What’s Next For Our Beloved Arizona Wildcats Basketball Players?

Jan 15, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard T.J. McConnell (4) forward Brandon Ashley (21) forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23) and center Kaleb Tarczewski (35) walk to the bench during the first half against the Colorado Buffaloes at McKale Center. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats Basketball: As we close the books on this season with an Elite Eight bid, a Pac-12 Regular Season and Tournament championship and a 38 home game winning streak, let’s look at next season and the NBA Mock drafts.

Last Season: Last year, about mid-April 2014, Arizona Wildcats Basketball held a news conference and announced that freshman forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and sophomore center Kaleb Tarczewski would return to the team for this last season. Hollis-Jefferson was rumored to declare for the NBA Draft but didn’t, instead he re-enrolled and joined a fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. Rumors about Tarczewski were rampant as well but he was expected to return.

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Both Aaron Gordon (4^th pick) and Nick Johnson (42^nd pick) declared for the NBA Draft at the same time and were both drafted in the first round. Of course as we know, our beloved T.J. McConnell returned as the lone senior on the starting five. Brandon Ashley was healthy and had some really great games this season. Guard Gabe York showed us he is becoming more mature and confident every day and it showed in post-game interviews.

Seniors Matt Korcheck and Drew Mellon will be missed, they are going to be graduating from the University of Arizona next month in May along with T.J. McConnell and we send them our early congratulations.

Next Season: We have a number of notable returns next season as far as we know; guards Gabe York, Elliot Pitts and Parker Jackson- Cartwright and our 7’ tall center Dusan Ristic. They all got some great experience this year.

Also returning are fellow former high school teammates and now Wildcat contributors Jacob Hazzard and Trey Mason. We really enjoyed their passion for the game and the way they showed us how to be a great teammate.

Sean Miller recruited the No. 1 JUCO shooting guard Kadeem Allen last year who red-shirted and will be playing in this upcoming season.  Along with Kadeem is Ryan Anderson who transfers to Arizona from Boston College. Ryan will be a senior next year and has one last season of eligibility remaining in 2015-16 as he sat out this season under the NCAA transfer rules. Forward Craig Victor transferred to LSU.

That leaves Brandon Ashley, Kaleb Tarczewski, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and of course, T.J. McConnell.

Next: T.J. McConnell and what Assistant Coach Book Richardson is saying

Mar 19, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard T.J. McConnell (4) dribbles the basketball against Texas Southern Tigers guard Madarious Gibbs (3) during the second half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

T.J. will be entering the NBA Draft from all that we have heard.  Coach Miller was quoted as saying McConnell was “one of the best players he had ever coached.”  According to Zack Rosenblatt, T.J. is projected at being picked 82^nd overall, but whomever drafts him will be one luck team.

TJ McConnell debuted on DrafExpress Top 100 list for the 2015 Draft at No. 82. That little performance against Ohio State might’ve helped.

Rondae and Stanley, according to Adam Zogoria of ZagsBlog.com interviewing Arizona Assistant Coach Book Richardson, are having their information gathered by the Athletic department for the NBA Draft as of today.

Richardson continued when asked about where his guys would land in the draft said “[we are] Getting a feel in terms of where our guys have an opportunity to go..we are just trying to give our guys the best information other than what they’re hearing and just getting it straight from the NBA.” Taking a page out of football coach Rich Rod’s book he added, “Again they are ‘our guys’ and we would like to think of them really highly but…it’s what the NBA thinks”

Next: Stanley Johnson

Mar 19, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Stanley Johnson (5) shoots the basketball against Texas Southern Tigers forward Jason Carter (23) during the first half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Stanley has said he is just concentrating on being a student and going to class right now, but let’s be honest, he has to be distracted by all the talk about where he lands in the draft. Coach Miller referred to both Stanley and Rondae in the past-tense during the Elite Eight post-game interviews, “We’re going to miss them, we really are.”
Most draft boards have him in the top 10 picks and as high as No. 3 in the 2015 NBA draft except ESPN:

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft:
Round- 1, Pick- 6, Team-Kings

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft Consensus:
Round- 1, Pick- 4, Team- Lakers

DraftExpress.com:
Round- 1, Pick- 9, Team- Charlotte

CBSSports.com – Sam Vicene:
Round- 1, Pick- 5, Team- Magic

CBSSports.com – Gary Parish:
Round- 1, Pick- 5, Team- Magic

CBSSports.com – Zach Harper:
Round- 1, Pick- 5, Team- Magic

ESPN Chad Ford:
Round- 1, Pick- 11, lottery pick

USA Today – HoopsHype:
Round- 1, Pick- 5, Team- 76ers

Next: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

Jan 4, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23) dunks the ball over Arizona State Sun Devils guard Shaquielle McKissic (40) during the second half at McKale Center. The Wildcats won 73-49. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Rondae is one of the two players Coach Sean Miller brought with him into the post-game presser after the loss to the Badgers. Rondae was non-committal, but Miller was praising his accolades speaking of him almost in the past tense.
Rondae’s stock has not necessarily grown from last season, but he has been consistently a dominant defensive threat.

