Climbers, Divers, and Underrated Prospects From the College Basketball Season

J. Kyle Mann is joined by The Athletic’s senior NBA draft writer Sam Vecenie as they discuss the ever-growing interest in the NBA draft and how Sam manages to scout players while living halfway across the world in Australia (01:50). While discussing his scouting process, Sam shares his scouting report on BYU freshman guard Egor Demin and why he compares scouting to math (08:32). Next, they discuss which prospects climbed up the draft board and which ones have dropped, starting off with Arizona freshman guard Carter Bryant (18:45). They then debate whether Georgetown freshman Thomas Sorber has the athleticism to make it as a modern-day NBA big (31:02) and what type of role is best for Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey’s development (35:12). Lastly, they discuss the NBA potential of underrated prospects Collin Murray-Boyles from South Carolina and Cedric Coward from Washington State (45:45).

Check out The Ringer’s 2025 NBA Draft Guide for all the latest prospect rankings, draft grades, and more!

Host: J. Kyle Mann
Guest: Sam Vecenie
Associate Producer: Jessie Lopez
Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz
Social: Keith Fujimoto