problem. And it's not like he's the best playmaker. We got four assists and 3.5 turnovers, so it's like you barely give me one-to-one. So if you're scoring not top-notch, you know what I'm saying. I got question marks and keep in mind you 6'4". So if you're not scoring like a Jamal Murray, can you know what I'm saying? Because he's 6'4", right, that's who we're going to have to eventually compare you to. He's not the most athletic player. You can't do that. That's going to be troubling or cut down on your turnovers and it's not like you want to. I don't think you want a trash squad. I can't say trash, y'all lie, but that's what I'm paying attention to. And then, finally, I'll say this, because you know this was not a freshman I got to give somebody who's outside the freshman class right JT Toppin, 6'9", I get it, he will be in March. Madness, he reminds me of Obi Portis. Obi Toppin, no relation. And then Bobby Portis, the reason why I say that. Well, he shoots a little. He shoots okay for big, although I would like to see a little bit more. Granted, he's six, nine, so you could view him as a forward right, and especially in the nba, but I view him as a streaky shooter. So if he can catch fire, texas tech could definitely get helped out in this. And keep in mind too, they're a top 10 team, ladies and gentlemen, so you could expect to see jt toppin's name come across the board also. He plays with aggression, plays with a solid level of tenacity, and I think he plays like you know how Obi tried to dunk everything. That's what he tries to go with. And then the aggression piece the way that Bobby plays with that level of energy. I think you get that. So that could be a wonderful player to have on your squad. But again, the streaky shooting piece I do question. Again, he does have 18 points, nine rebounds, one assist assist, 0.9 steals and 1.2 blocks, so he does come off like a decent player. He's a sophomore, so I will be paying attention to jt because he could move up on my listing. I can't hold you. He's outside the top 15 right now. But, ladies and gentlemen, as y'all just heard, there are a bunch of players that you need to be paying attention to. For march madness, and at least as it was projected early on, they were all in the East. So, yeah, that's a lot right there, and my boys, unfortunately, were in the East. So we got a lot to focus on, ladies and gentlemen, but what I also want you to do, at least focus on wise, is make sure you hit that like and subscribe button, definitely comment and, most importantly, tell anybody who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. Hope you all are having a good one. Take care.