After near upset of Arizona, TCU’s priority is retaining Eddie Lampkin and Mike Miles
TCU’s Jamie Dixon immediate recruiting priorities are not a high school kid, or a potential transfer, but his own players.
That makes him no different than most college coaches these days, but he does have at least two players who may need convincing to return to college basketball for one more season.
Both starting center Eddie Lampkin and guard Mike Miles could use it.
Exactly 100 percent of the players in college basketball these days are convinced they are going pro, and don’t bother looking at the terrible statistics of those who actually make it in the NBA.
They see what they want to see, and want to see themselves in The Association.
Once a player thinks he’s turning pro, talking them out of it requires all of the persuasion of a Washington, D.C. lobbyist. The player usually has checked out on school, stopped going to class, and is focused on ball.
More often than not they drop out of school within a week of their final NCAA Tournament game.
After watching ninth-seeded TCU push top-seeded Arizona to overtime before losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night, if Miles and Lampkin return TCU would potentially have a team that could contend for the Big 12 title next season.
All of the major players for TCU can return, which in the days of players turning pro, and the transfer portal, means nothing.
Every starter could return. Or none of them could come back.
If Miles and Lampkin come back, TCU would have a guard-center combination that will be difficult to handle.
Both Miles and Lampkin are currently making some money through respective NIL deals. Between his distinctive look, size and on-the-court personality, Lampkin should make considerably more if he returns.
As much as they could make through NIL, it’s not as much as that pro check, which could be around $1 million. But you have to actually have to get a contract first.
Consider this: The NCAA Tournament selected 68 teams, that’s roughly 700 players. All will not enter the NBA Draft, but when you take the players who think they should be in the league now and add them to the best players from the best NIT Tournament teams, other top college players, G League players and overseas players, you get the idea.
The NBA only drafts 60 players each year, and at least 10 came from the G League or overseas in each of the last two years.
Still, Miles sounds like he is leaning towards turning pro, whereas Lampkin looks like he will return.
Expect a decision from Miles sooner rather than later.
“We’ll get it back next year,” Lampkin said in the postgame press conference on Sunday night.
That’s what he said in the moment.
It will all depend on what they hear, what they believe, and what they want to do.
Players have until 60 days before that the NBA’s June 22nd draft to decide if they want to go pro.
According to people familiar with Miles and the TCU team, he would prefer to go pro but his family would like for him to come back for his junior year.
For the last month or so of the season, he showed considerable talent and promise, and areas to improve.
He is a streaky shooter, and his decision-making still needs to develop.
Against Arizona, he scored 20 points but needed 20 shots to do it. He committed a game-high six turnovers, including a potentially catastrophic turnover in the final seconds of regulation that nearly resulted in a game-winning dunk for the Wildcats.
Was he fouled on the play? Yes.
Did he embellish the contact? Yes.
Did he make the correct decision with the ball when two Wildcats defenders ran at him? No.
Players generously listed as 6-foot-2, such as Miles, simply don’t have as much room for error in the NBA.
If you’re going to be short among the giants, you better know what to do with the ball at all times.
It’s hard to find mock drafts that feature Miles in the top 60 players. NBADraftNet.com lists Miles as a second round pick, which feels shaky.
Players increasingly don’t care about those lists. They think they can make their way to the NBA through its G-League.
Sometimes they’re right. Former TCU star forward Kenrich Williams went undrafted in 2019, and he’s currently playing in his fourth NBA season.
He was also a senior. And he’s 6-foot-7.
Lampkin is listed as 6-foot-11, and he does not sound like he plans to go anywhere just yet.
But, again, he’s 6-foot-11 and against Arizona he showed something against the Wildcats’ 7-foot-1 center, Christian Koloko.
You never know what Lampkin could hear over the next month or so that could potentially change his mind.
He’s a big body, and he has good hands. He has a motor, and he’s also basically a barrel of unrefined oil.
At this point it’s hard to see an NBA team drafting him.
If he returns and has a solid season, he could develop into a draft pick.
Both Miles and Lampkin would be well served in coming back to TCU for one more year. All Jamie Dixon has to do is convince them.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 5:37 PM.
