NBA Prospects in The Great Plains (OK, KS, NE, ND, SD) : Jeremiah Fears
Brian breaks down the top prospects in The Great Plains, which includes Oklahoma's Jeremiah Fears, Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, Kansas State's Coleman Hawkins, North Dakota's Jacksen Moni and more!
There were a lot of disappointing teams in this region. The biggest disappointment was the preseason-ranked #1 Kansas Jayhawks, who lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They still have some interesting players, but their stock all took a hit. Creighton showed some promise, but after the Pop Isaacs injury, they lost a lot of their potential. Oklahoma had a hot start to the year but struggled in SEC play. To be fair, they exceeded expectations. Kansas State was a massive disappointment from the jump. Nebraska failed to make the tournament due to an epic collapse down the stretch of the season. Now, let’s break down the prospects in this region!
Jeremiah Fears/Oklahoma
My Opinion:
I’ve gone back and forth on Fears. I get the upside, but the downside is there too. When he struggled in SEC play, the process was still good; he just couldn’t hit shots. If anything, it confirmed my suspicions that he isn’t NBA-ready because of the physicality. The upside is immense, but if he doesn’t ever learn how to play off the ball, I get very nervous about him because of the lack of shooting, and his passing is fine but not amazing. There isn’t much else he can confidently rely on. His rim pressure is great, but I don’t think he’ll be able to do that consistently in the NBA yet.
I’m going to further emphasize this: If you are interested in taking Jeremiah Fears in dynasty, please understand that his rookie year will not be very pretty, and you will likely lose value depending on where you get him after his rookie year. You have to hope for a few flashes his rookie season and not sell him in the following offseason.
Ryan Kalkbrenner/Creighton
My Opinion:
Kalkbrenner is good at the center things. He’s effective around the rim, plays solid defense, and doesn’t try to do too much on offense. You won’t want him shooting at the next level unless he’s wide open, but there’s potential for that to develop in the future. While digging into his stats, I didn’t realize how good the advanced numbers were for him, and after watching him, I feel better about his floor than I initially thought I would. I moved him up quite a bit after this. I’m still unsure if his defense will translate to the next level the way it has at his current level due to his speed, but I feel better about him as a backup center.
Coleman Hawkins/Kansas State
My Opinion:
I have a few thoughts on Coleman Hawkins that I think need to be said.
Coleman Hawkins spent most of the season getting cyberbullied online after it was leaked how much he was getting paid by Kansas State ($2 million). I think two things can be true about this. First, that was a pretty dramatic overpay by Kansas State. Second, there is no reason for people to get that upset about Coleman Hawkins getting that money. We can talk about how he managed to get that money all we want. He just finished up with the NBA combine, knew he wasn’t going to declare this year, and basically said the highest bidder got him. Furthermore, there weren’t a ton of high-level players left, and that scarcity drove up the price. Good on Coleman and his agent for getting that money. Kansas State did a poor job of filling out the roster around him.
The other thing that needs to be addressed is that the cyberbullying messed with him in a pretty big way during the season. His stats were down despite his role increasing. The efficiency dropped significantly, and he never fully looked like himself. You could see the potential, but he needs a high-level coach to get the most out of him. He was previously at Illinois, and Brad Underwood is a very good coach who utilized him in a very impactful way.
The point I’m making here is that I think you can toss out most of the season for him, except for one critical point: his game isn’t scalable at all, and it showed this season. Part of that was the team construct, but a lot of it is on him. Coleman still needs to show he can shoot, and if he can, there should be some level of interest because players at 6’9” who can pass and handle the ball like he can are rare.
At the combine, Coleman was very laid-back, and that was a turnoff to NBA teams, which is why he went back. He’s now automatically eligible for the draft, and maybe after the difficult season he had, he’ll bounce back better than ever. If there’s one thing that needs to be emphasized even more this time around, it’s that he needs to pick a landing spot with a high-level coach who will be able to utilize him to his best abilities. It didn’t happen at Kansas State. I hope for his sake that he gets it right this time.
Zeke Mayo/Kansas
First off, shout-out
because this is his boy.My Opinion:
Second, I want to congratulate him for managing to make the Kansas basketball team. If you don’t know, he’s from Lawrence, Kansas, which is where the University of Kansas is located. It was likely his dream to play there but didn’t get enough buzz out of high school. He goes to South Dakota State for three seasons, gets enough attention, and earns the chance to play for his hometown team.
Third, I was interested in him at the start of the season, but I frankly expected more. Zeke wasn’t terrible for the Jayhawks, but he didn’t dominate in the way you’d expect after dominating the Summit League. He showed his ability to hit threes at a high level, but apart from that, there isn’t a lot there. He’s not a true PG, is undersized to play SG, and didn’t fill out as much as you’d hope. Due to the lack of strength, I’m really skeptical about how this scales up.
