NCAA Tournament Prospect Watch: Dekker stars, Towns beasts on Day 7

The NCAA tournament has felt even more loaded with potential NBA prospects this year than it did in 2014, thanks to one of the most heralded draft classes of all time. Maybe it's the battle to be No. 1 pick, or the constant shuffling of those in the lottery, or the fact that 33 of ESPN's top-40 prospects were all on teams that made the field of 68. Maybe we just love this time of year regardless of prospect quality.

In any case, there were 74 prospects in the tournament ranked in the top 100 by either ESPN, DraftExpress or both, and 26 remain in the Elite Eight. Each day of the tournament, we'll check in and see how said prospects performed, and at the end of each weekend we'll provide a Stock Watch, letting you know who's been trending in what direction.

Pre-Tourney Previews: EAST | WEST | SOUTH | MIDWEST | Kentucky
Day One review: Russell, Towns shine
Day Two review: Okafor holds serve, Kaminsky dominates
Day Three review: Hollis-Jefferson locks up Russell
Day Four review: Rozier and Winslow excel
Week One Trending: 5 stocks going up
Week One Trending: 5 stocks going down
Day Five review: Towns scores 1 point, Dekker breaks out
Day Six review: Harrell, Winslow and Poeltl radiate

Now you'll scream out his accomplishments

Sam Dekker's Twitter bio includes the Drake lyric "They scream out my failures and whisper my accomplishments." Nobody was whispering anything about Dekker on Saturday, with the basketball world rightly singing his praises as he played a phenomenal game in an 85-78 victory over Arizona, punching Wisconsin's ticket to the Final Four.

Maybe by the time the tournament's done, people will finally be able to spell his name right ...

... Or at least embrace his new nickname, Sam Dagger:

That was one of five threes on the night for Dekker, who not only hit 5-of-6 from outside and 8-of-11 overall, but also scored 11 of the team's final 14 points in closing out the victory. He finished with 27 points, topping the career-high he set in the Sweet Sixteen, along with five rebounds and an assist.

That shooting mark may be the most important for his NBA draft stock. Dekker's big for a small forward, has an unbelievable motor, rates off the charts for intangibles, is a solid athlete and has produced well over three seasons with the Badgers. The only aspect of his game really missing is an outside shot - he hit 32.1 percent of threes over his sophomore and junior seasons - but he's hit 49 percent of his jumpers in the tournament.

Dekker's gone from the back end of the first round to a fringe lottery pick over the course of the tournament. I wrote after the Sweet Sixteen that I thought he's Wisconsin's best NBA prospect, and I'm pretty much certain of it at this point.

Also in his favor? He knows when to call "B.S." on a teammate crying for a foul call.

It's going Towns, we're yelling timber

Your move, Jahlil Okafor.

Karl-Anthony Towns continued making his case to be the No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft with a fantastic performance Saturday. It came when Kentucky needed it most, too, with Towns representing the team's primary offensive weapon.

Foul trouble - he picked up four in 25 minutes, the fifth time in the last six games he's tallied four or more - kept him out of some key defensive possessions late. But the fact that John Callipari opted to use him for offense, not defense, speaks volumes about his performance considering his offense isn't as far along as his defense at this point.

Towns also committed three turnovers thanks to the heavy defensive attention from Notre Dame, but he generally made terrific use of his touches. He finished with a career-high 25 points, shooting 10-of-13 from the floor and adding five rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals.

The Irish aren't the biggest opponent, but Towns stepped up in a huge way in a crucial game, surely catching the attention of scouts on the fence between him and Okafor. Frank Kaminsky awaits in the Final Four.

