The men’s college basketball regular season begins Nov. 4, and teams are already hitting the practice courts in preparation for the 2024-25 season. In looking ahead to how the college basketball season impacts the 2025 NBA draft, I went on the road for a university tour, ultimately hitting four programs that are sure to impact the college season and the draft.
All eyes will be on Duke’s Cooper Flagg, a freshman who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in ESPN’s latest mock draft, as well as two top-five projected prospects in Dylan Harper and Airious “Ace” Bailey at Rutgers. Drake Powell, a 6-foot-6 wing at North Carolina, will undoubtedly be a projected top-10 pick in our next mock draft. And let’s not forget about the defending champions UConn Huskies, who have three potential first-rounders in Liam McNeeley, Jaylin Stewart and Alex Karaban.
I talked to players, coaches, execs and scouts along the way, and here’s what I learned:
Jump to a team’s notes:
Rutgers: NBA eyes on Piscataway
Duke: Lottery picks in Durham
UNC: Scouts are back in Chapel Hill
UConn: Three-peat in Storrs?
2025 NBA mock draft | Way-Too-Early Top 25
Location: Piscataway, New Jersey
Date visited: Friday, Sept. 27
How will the Scarlet Knights be different from last year’s team?
Rutgers will be a significant NBA scouting destination, as it has two of the draft’s top three projected picks in Bailey and Harper. Sporting one of the best defenses in college basketball the past few seasons, but ranking last in offensive efficiency in the Big Ten last year, it seems like something will have to give in both directions for coach Steve Pikiell’s young program — a team whose best two players are 18 years old. The staff emphasized recruiting additional floor spacing this offseason after ranking as one of the sport’s worst outside shooting teams in 2023-24.
The highlights of the visit were …
After a tour of Rutgers’ practice facility, it was great to see the team play competitive 5-on-5 for nearly two hours. As much as scouts love drills, they’ll take a practice like the one me and five NBA team representatives saw with quite a bit of spirited up-and-down play, leaving few questions about the team’s hierarchy, strengths and weaknesses. We watched play from an ideal vantage point that allowed us to see and hear every interaction between players and coaches.
The ball was in Harper’s hands quite a bit, and Bailey operated in isolation and pick-and-roll as well. Both freshmen are going to have huge platforms to…
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