College basketball is a few days away from being over, so now we will start to hear more about the upcoming NBA Draft, where a handful of Kentucky Wildcats will be selected.
While we haven’t heard Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham’s decisions yet, you can assume both will enter the NBA Draft.
Yesterday, Justin Edwards declared for the NBA Draft, and he hopes to be selected late in the first round thanks to his play down the stretch of the season.
A recent mock draft came out from USA Today that had Sheppard going eighth overall to the Houston Rockets and Dillingham going 13th overall to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Sheppard and Dillingham have both been mocked higher than this in previous mock drafts, so it’s surprising to see them slip. Sheppard not having his best game in the Wildcat’s loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament could have dropped him a few spots, but there is no excuse for Dillingham.
Both Sheppard and Dillingham project to be outstanding NBA players. Dillingham will be one of the best young scorers in the NBA, thanks to his shiftiness getting to the rim and ability to shoot the ball from deep.
Sheppard is a great facilitator who plays hard defense and can shoot the ball at a very high level.
Both will need to work on their defense when they prepare for the NBA, but if this gets better, they could be stars in the league.
You can expect decisions on the future of these two Wildcats to come very soon
Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard has been named National Freshman of the Year by CBS Sports.
Sheppard has also been named national freshman of the year by the USBWA, NABC, ESPN and The Field of 68 as well as Dick Vitale’s Diaper Dandy of the Year after averaging 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 steals in 28.9 minutes per game while shooting 53.6% from the floor, 52.1% from 3 and 83.1% from the free throw line off the bench. He was also named SEC Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-SEC by both the Associated Press and league coaches.
Sheppard finished the season ranked in the top 10 all-time at Kentucky among freshmen in five statistical categories: first in 3-point field goal percentage (52.1), second in steals (82), fifth in made 3s (75), eighth in assists (148), and ninth in free throw percentage (83.1). He was also the first player in school history with three games of 25+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in a single-season.
Per KenPom.com, Sheppard led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, ranked sixth in true-shooting percentage (69.9%) and eighth in effective field-goal percentage (67.9%). He was the only player in the country with at least 145 assists, 80 steals and 70 made 3s through March 24.
In an 85-81 win at No. 4 Tennessee, Sheppard penned what would become the final chapter of his historic freshman season with a heroic performance against one of the Wildcats’ most-hated and longstanding rivals, finishing with 27 points to go along with 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Sheppard made 9 of 14 shots, including a career-high 7 of 10 three-pointers in 33 minutes, his seventh 20-point game of the season and fourth game of 25 points or more and also became just the seventh freshman in school history to make seven or more 3s in a game.
In a 91-89 win at Mississippi State, Sheppard poured in a career-high 32 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals, including the game-winning runner with less than a second remaining and the game-sealing steal as time expired.
On the season, Sheppard, who posted seven 20-point games, could become the highest native Kentuckian to play for UK taken in the NBA Draft since Rex Chapman went No. 8 overall to the Charlotte Hornets in 1988.
Coming out of North Laurel High School in London, Ky., Sheppard was named a McDonald’s All-American and was ranked No. 43 overall in the 2023 class by the industry average 247Sports Composite.
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