Of the 3, the one who worries me most is DD. Granted it was only a four game season ending run where Daniels showed everyone a glimpse of his potential, it doesn't take much for the NBA to sniff out what looks like a nice late first round bargain and blow it up into a mid-first round or better after working a player out.
RB has the athleticism, but lacks the maturity, not to mention prototypical NBA size. I'm sure his ability to play above the rim has turned heads, but his propensity to get swallowed up by double-teams and his myopic play where he gets locked into shooting the ball come hell or high-water, no matter who might be wide open...such as Daniels on at least 3 critical occasions lately (twice in the GU game and once against PC). If he wants to get a first and maybe even second round considerations, he has to show he can run a team. He's too small to get a full-time PG gig, though he might prove me and other wrong who think such. He's likely going to turn heads as a off-the-bench instant offense type of guy. He's sort of a smaller version of Ben Gordon, when you think about it. He's undersized to play the 2G full time in the NBA. He's just not big enough, no matter how athletic he might be. The top big 2s will be launching 3s and midrange Js over him like their flipping pancakes at an IHOP. Plus the NBA is extremely physical. Once a guard gets that half step on the defender they turn the corner and are on their way to the basket. With all this said, I think RB could get a solid look if he returns for at least one more season. He's not going to get any taller. He's not going to be able to put on the type of muscle any time soon to address some of these concerns. But what he can do, is improve his decision making, ability to handle the quick double-team, lead-guard skills (finding open teammates and bumping up those assist #s) and consistency/efficiency with his offensive game (get the scoring in the 16 to 18 range on a consistent basis on much better percentage shooting, not to mention a bump in 3 pt shooting.) He's show some impressive range, as did Bazz this season, and if he can knock 'em down at a much better rate, the NBA folks will like that. Knowing that defenders will have to go out there to guard him, opening up some of his driving game, does play in the NBA well. You just don't see little guys in the league unless they can light it up, especially from deep. Enough with RB.
Bazz's situation is similar in that he needs to convince folks that he can run a team and score on a consistent basis. He's not the athlete that RB is. You don't see many in the NBA that play below the rim, but there are some. RB is young and I'm sure most NBA folks realize that there's a lot a player can learn between his sophomore and junior or even senior seasons. Look how much Kemba improved his stock in such a short period of time. In Bazz's case, they've seen a steady progression with his game, but the likely perception is his upside curve is coming close to its apex. I'm not really sure that's all that true. I think Bazz can improve his lead guard skills and show he can do a better job of finding open teammates. It will help next season if he has more options or at least more seasoned ones next season. I find it really interesting the impact of the decisions for all 3 of these players might have on each of their futures. They all sort of need each other to return to try to maximize their improvements. Both Bazz and Boat need scorers to pass to. Whoever ends up getting the ball to DD next season is going to rack up a lot of needed assists. Getting a couple bigs who can score inside will also help. Just don't know how that's going to shape up. I can't imagine our front court being any worse. The only place to go in that regard is up. So although Bazz can improve his stock by improving his lead-guard skills and consistency in his scoring, he's not going to be able to improve his body all that much. I don't think he has the body type to put on a lot of muscle, at least not over the next year. As he gets older, he might be able to thicken up a bit, but he needs to make at least one NBA decision maker believe he can be a Steve Nash type talent or at least a Steve Nash light, who can come off the bench, run the 2nd unit, put up some consistent solid numbers. Bazz is extremely smart and savvy. I would not be shocked if he finds his way on an NBA roster to be a number one PG for part of his career if on the right team, with the right system and given a chance to show that his intangibles make up for what he lacks. As for which draft he has the best shot of getting drafted or drafted highest, I'm not sure. All indications are the 2013 draft is weak, but I don't know if Bazz has done enough to maximize his position. The NBA is all about potential and availability. His foot injury is going to give teams pause considering he's not a big-upside and athletic prospect. If he can heal up quickly and impress during individual workouts and stay healthy at one or more of those NBA camps (or whatever they call those invitation events), now might be the time to go. If he doesn't have time to heal up, he might want to take advantage of his senior year. Though he runs the risk of getting injured again, and then the worries about the foot can get magnified even more. He really has a tough choice and one that I don't think is clear cut whatsoever.
Getting back to Daniels, I have little doubt now that he's got big time talent and if he enters into the 2013 draft, will slowly move up the board as teams get to see what he's capable of during those individual workouts. His slow start this season and not being able to showcase what he's been doing the past 4 games in the post season does hurt his stock. I think he can play himself into an upper 3rd of the first round or even lottery pick (don't recall what # make up the lottery) if he returns for his junior season. Since you never really know how high you'll go until draft day, I think it would be wise for him to return, but the temptation at going for it if he begins to hear that teams will take him late in the first round, might be too much to pass up. That's still guaranteed millions, and hard for anyone to pass up. If you asked me if I was worried about losing DD a couple weeks ago, I'd say you were crazy. If you ask me now, I'd say h*ll yes!
I really don't know how all this will play out. Taking a stab at this, here's my wild guess:
RB will return for his junior year after reality sets in. Ollie's NBA recon, and that from anyone who's trustworthy that RB looks to, is not going bring back any favorable enough intell. Now RB would not be the first to ignore sound advise, and in the end, I think he'll keep his senses.
DD is a tough one, as is Bazz. I have a feeling that he's not going to get enough positive reports to give up the chance of playing his way into the lottery next year. Unless some team gives him a guarantee that they'll draft him if he's still on the board, I don't think he takes the chance this year. I think KO will be able to convince him that he can coach him into the lottery. I don't know what percentage teams so called promises hold true. I bet they're far from a solid lock. I might be wrong, bit I think the window to decide to stay in school or enter the draft is much smaller this year than in the past, so it doesn't give these kids much time to elevate their stock like it has in the past. I think that might work in UConn's favor for DD to return, but the NBA folks aren't dummies. They know DD came to UConn highly ranked and now probably see what we all saw the past 4 games, that he's going to live up to it.
Bazz is a flip of the coin IMO. If there is enough time for his foot to heal where he can workout for NBA teams and play in one of those NBA invitations w/out risking further injury, the odds of him leaving goes up big time! If it seems apparent he's going to need more time to heal, I think he returns. I'm going with the latter, but that's based on my selfish want to see one more year of Bazz.
The X-Factor in all this, IMO, is Kevin Ollie. He's got a charismatic thing about him that could be the difference in swaying these 3 young men to decide to stick around and play for him for one more year. IMO, I think that's a big factor for each to take into account. As long as returning doesn't have big odds of hurting their NBA chances, then they should highly consider it. Being around KO for another year will be huge for these 3 young men to grow into high character men that will serve them the rest of their lives. Finding a good mentor in life is no easy thing. They don't come around that often. I hope each of them takes this into account.