Julius Hodge NBA stock underrated?

[Indy]

Julius Hodge led North Carolina State to an upset second round victory over UCONN today. he had a huge second half and ended the game with 17 points and 6 assists. He showed amazing floor leadership towards the end of the game and really took the game into his hands made some great passes and scored a game winning 3 point play slashing to the basket with 4 seconds left.

www.nbadraft.net has him listed as a mid-2nd round pick, but i think he has the talent to not only be a 1st rounder, but a top 20 pick.

Now, before you blast me on this, i realize he is not very strong, but his knowledge of how to play the game is outstanding, better then anyone else in the NCAA in my opinion. He has showed his ability to step up huge in big game situations. He is extremely versitale, he played all the positions in todays game (and i have seen him do this in the past too) he can bring the ball up the court, he can post up, he can shoot the three, and he is an outstanding passer.

Anybody else share my opinion on Julius Hodge?

[GloveGuy]

He was a late-first rounder last year, and it would have been better to come out as the ACC Player of the Year.

Basically, the Wolfpack suck this year and Julius is getting a lot of backage for it. His play has been decent but not up to par with last year's.

Funny, his stock has actually risen because of Chris Paul punching him in the nuts, because if that hadn't happend, State wouldn't have played Paul-less(he was suspended) Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, and it was that win which clinched their NCAA Tournament birth. Had the season ended at that game(or even worse -- the NIT), Hodge probably would've remained a second-rounder.

[Jona]

You have a really vast knowledge of NCAA hoops GloveGuy, do you prefer the college game over the pros?

[GloveGuy]

I must admit, nothing in the NBA compares to March Madness. I see that you don't live in the United States, Jona, so you don't really know how huge of a tradition it is for people to fill out the brackets and compete with their co-workers, family members, etc. Even people who know nothing about basketball take part in it.

I really like what the NCAA stans for, though I see that every year it nears closer to the NBA. It used to be all about college sweatshirts, band songs and school rivalries. Now that the NCAA is a billion dollar market, involving TV deals and Final Four promotions, it's less pure than it used to be.

The way I see it, there's two types of college basketball players. One is actually a vast majority and that's players who play for their school and take pride in the jersey they wear. Then there's the select few who play for the NBA such as Pittsburgh's Chris Taft, Maryland's Nik Caner-Medley, and Memphis's Sean Banks. The irony is that their stock usually ends up dropping because when all that they think of is "NBA, NBA, NBA," their play usually suffers.

I still love the NBA though. The talent level is so much greater than the NCAA. Though I must admit, I'm not really a big fan of Lebron James or even more, guys like Travis Outlaw and Ndubi Ebi, who I'd rather see getting a college education than playing for an NBA team.

[Indy]

i think NCST has proven they deserved a tourny bid because they beat charolette pretty easily, and they knocked off uconn today.

i see them beating wisconsin as well and advancing to the elite 7. considering how huge of a role julius has had in them getting as far as they have (and in my opinion they are not done) he should be considered a higher draft pick.

i would have no problem if the pacers selected him 14-17 wherever they end up. (that is unless danny graves slips that far.)

[cklitsie]

Julius Hodge has been carrying an average NC State team for a couple of years now, but this is definately the greatest perfomance so far (team-wise).
I think if he wasn't in the ACC he wouldn't been higher on nbadraft.net too.

[Fresh8]

The NCAA gets 4 times more viewers than the NBA Finals...

[Indy]

for the people who dont think he should be a first round pick: if they beat wisconsin, and move on to the elite 8, will you concede he should get a good hard look for a 1st rounder?

[The X]

he's a late 1st Rounder IF he blows up at pre-draft camps and beats out the many SG/SF's ahead of him....if he can outplay Antoine Wright, Kennedy Winston and the HSers then he might be able to slip into the late 1st Round....at the moment he's still in the 2nd Round, although the Wolfpack's run might have put him up to an early 2nd Round pick....

if he's good enough then he'll be a 1st rounder....the onus is on him....

The NCAA gets 4 times more viewers than the NBA Finals...

it's because the NCAA is better than the NBA

[Fresh8]

I know.. it was a random fact but it really shows that the NCAA compared to NBA affects more people...

[The X]

probably due to the fact the players don't get paid to play....

I like it because it is more geared towards team bball and I love the fact that Cinderellas come up out of nowhere and get their chance to shine....I love the fact that Wally Szczerbiak can become Wally World at a mid-major...I love the fact that it's all about school pride....I wish Aussie and Kiwi universities had the same sort of pride that these colleges invoke....the atmosphere at these games is awesome....

I use to just like NBA but the more I watched international and college ball, the more I started to prefer it....

either way, this is NBA talk, so Julius Hodge will not be a 1st Round pick....he will be in the top half of the 2nd Round

[Indy]

I know.. it was a random fact but it really shows that the NCAA compared to NBA affects more people...

i definitley get more in to the NBA because i am a huge pacers fan (if you havent figured that out yet) but give me the NCAA tournament over the a non-pacers NBA playoff game any day.

plus i love how i get attached to a team during the tournament that im not normally attached to like this year NCST. ive always liked them, but this year ive found myself rooting really hard for them.

[air gordon]

The NCAA gets 4 times more viewers than the NBA Finals...

are you referring to the ncaa tournament? if this is the case, i would say because of the gambling

I know.. it was a random fact but it really shows that the NCAA compared to NBA affects more people.

how so? how is the ncaa 'affecting' people?

david stern is viewed as the best commisioner in professional sports. the NBA is arguably is the most successful/profitable sport in the US and becoming the most popular professional sport in the world behind soccer.