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Message: [QUOTE="Deleted at users request, post: 4935611"] Athletic article with stock up and stock down players from the tournament. No surprise at the two guys who made the stock up list: [B][URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/player/stephon-castle-BaCZ9KFlIzY4vTt7/']Stephon Castle[/URL], 6-6 freshman SG, Connecticut[/B] The thing that stood out about Castle was the misery he inflicted on Northwestern star guard [URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/player/boo-buie-aVWPXmeHwI58Qz25/']Boo Buie[/URL] in the second round, picking him up full court, denying easy catches and chasing him around screens to contest shots as a trailer. Yes, it helped that he had Godzilla behind him (see below), but Buie missed his first 10 shots and finished 2 of 15 as [URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/team/connecticut-huskies-college-basketball/']UConn[/URL] crushed the Wildcats. Castle isn’t asked to take on a big offensive role but reads the game well and is very effective in transition; when his number was called on a half-court pick-and-roll, he jailed the defender then dropped in a nice left-handed finish for an and-1. On one other notable play, he turned down an entry pass to big man [URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/player/donovan-clingan-YNswMDuRYddaMhk0/']Donovan Clingan[/URL] to wait for a cutting teammate to present himself, knowing that teammate would have a better angle for a high-low that eventually yielded an easy bucket for the big man. Castle’s shooting, however, is still a question mark; he’s only made 17 of his 61 3-point attempts this season. He has too much guide hand on the ball on his jumper and a tendency to lean sideways as he gets into his motion. But those flaws look fairly correctable, and he doesn’t need to shoot like Kyle Korver to make an impact in the league. Overall, the weekend cemented my thought that he can be a high-ceiling [URL='https://theathletic.com/nba/']NBA[/URL] wing. [B] Donovan Clingan, 7-2 sophomore C, Connecticut[/B] “Cling Kong” blocked eight shots on Sunday — at least, that was the official count — and had fans behind us guffawing when he moved his feet on the perimeter and pinned this shot by [URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/team/northwestern-wildcats-college-basketball/']Northwestern[/URL]’s [URL='https://theathletic.com/college-basketball/player/ryan-langborg-Xrij2nxKLQazNSCd/']Ryan Langborg[/URL] against the top of the backboard. (Also, check out the dime by our guy Castle at the end.) In person, Clingan looks every bit of 7-2. In his two tournament games, he grabbed 22 rebounds in 47 minutes, shot 14 of 18 from the field and even had two steals. He hasn’t made a 3 this season and is only at 55.6 percent from the line, but before games, you’ll see him comfortably shoot long, on-target jump shots. More importantly, his defensive movement and end-to-end transition once again held up well. UConn is an unusually slow-tempo squad for such a dominant team (just 315th in KenPom’s adjusted tempo), but a potential Elite 8 matchup against a fast Illinois team would be the next big test for Clingan at this level. [URL="https://theathletic.com/5371312/2024/03/27/nba-draft-prospects-ncaa-tournament/?source=user_shared_article"]NBA Draft stock watch: Jared McCain, Donovan Clingan up; Reed Sheppard and others down[/URL]NBA Draft stock watch: Jared McCain, Donovan Clingan up; Reed Sheppard and others down [/QUOTE]

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