2018 NBA Mock drafts: Three Arizona Wildcats projected to get selected next year

It could be an unprecedented year in Tucson

There were two Arizona Wildcats selected in the 2017 NBA Draft, but next year’s team is set to one up that.

It’s likely that Arizona has three draft picks on the 2017-18 squad, including one of the top prospects in the form of DeAndre Ayton.

Allonzo Trier, who has already said he’ll be in next year’s draft, and Rawle Alkins will likely join Ayton in the NBA in a year.

There were plenty of mock drafts that made their way out onto the interwebs after this year’s actual draft, so let’s take a look at where these three guys are projected to be taken next year:

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SB Nation (first round only)

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: 17th
• Trier: N/A

DraftExpress

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: 44th
• Trier: 35th

CBS - Reid Forgrave (first round only)

• Ayton: 1st
• Alkins: N/A
• Trier: 27th

CBS - Gary Parrish (first round only)

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: N/A
• Trier: 21st

NBA Draft Net

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: 23rd
• Trier: 27th

Yahoo (first round only)

• Ayton: 2nd
• Alkins: N/A
• Trier: 27th

Bleacher Report (first round only)

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: 29th
• Trier: N/A

NBA Draft Room

• Ayton: 3rd
• Alkins: 20th
• Trier: 21st

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Arizona has never had three first round draft picks in the same year. The Wildcats have had two players go in the first round in 1989 (Sean Elliott and Anthony Cook), 1998 (Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson), and 2015 (Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson).

There’s also only been three years where Arizona had three or more players selected in the entirety of the draft since it was reduced to two rounds in 1989. Those years were 1996, 1998, and 2001.

So if this team really were to have three first round guys, it would be something that has never been seen in Tucson before, and is just one of the reasons why the 2017-18 squad will have so much hype surrounding it.

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