Let’s take a look at what the experts are saying about Rondae. We are really going to miss his Shimmy! At least York has a semi-shimmy to help us with a gradual withdrawal.

Most draft boards have him in going in the first round, but not in the top 10, more in the top 25 picks of the 2015 NBA draft except ESPN:

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft:
Round- 1, Pick- 30, Team- Warriors

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft Consensus:
Round- 1, Pick- 24, Team- Cavaliers

DraftExpress.com:
Round- 1, Pick- 24, Team- Spurs

CBSSports.com – Sam Vicene:
Round- 1, Pick- 28, Team- Grizzlies

CBSSports.com – Gary Parish:
Round- 1, Pick- 26, Team- Lakers

CBSSports.com – Zach Harper:
Round- 1, Pick- 25, Team- Mavericks

ESPN Chad Ford:
Round- 1, Pick- 25, mid-range pick

USA Today – HoopsHype:
Not in top 30

Next: Brandon Ashley

Mar 19, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Brandon Ashley (21) controls the basketball against Texas Southern Tigers guard Deverell Biggs (1) during the second half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon, who was very emotional in Elite Eight post-game interviews, could come back if the NBA sends him signals that he will be playing in the D-League or go in later rounds.

For right now, it’s looking like he will be drafted early in the second round. Brandon showed his potential down the stretch in the late season games and throughout the tournaments, only thing that hurt him was early foul trouble, but his free throw shooting got to be very good. He’s slotted in mock drafts as follows:

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft:
Round- 2, Pick- 36, Team-Kings

NBADraftNet.com Mock Draft Consensus:
Round- 2, Pick- 40, Team- Nets

DraftExpress.com:
Round- 2, Pick- 60,

NBADraft.net:
Round- 2, Pick- 35-50

Note: Other news outlets did not have picks past the first round of 30 players.

Next: Kaleb Tarczewski and what the Pac-12 is saying

Mar 19, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats center Kaleb Tarczewski (35) is fouled while going to the basket against Texas Southern Tigers forward Chris Thomas (left) and forward Malcolm Riley (11) during the second half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

PAC 12 predict that Rondae, Stanley, Brandon are all going to the NBA, but they think Kaleb will possibly stay:

Avinash Kunnath of SB Nation, Pacifictakes.com slates Kaleb as the 57th pick to the Houston Rockets, traded to the 76ers.

NBADraft.net predicts Tarczewski may go either undrafted or anywhere after the 45th pick in the second round.
Kaleb gets a lot of grief for being soft and not strong as his 7 foot 245 pound body can deliver. We think Kaleb has everything he needs, and when he does show his flashes of brilliance, the referees seem to be right there blowing the whistle limiting his play time. No one let him play; it was very frustrating for him, his coaching staff and his fans.

For a while, it seemed that it was on purpose, he just didn’t seem to get away with hardly anything. Sometimes he would hardly touch his opponent and a whistle would blow. Defenders also mastered flopping when he had the ball and was backing up to the basket, watching tape; they learned they would get the offensive foul call.

We all hope he stays, and maybe next season he will get breaks which Frank Kaminsky and Matt Stainbrook got in the West Regional games at Staples Center during the NCAA tournament. His confidence will grow tremendously and hopefully he can walk away with a degree from the prestigious Eller School of Business and a job in the NBA. He has a chance to be the leader of this team next year and teach them all how to fish; we hope he gets the chance.

Next: Incoming Freshman

Photo taken by Shereen Rayan 3/6/2015 Azusa Pacific University

Speaking of chance, we have at least four freshman coming in next year that are really very exciting four and five star players. Center Chance Comanche, point guard Justin Simon, small forward Ray Smith and shooting guard Allonzo Trier, a McDonalds All-American team member playing on Wednesday night. At this time Arizona offered Ivan Raab is also playing in the McDonalds All-American game and at the time of this article has not decided between his top two; Cal and Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Star caught up with Allonzo as he prepares for Wednesday nights McDonalds All American game, here is what he had to say:

The Wildcats also have red-shirt JUCO Junior transfer Kadeem Allen, and Senior Ryan Anderson, a transfer from Boston College.

Strap on your seatbelts Wildcats fans, it’s going to be a wild and emotional ride for everyone.

Note: For the rest of our starting five, the NCAA has a “withdrawal” deadline of April 14, but they can wait and declare later in the spring.

Next: Read about Commit Allonzo Trier..