College hoops storylines for Arizonans to watch through the lens of 2025 NBA Draft prospects

We’ve gotten a taste of how conference realignment has sowed chaos in college football. College basketball is next up at the end of October, and from the perspective of an Arizonan, there’s tons of interest.

What’s a good way to frame what we’re looking at in the 2024-25 college basketball season in the desert?

Let’s start by looking at the best individual talents in college hoops. To do that, we are navigating Jonathan Givony’s and Jeremy Woo’s ESPN big board of the 100 top NBA Draft prospects as well as The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s 2025 mock.

That will help shape what we’re curious about this college hoops season.

ASU’s two top prospects aren’t on the 2025 NBA Draft radar for different reasons

Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State Sun Devils have received a jolt in recruiting in the past year. Maybe they’ve got too many unknowns, but on paper, the talent is intriguing if it translates from the high school and lower-conference levels.

It starts with big man Jayden Quaintance, who Hurley said is more of a point guard than a center. Thing is, he is not old enough to be eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft. Moving on:

One-time Arizona commit Joson Sanon is eligible to go pro and after flipping to the rival Sun Devils was very open about his goals of leaving college after a season.

None of Vecenie, Givony or Woo have Sanon as a high-profile NBA prospect this coming season. There’s obviously a lot of time for that to change, and ASU’s completely revamped roster will give Sanon an opportunity to get heavy minutes and improve.

ASU obviously has a roster heavy with transfers along with its two highest-rated freshmen. Basheer Jihad is among them expected to contribute immediately.

The Big 12 coaches poll this preseason picked Arizona State 12th, not to mention Colorado 15th and Utah 16th.

After Arizona — and arguably including the Wildcats — the doubts about the former Pac-12 basketball teams are there in this league that already touted itself as a powerhouse. Will the Sun Devils and those other newcomers show they’re not behind the curve?

New Wildcats, same expectations

Like I said, the Wildcats enter a basketball-centric conference, and fans need to recalibrate the expectations coming from past dominance in the Pac-12.

Arizona lost its entire starting lineup save for leading scorer Caleb Love’s return. On paper, the replacements for now-Illinois point guard Kylan Boswell, current Indiana center Oumar Ballo and Miami Heat rookies Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson look promising.

ESPN’s 2025 draft big board includes five Wildcats among the top 100 players: McDonald’s All-American wing Carter Bryant (13), sophomore center Motiejus Krivas (17), sophomore guards K.J. Lewis (34) and Jaden Bradley (55), plus Love (89).

Bryant comes in at No. 13 on ESPN’s top-100 list. Writes Givony:

At 6-8 and 220 pounds, with a big wingspan and terrific frame, he has versatility and upside to tap into long term with his dynamic shotmaking ability, passing creativity, ability to finish emphatically around the rim and defensive versatility.

Consistency wasn’t always there in high school, as his decision-making, toughness and shot selection were sporadic at times, making him a little more theoretical than some evaluators hoped, something we’ll have to learn more about this season.

Bryant has the size to play either wing position but projects to play some alongside Oakland transfer Trey Townsend.

Starting at center will be Krivas, who steps out of his backup role and gets many evaluators’ blessings despite averaging a meh 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season.

From Vecenie:

Big men aren’t supposed to move the way he does. He has great coordination and footwork and showcases outstanding touch. He’s also willing to initiate contact and play through it. He seals his man when he can on the block and also moves well in ball screens when rolling to the rim. He also makes his free throws and has soft hands that seem to catch everything in his area. He rebounds well on both ends of the court.

Vecenie’s mock draft is noticeably different than ESPN’s big board with the exception of Krivas, who is drafted exactly in the same place as ESPN’s big board has him rated: 17th.

Vecenie has Lewis as the first player picked in the second round at No. 31. But no other Arizona players are in Vecenie’s latest mock.

Still, Love is a proven No. 1 scoring option.

Bradley’s stock is on the uptick after last year’s backup point guard outplayed Boswell in the last two games of Arizona’s NCAA Tournament run.

Townsend and Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso add depth at the wings. And center Henri Veesaar used a redshirt season after he appeared sparingly as a freshman two years back.

Don’t sleep on Grand Canyon’s talent

Grand Canyon returned its best player after what was inarguably its best season with a run in the NCAA Tournament.

Tyon Grant-Foster will be 25 years old by the time he goes pro, but he remains an intriguing prospect if teams can get over his serious health history.

ESPN rates him as the 78th-best prospect in the 2025 class after he averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks for the Antelopes last season. His production and freakish athleticism translated when Grant-Foster faced Saint Mary’s and Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

GCU returns a decent bit of talent around Grant-Foster as well, with Ray Harrison, Lok Wur and Duke Brennan back. Grand Canyon also snagged one-time Arizona State commit Sammie Yeanay, who was a four-star high school prospect.

Opponents you’ll want to catch if you’re a Sun Devils, Wildcat or NBA fan

Duke freshman Cooper Flagg looks like he’ll be the most obvious No. 1 pick since Zion Williamson came out of college in 2019. The Blue Devils also feature guard Kon Knueppel and center Khaman Maluach, who are top-20 prospects.

The Sun Devils and Hurley play an exhibition game at Duke on Oct. 27, where Quaintance can be judged next to the very likely top overall pick of this coming draft.

The Wildcats face Duke on Nov. 22 as well.

As for you Suns fans: Sorry but they do not have a pick in the 2025 draft right now.

Houston holds a first-rounder from the Kevin Durant trade that was rerouted through the Brooklyn Nets’ offloading of Mikal Bridges this summer.

The Washington Wizards have a Suns second-rounder from the Bradley Beal trade.

If our Suns fans here want to be more grumpy, they also might want to keep an eye on how the BYU men’s basketball team fares under former Phoenix assistant Kevin Young.

If BYU is bombing threes and playing basketball that’s beautiful to watch, it’s going to be a hard pill to swallow for fans who saw an offense with Devin Booker, Durant and Beal sputter last year.

The Cougars, by the way, are now in Arizona and ASU’s conference!

We assumed when Young took the very well-paying college gig midseason that BYU was playing with lots of booster NIL money, and that turned out to be very correct as the recruiting work spells out.

Russian Egor Demin is wing-sized but plays like a point guard, and without NIL money, there’s no chance he would be sniffing any American college before making the jump to the NBA. He’s listed at 11th on ESPN’s big board, while Vecenie has him getting drafted 23rd.

ESPN additionally has forward Kanon Catchings, the nephew of former WNBA star Tamika Catchings, as the 23rd-best prospect.

Baylor is the other team to watch if you’re hunting for NBA lottery picks. Freshman combo guard V.J. Edgecombe is regarded as a top-five pick.

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