Top Performances

• Kaminsky played well alongside Dekker, and his stat line jumps off the page even more. He scored 29 points on 9-of-20 shooting with six rebounds, but he committed three turnovers and four fouls and made a few curious gambles on the defensive end of the floor. That's not to say Kaminsky didn't play well, because he did, but he's kind of the victim of his own success in the sense that his outing didn't stand out like Dekker's. He's on the fringe of the lottery and is unlikely to move from the 10-20 range between now and June.
  • Nigel Hayes saw his run of strong play come to an end. One of the biggest risers in draft stock so far, Hayes scored eight points with three rebounds, four assists and a 2-of-4 mark from outside, but he struggled a fair amount with wing defense, even against Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who isn't the most dangerous creator. The assists were a nice surprise, and Hayes remains in the late first-round mix.

Kentucky gets its own section

When you have nine potential NBA players, you get your own subheading. That's just how this works.

• Willie Cauley-Stein stayed off the radar for the most part Saturday, except when it came time for key defensive possessions. To wit, the clip above shows the 7-foot Cauley-Stein, a center, sprint the floor with Jerian Grant, a guard, on the game's final possession. The Kentucky junior can conceivably guard every position on the floor and his defensive versatility gives him an appreciable floor as a lottery pick. His six-point, four-rebound, two-block outing doesn't stand out, but it's not stats that scouts will look at when it comes to WCS.
• Trey Lyles was five turnovers away from another game that would have improved his stock as a potential late-lottery pick, but he shot 4-of-10 and was a little sloppy and skittish with the ball. He finished with nine points, five rebounds and two blocks, an unspectacular but hardly damning showing.
• Devin Booker hit a pair of much-needed threes, finishing the game with 10 points on 4-of-6 from the floor. He hasn't done his draft stock many favors in the tournament but knocking down open looks this week was at least a little encouraging.
• Less encouraging was Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee remaining more or less glued to the bench. Johnson would probably still be drafted if he declared but both players could use an extra season - with Cauley-Stein and Towns gone - to up their stock. Tyler Ulis also had a quiet game with three points and two assists, his second muted outing in a row.
• Aaron Harrison had a clutch triple and Andrew Harrison had the game-winning free throws but neither played a particularly strong game. They shot a combined 2-of-9 for 13 points with seven rebounds and two assists. It's not fair to group them together, but with so many prospects to cover, one kind of needs to stand out to get more love.

See you next year ... or on draft night

• The gumption captured above belongs to Grant, who closed off a terrific college career with another strong game on Saturday. His 4-of-14 shooting mark does him a disservice, as his 15-point, six-assist outing saw him carve up a staggered Kentucky defense in the pick-and-roll and drive an effective Irish offense. Grant averaged 14.3 points, three rebounds and 6.8 assists for the tournament, cementing himself as a first-round pick and potentially pushing him into the top-15.
  • Demetrius Jackson's hot run of play came to an end Saturday, as Grant's tag-team partner was snuffed out entirely. He shot 1-of-7, finishing with two points and four assists. He still helped his stock for the tournament overall, but this was a bit of a disappointment, especially on a night when one extra bucket could have meant history.

• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson capped off a strong tournament with another good showing against Wisconsin, scoring 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting with eight rebounds. More impressive than those numbers was Hollis-Jefferson guarding all five positions at different points during the game, including a stint checking Kaminsky. He's the best on-ball defender in the draft, and while he doesn't have a refined offensive game, he's going to be a first-round pick and help a contender.
  • Stanley Johnson closed out his tournament much the same way it had gone, with an uninspiring showing. He shot 2-of-4 for six points with two rebounds, committing three turnovers and fouling out in 25 minutes. He averaged just 11 points on 40.5 percent shooting for the tournament and may have slid to the back of the lottery in the process.
  • Brandon Ashley was Arizona's most effective scorer Saturday, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, though he racked up four fouls in 21 minutes trying to guard Kaminsky. He'll need a senior season to get on the draft radar.
  • Kaleb Tarczewski also struggled with foul trouble, picking up four in 25 minutes. He scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting but managed just two rebounds.
  • T.J. McConnell capped a great tournament and solid college career with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting with five dimes and two steals. He'll get a well-deserved Summer League look.