March Madness prospects Raptors should keep an eye on

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Raptors programming to look into the future. As in, players who might step in and give the team a big boost, maybe even as soon as next season.

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Toronto currently sits seventh in the reverse standings, giving the team 7.5% odds at landing the top pick and 31.9% of moving into the Top 4.

With the men’s NCAA tournament now underway, we’ll look at the top prospects who will be participating in the tourney:

COOPER FLAGG

The Duke forward is the no-doubt favourite to be first off the board. He hurt his ankle days ago, but is expected to suit up for the Blue Devils. Barring a more serious injury, his stock won’t be changing based on how he or the school does.

VJ EDGECOMBE

The Baylor guard had a bit of a slow start, but a monster finish to his freshman season. He’s not expected to be taken before the fourth pick, but a monster tournament could change things. Edgecombe is a spectacular athlete — ESPN billed him the “most explosive” in his class — and also has a nice jump shot. He’s been compared to high flyers who were also three-point threats like Vince Carter, Jason Richardson and current Minnesota star Anthony Edwards. The Raptors like Baylor products (Ja’Kobe Walter and Davion Mitchell both starred there) and have been keeping a close eye on Edgecombe, who even impressed last summer while playing for Bahamas despite being the youngest player on the floor.

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KHAMAN MALUACH

Another Dukie, and another player who didn’t look out of place while playing for his national team last summer as a teenager. At some point the Raptors need to find a centre of the future. Maluach, 7-foot-2 and possibly still growing, is already a strong defender and though he only hit 3-of-15 three-point attempts from the shorter college distance, he has decent form and hit 74.6% of his free throw attempts this season, an indication that he has some shooting talent already. He doesn’t turn 19 until September.

TRE JOHNSON

The Texas freshman wing would have a chance at being a Top 3 pick in many drafts, but this one has enough talent at the top that he might be around when Toronto picks. Like Edgecombe, he doesn’t fit a big area of need, but if they go with best talent available regardless of position, Johnson (or Edgecombe) will be options. He’s a great shooter (nearly 90% from the free throw line and 39% from three-point range) but is a major liability defensively. Texas will have to win Wednesday just to get into the real tournament.

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JEREMIAH FEARS

A recent riser, the freshman Oklahoma point guard lives up to his name in that he’s fearless in attacking the basket. He makes his freebies, but not enough jump shots. Plus he’s still a work in progress as a playmaker. Still, he’s a huge point guard (6-foot-4) with great quickness, so somebody will bet on his figuring these things out.

KON KNUEPPEL

Yet another Duke prospect, but one with a far lower ceiling than Flagg or Malauch. Knueppel has been projected as a solid role player, and the Raptors need to aim higher at the top of this draft. Still it’s worth watching whether he can continue to elevate his play if Flagg isn’t 100%.

KASPARAS JAKUCIONIS

The Raptors once picked a Lithuanian fifth overall and Jonas Valanciunas worked out well for them. Jakucionis is a 6-foot-6 Lithuanian point guard who has had an intriguing first season for Illinois. Like Fears he can get to the line and convert from there, but hasn’t hit enough three-point attempts. He’s also a great rebounder, but not exactly an ideal fit in Toronto.

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DERIK QUEEN

Another potential backup centre to Jakob Poeltl, Queen is one of the biggest boom or bust prospects in this class. He has monster offensive talent and can make a difference defensively and on the boards when he wants to. There have been consistency questions, but this sounds a lot like what was said about Kel’el Ware, who slipped to 15 last year and will make the all-rookie first team for Miami. Queen isn’t as big as Ware and doesn’t have his defensive upside, but a lot of their advanced stats as freshman (especially offensively) are quite similar.

JASE RICHARDSON

We mentioned his dad earlier when describing Edgecombe, and while Richardson sadly isn’t of that athletic caliber (his younger brother apparently is though), his profile screams Raptor. Richardson is seen as a winning player with every intangible teams look for. He had a really good second half for Michigan State, but is a bit of a tweener (too small to be a full-time shooting guard, not enough of a playmaker to be a point guard). If the Raptors want a likely solid rotation player, but one without star upside, Richardson could be in the mix.

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WILDCARDS

EGOR DEMIN, DANNY WOLF, WILL RILEY

Demin is a 6-foot-9 guard for BYU who has a lot of holes in his game, but intriguing passing abilities. Wolf is a 7-footer who has improved in each of his three seasons at Michigan and can shoot three-pointers and also put the ball on the floor and create a little bit. That would work for Darko Rajakovic. Plus he can rebound and defend a bit. Keep an eye on him if the Raptors fall in the lottery.

Finally, Riley who plays with Jakucionis at Illinois, is one of Canada’s best prospects. The Kitchener native is a big (6-foot-8) wing with extremely promising offensive abilities. There are major issues with Riley defensively at this point and he is seen as a long-term prospect, but he has considerable upside and only turned 19 in February. Riley was also named MVP of the 2024 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp and was named Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year. He could stay in school looking to get stronger, or enter the NBA with a good tournament

@WolstatSun

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