As March Madness gets closer, Kentucky freshmen are rocketing up the NBA draft charts

Selection Sunday is less than two weeks away, and Kentucky appears to be clicking at the right time amid dreams of a march to the Final Four and another banner for Rupp Arena.

Some in the basketball world are already looking further into the future, however, and they’re liking what they see in a few of these Wildcats.

ESPN updated its rankings for the 2024 NBA draft Tuesday, and the most notable changes on its list of projections involved two of Kentucky’s youngest players.

UK freshmen Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard have risen to No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, on ESPN’s draft board.

They’re the only two college basketball players in the top five.

“Both will have plenty to prove come tournament time, but they have done enough this season to warrant serious consideration near the top of the draft,” says the intro to the new rankings, compiled by ESPN draft analysts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo.

Dillingham was averaging 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game and shooting 43.4% from 3-point range going into Wednesday night’s matchup with Vanderbilt. On Saturday, he showed how quickly he can take over on the court with an offensive flurry in the final minutes to lead the Wildcats past Arkansas in a 111-102 shootout.

“Dillingham is a bit of a polarizing prospect among NBA teams, but it’s hard to argue with the sheer star power he offers in a draft severely lacking in that category,” Givony wrote of his ranking. “He has been just as aggressive and effective against high-level SEC competition, coming up huge down the stretch of several games for Kentucky despite continuing to come off the bench and being on somewhat of a short leash at times.”

The draft analyst noted that Dillingham’s immense offensive weapons make the 6-foot-3 guard a possible All-Star player in the future, though teams have questioned his lack of size, leading to “a wide range of opinions regarding what kind of NBA player he might become.”

Sheppard was averaging 12.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.6 steals going into the Vanderbilt game. He’s also shooting 51.7% from 3-point range and last week scored 32 points with a game-winning shot to lead Kentucky to a 91-89 win at Mississippi State.

“Despite still coming off the bench, Sheppard has proved impossible to keep off the floor for Kentucky in SEC play, where he already has had several signature moments in cementing his case as the best freshman in college basketball,” Givony said.

He said that scouts also “regularly express concern” with Sheppard’s lack of size, questioning what his relatively smaller stature at 6-foot-3 will mean for his finishing ability and defense at the next level. His 3-point shooting is hard to ignore, however, and Givony notes that Glen Rice is the only first-round draft pick in the past 35 years that has shot better than 50% from deep with at least four attempts per game, something Sheppard has accomplished to this point in the season.

Dillingham jumped up four spots from his No. 7 position on ESPN’s previous list. Sheppard’s rise was even bigger — from No. 12 in the last update to No. 5 in this week’s rankings.

The other players in ESPN’s top five are French forward Zaccharie Risacher at No. 1, French big man Alex Sarr — younger brother of former UK player Olivier Sarr — at No. 2, and Serbian point guard Nikola Topic at No. 4. The No. 6 player in the rankings is G League Ignite forward Matas Buzelis, a former Kentucky recruiting target.

Colorado’s Cody Williams, Baylor’s Ja’Kobe Walter, UConn’s Donovan Clingan and French forward Tidjane Salaun round out the top 10.

Kentucky in the NBA Draft

Dillingham and Sheppard are far from the only Wildcats in ESPN’s rankings, though some of their teammates have seen their own professional prospects drop in recent months.

Once projected as lottery picks, D.J. Wagner is now No. 34 on ESPN’s list of the top 100 players for the 2024 NBA draft, and Justin Edwards — viewed in the preseason as a possible No. 1 overall pick — has fallen to No. 43 overall, both now projected as second-round selections. Fellow teammates who came in expecting to be one-and-done players — Zvonimir Ivisic and Aaron Bradshaw — are listed at No. 60 and No. 72, respectively, in the new rankings.

There will be only 58 picks in this year’s draft, with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns forfeiting second-round selections.

Kentucky’s veteran duo of Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves are still outside of draft range, but both have boosted their NBA stock over the course of the season. Reeves is now No. 67 in the ESPN rankings, and Mitchell is not far behind him at No. 71 overall.

And sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso, who has flashed his rim-protection skills over the past few weeks and still holds considerable upside as an offensive player, is now No. 51 in ESPN’s rankings, which project him as a late second-round pick.

All told, five of Kentucky’s players are within draft range, according to the new ESPN rankings, and another four are close enough to warrant strong consideration, with the SEC and NCAA tournaments, plus the predraft process — if they enter it — to make a further impression on NBA scouts.

That leaves sophomore Adou Thiero and freshmen Jordan Burks and Joey Hart as UK’s only scholarship players not rated among ESPN’s top 100 NBA draft prospects.

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