NBA Rookie Ladder: March Madness memories

This week’s NBA Rookie Ladder looks back to last year’s March Madness tournament and the biggest performers among this rookie class.

As the NBA season starts to wind down, the spotlight of the basketball world shifts its attention towards the amateurs. March Madness is fast approaching and for some members of the 2017 NBA Draft class, there are fond memories associated with this time of the year. In this week’s rookie ladder we’ll take a look back at the five best performances during the 2017 NCAA Tournament from this year’s batch of rookies.

Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell, Markelle Fultz and Jayson Tatum might have dominated headlines during their brief stints in the NBA, but none of those names made this week’s list as none of them starred during the tournament a year ago. Instead you’ll find more underrated names and one player that has been on fire since the All-Star break.

March Madness is usually when a lot of casual fans — and sometimes members of NBA front offices — get their first real look at some of these prospects. Due to that nature, this is the time of the year where players start to bounce up and down draft boards with each passing round of games. It is not out of the question that someone in this year’s tournament will see their stock rapidly rise or fall depending on how they perform in the NCAA Tournament.

Taking these strolls down memory lane reminds us of the potential that some of the players that aren’t necessarily setting the league on fire yet have and what they could potentially develop into in the future. Not every player drafted will be Rookie of the Year material, but they all have proved themselves at one point or another at some level.