Jackson is expected to go off the board within the first five picks in this year's draft, but DeAndre Ayton scoffs at being top-five selection. Ayton, a 7'1", 250-pound monster of a man, has recently been pegged the top NBA prospect, a day before being named Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Ayton brings everything to the table for the Arizona Wildcats. He's averaging a double-double -- 20.3 points and 11.5 rebounds -- and contributing 1.9 blocks and 1.6 assists to boot. He's doing so on 61.6% shooting and while hitting 12-of-33 from the three-point line. His combination of volume and efficiency has him on just about every leaderboard. Most notably, he's second in win shares (7.5) and third in win shares per 40 minutes (.266) of action.
In case you're not into the whole dominance in numbers thing, you don't have to look too hard for visual evidence. Ayton made an overmatched New Mexico team look like a high school squad as he threw down dunk after dunk in a 14-point, 13-rebounding showing. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with Ayton notching 12 different 20-and-10 games on the year.
In the South Region, the freakish freshman and his 4-seeded Wildcats will take on the 13-seeded Buffalo Bulls late Thursday night.