Jacksen Moni/North Dakota
My Opinion:
He’s appeared on a lot of sleeper lists for the draft. He’s been really good offensively, but defensively, he’s got no shot at this point. He’s not ready physically, and I think it will be hard to play him at all. If, in two years, he’s added another 20-30 pounds and is averaging an extra 4 rebounds per game, then I’d be interested. For now, the defense and lack of rebounding make it really tough for me to buy in.
Hunter Dickinson/Kansas
My Opinion:
I just did this report for a couple reasons.
I wanted to say that I did
I made it for the people that thought Armando Bacot was an NBA prospect
Look, there are better options for NBA teams and fantasy managers. If you take anything from this, let it be a reminder that you can’t just look at the numbers and assume you know everything. If you want to look at some of the quick hits below, I think someone like Jalon Moore or Brice Williams might have more of a shot in the NBA.
Quick Hits:
This segment will cover some lesser-known prospects who may not have as much buzz as others but could play in the Summer League or be sleeper names to watch next season. In addition, since we have entered transfer portal season, any player who enters the portal will be discussed in the context of the team they played for this season rather than their new team.
Hunter Dickinson?
Nebraska’s Brice Williams is a 6’7” wing weighing 215 pounds who can really score the basketball. He averaged over 20 points per game for his team. He’s a solid shooter but takes 5.2 threes per game. He’s also a solid rebounder, but defensively, he can struggle against quicker players. He’ll be given a shot in the NBA in some capacity, whether it’s in the G League or Summer League, but he’s got the size that teams are looking for. He’s auto-eligible this season.
Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore was the second-best player on this Oklahoma team. He’s a forward with the ability to rebound, score, and shoot on low volume. His defense needs to improve if he’s going to make it, but he’s out of eligibility and will be a name to watch for Portsmouth or Summer League.
Creighton’s Steven Ashworth played an important role on this Creighton team as the primary initiator on offense. He’s small at 6’1” and 170 pounds, and he’s already pretty old at 24, turning 25 years old at the start of next season. The reason I include him is because he can absolutely shoot the basketball. He’s a solid PG overall aside from that, but he has an elite skill. He’s out of eligibility, so he’ll be auto-eligible this season. He will be a name to watch for Portsmouth or Summer League if he’s given a chance.
Kansas's DaJuan Harris has been one of the most consistent point guards in the country. He's a smart passer and a team player. The only issue is that he's relatively small, standing at 6'2" and weighing 175 pounds. He might get a look at Portsmouth or the Summer League.
Likely won’t come out this year:
Kansas’s Flory Bidunga played a limited role but showed why he was a top prospect in the 2024 high school class. He’s a big man who’s good around the basket, can rebound, and defend. He will come back to Kansas next season. As of right now, Flory is being mocked as a potential first-round pick for the 2026 NBA draft.
Kansas's AJ Storr had a really disappointing season. He broke out last season at Wisconsin and helped lead them to the NCAA tournament. He transferred to Kansas, where he saw his role diminish and his effectiveness on the court likewise drop. He’s a 6’7” wing at 210 pounds who is known for scoring the basketball. He was on NBA draft radars at the start of the season, but that ship has almost completely sailed. He has NBA size and scoring ability; it’s just everything else. Another red flag is that he’ll be at his 8th school in 8 years, counting high school, after entering the portal.
Kansas's Rylan Griffen had a really underwhelming year after showing promise at Alabama for two seasons. He’s a 3-and-D prospect with good size but only shot 33% from three and averaged 6 points per game at Kansas. Last season, as a starter, he shot 39% with 11.2 points. He’s good off the ball; Kansas just didn’t use him very well. He’ll need to show he can shoot it better next season to seriously get back in the conversation.
North Dakota’s Treysen Eaglestaff is a 6’6” and 190 pound guard who went viral earlier this season when Alabama nearly lost to North Dakota, thanks to Treysen Eaglestaff dropping 40 points on them. That wasn’t even his career high, as he scored 51 points on South Dakota State during the Summit League Tournament. If you take out those couple of games, the numbers look good but not amazing. He had some bad games mixed in there. He entered the portal and was one of the most coveted players available. He decided to transfer to South Carolina, where I assume he’ll be the focal point of the offense. I’m unsure how this will go, especially considering that mid-major players with below-average efficiency who transfer up tend to really struggle. He shot 41% from the field this season, which isn’t terrible, but it’s worth noting. That being said, if he scales up and makes another jump in his development, there’s potential to be drafted, but we need the efficiency to improve first and foremost.
South Dakota State’s Oscar Cluff was one of the most statistically dominant players in the country this season. He played in a mid-major conference, but his dominance was felt throughout the season. He’s a big man from Australia who’s very physically imposing at 6’11” and 260 pounds. He led the Summit League in rebounds with 12.3 per game. He’s already entered the portal as one of the top 5 players available and has committed to Purdue. It will be interesting to see how he fits with the roster they already have, but he’s needed. He should be put in great positions all season with Braden Smith feeding him the ball.