Alabama, 9th seed
Before their loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament, the Tide was finally playing up to the lofty expectations set before the season. That was in large part due to Collin Sexton‘s breakout, as the Georgia native put together a handful of big outings.
Obviously Sexton is a lottery talent, but now it’s a matter of how high he might go. There have been plenty of red flags with Sexton all season — inefficiency, lackluster passing numbers, etc. — but he has the intangibles teams want. He plays hard and defends with intensity, all while showing the ability to take over games as a tough shot-maker.
If you buy Sexton’s shot, he could very well move into the top five discussion. If you don’t, he could drop to the Sixers. At this point, the former seems more likely, but his play in the tournament is still worth monitoring.
The Sixers need another ball handler capable of making shots and generating offense off the dribble. Sexton, for all his deficiencies, fills that void and would give Brett Brown another high-upside guard to develop next to (or behind) Markelle Fultz.