The 2025 NCAA Tournament is here. March Madness is usually an exciting time to see some of the top names in the upcoming NBA Draft, and that’s no exception this year. By now, everyone knows Cooper Flagg is the top prospect in the 2025 class and leads the tournament favorite Duke Blue Devils. Several other top players, including VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Kasparas Jakucionis, Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel and many others, will join Flagg in the tournament field. We have already covered most of them, and we’ll get to the rest of the lottery-level guys eventually. But what about the players playing for teams you haven’t watched all season? Are there any mid-major players you should keep an eye on over the next few days? Let’s hit on a few of them below:

• Bennett Stirtz, Drake 

There’s a good chance Drake head coach Ben McCollum will be able to keep Stirtz around next year — if McCollum doesn’t take another job — but the guard undoubtedly has an NBA future. The 6-foot-4 junior is averaging 19.1 points, 4.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game this season, and he’s shooting 38.6% from three on 4.6 attempts per game.

There will surely be questions about whether Stirtz can defend at an NBA level, but players with his ability to make plays on the other end of the floor find their way to the pros. It’s that simple. Stirtz is an elite pick-and-roll ball handler that has a high basketball IQ and a true flair for the game. He’s crafty in the best of ways. He’s also capable of knocking down shots when defenses go under screens, as he’s lethal when he has time to set his feet and let shots fly. He’s also creative when it comes to finding offense for himself.

Stirtz also has some feel for making plays defensively, and his steal numbers back that up. He might never be a great on-ball option — and he might need to be hidden on an opponent’s least-threatening offensive piece — but it’s hard not to like him to figure things out. Get him in the right environment, like Ty Jerome found himself in Cleveland, and this should work.

• Nique Clifford, Colorado State

Clifford is a 6-foot-6 wing that is averaging 19.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game for the Rams. Colorado State is a team that many believe can make a nice little run in the tournament, and it’s Clifford that would spearhead that. The Colorado transfer comes into the tournament after having scored at least 24 points in all three of the games he played in the Mountain West tournament. He also scored 36 points in the final game of the regular season, leading the Rams to a win over a very good Boise State team — that he later beat again in the Mountain West championship.

Clifford is an awesome defensive prospect, as he’s extremely athletic and has good strength that allows him to size up and defend bigger forwards. He also plays with some serious intensity.

Offensively, Clifford has improved as a three-point shooter throughout his college career, and he’s up to 39.8% shooting on 4.9 three-point attempts per game this year. If he can shoot at least 35% from three in the NBA, he has long-term starting potential. He’s already good at using his athleticism and strength to get to the basket, and he’s also a pretty good playmaker.

The only thing that’s really holding Clifford back from being drafted earlier is his age. He’s already 23 years old. But his game should translate nicely to the pros, and his late-career improvements in college suggest he still has some long-term potential.

• Max Shulga, VCU

Shulga followed Ryan Odom from Utah State to VCU, and he has been an awesome off-ball guard for both programs. This year, Shulga is averaging 15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and he’s shooting 38.6% from three on 5.2 attempts per game. At 6-foot-5, he has good size at the shooting guard spot, and there’s a good chance he wins some people over this tournament. But even if he doesn’t, look for him to carve out a spot in the NBA eventually.

Shulga is a really good spot-up shooter, as he has a quick, high release and beautiful-looking shot. He’s also really good about setting his feet, even when needing to pump fake and quickly step over a bit. Shulga is also good at attacking the basket — even if it’s mostly off line drives created by his shooting gravity — and he’s a decent passer.

Shulga has also held his own defensively as a big-minute player for a VCU team that is top-25 nationally in defensive efficiency. He’s not a lock-down isolation option or anything, but he’s sturdy off the ball and isn’t going to kill his next team on that end of the floor.

Is there upside in picking a player like Shulga? Probably not. But teams look for exactly what he does when looking for end-of-rotation role players. If he continues to work on his body and can make some slight improvements as an athlete, he should stick in the NBA.

• Tyon Grant-Foster & JaKobe Coles, Grand Canyon

GCU is a popular pick to beat Maryland, which isn’t surprising considering the team earned an upset win over Saint Mary’s in the first round of last year’s tournament. Well, if the Antelopes are going to win this game, it’ll likely take a big-time performance from Grant-Foster.

This year has been extremely disappointing for the senior, as he averaged only 14.5 points per game and shot 39.9% from the floor and 21.7% from three. His free throw shooting was also down, as he made just 68.4% of his freebies. Last year, Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points per game on 44.6% shooting from the floor, 33.1% shooting from three and 74.5% shooting from the line.

The reality is that Grant-Foster’s jumper is broken. It’s going to need to be completely re-tooled in order for him to be built back up into the type of fringe NBA prospect he was viewed as last season. But it’s hard to consider him a lost cause.

Grant-Foster is 6-foot-7 with a reported 7-foot wingspan, he’s outrageously athletic and he simply gets after it on both ends of the floor. Players with his combination of tools and competitiveness are hard to bet against.

Grant-Foster will definitely need to land in a favorable situation. A good shooting coach would go a long way for him, and he’d also be best in a system that stresses very quick and simple decision-making. But it’s just hard to rule out the possibility of him popping up on an NBA roster in the next couple of years.

Coles is somewhat similar in that he’s a jumper away. He doesn’t have the same athleticism and natural ability that Grant-Foster possesses, but he does quite a few things well and plays the game the right way. The senior is averaging 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game this season, and there’s a little Grant Williams and Boris Diaw in him.

Coles is just going to need to improve on his outside shot in order to catch on somewhere. After shooting 42.2% on 2.1 three-point attempts with TCU last year, he’s at 30.3% on 2.7 attempts with GCU this year. In order for him to make it in the NBA as a 6-foot-8 power forward with middling athleticism, he’s going to need to increase his accuracy and volume from deep.

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