No one's been compared to Iverson before Darius Acuff, Jr. now

Uhh….judging by the Numbers….yesterday at 6am actually wasn’t The Time To Talk About the Miami Marlins…..but we Write again! And today, Mainstream! We bring you College Basketball. But only after some NBA scribing:

- Mavs and Nuggets combined for 84pts yesterday in their 3rd quarter. 84pts in a 12 minute span.

- Wolves clipped Houston by going on a 15-0 run in OT. Houston started overtime on a 13-0 run before losing by 2. Houston is a disaster and Ime Udoka’s total lack of offensive ideation makes me wonder if he won’t be fired next week. HOWEVER, I could’ve said the same for Minnesota Head Man Chris Finch until his Boys rattled off 15 in a row. Life is a game of runs.

- The Bulls surrendered 157pts to the Sixers. It’s truly silly season in the NBA.

- Toronto managed only 94pts against the Clippers. Crime. Straight to jail. Can’t score 94pts in a 2026 game.

It’s been an average NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. Let’s start there. There’s absolutely zero Cinderella teams and every remaining school is from a Power 4 conference. We have seen a couple upsets, buzzer beaters, and standout performances. So it’s been ‘aight. Is this going to be every March Madness moving forward? Maybe.

More than anything dramatic, this version of March is a showcase for July’s NBA Draft. The 2026 prospect pool is so deep that a third of the league obliterated their season by December. Of the remaining teams, which Top Dudes are playing:

- Cameron Boozer (Duke)

- Keaton Wagler (Illinois, and probably a new name for you….)

- Darius Acuff, Jr (Arkansas, future Iverson)

- Brayden Burries (Arizona)

- Kingston Flemings (Houston, All-Name Team)

That’s a light list geared more towards potential top 10 picks. For more NBA Draft Big Boards, look here:

- The Ringer

- NBAdraft.net

- CBS Sports

Here’s the thought experiment I’m chewing on: if college players are getting paid north of $4m, and the 2026 draft is 8-9 guys deeper than 2027, then we could see a few top names take another trip around campus. Darius Acuff has all the talent to be 2027’s top pick, but due to the historic depth this year, he could slip to 6th. Can John Calipari pull enough money together to keep him in Fayetteville for one more year? And will that become a more frequent occurrence? Will more and more guys start to consider their draft standing before blindly entering? If so, we could see even stronger Power 4 teams, but we’d get another taste of star players leading schools in March for multiple seasons. Very Adam Morrison. Very Gordon Hayward. Very Hip and Cool.

Someone on Acuff’s team (not me) is crunching the numbs. What’s the delta (fun word for difference) between being picked 2nd or 6th and does another year of Booster Money make up that spread? Acuff also just signed the first signature shoe deal for a college basketball player. He’s linked up with Reebok (still exists). If I’m Reebok, surely I’ve calculated Acuff’s exposure headlining the entire sport of college basketball relative to wasting away on a rebuilding Grizzlies squad.

It’s entirely possible that never going to class again is a good enough reason to become a pro. Yes, we should never stop learning, but Yes, I understand why any 20yr old with more than $40m guaranteed coming his way would want to pass on Biology. I’m reaching a bit because a March Madness that’s just alright ain’t alright with me. So hopefully, we get to see some of these Dudes again next year.