2026 NBA Draft prospects Dybantsa, Peterson, and Boozer headline March Madness field

The 2026 NCAA Tournament is running simultaneously as the most significant pre-draft audition in recent NBA history. AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer are the three players currently projected as the top picks in June, and all three are playing in March Madness. The first 11 picks in the most recent major mock drafts are all freshmen, which is an unusual concentration of elite talent at the college level and something front offices around the league have been watching closely since November.

The reason this class is drawing so much attention is the combination of volume and positional variety at the top. Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9 wing playing at BYU who projects as a versatile scorer and defender at the NBA level. Peterson is a 6-foot-6 guard at Kansas with shot creation ability that most scouts place in the top tier of what this class offers at his position. Boozer is a 6-foot-9 forward at Duke, the son of former NBA center Carlos Boozer, and has the physical profile and court IQ that projection models associate with high-floor prospects.

Why the No. 1 pick race is still genuinely open

Dybantsa has been the consensus No. 1 prospect for most of the season, but the gap between him and Peterson closed during the second half of the Big 12 season. Peterson averaged 21.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game over Kansas's final 14 regular season games, a stretch that moved him from a firm No. 2 in most boards to a genuine conversation about whether he might be the better fit for whatever team lands the first pick.

Dybantsa's case for No. 1 rests on his two-way potential and size. He blocked 1.8 shots per game this season despite not being a center, and his three-point percentage of 38.2 percent at his size is the kind of number that makes NBA teams see a player who can operate at multiple levels of an offense without being hidden defensively. The tournament will put both of them in high-pressure environments against better athletes than they typically face in conference play, and scouts will be watching how each handles those moments.

Cameron Boozer and what makes him different from the top two

Boozer plays at Duke alongside his twin brother Cayden, which has been an ongoing feature of coverage all season. Cameron is the higher-ranked prospect of the two and is currently projected in the 2 to 4 range depending on the mock draft. He averaged 15.2 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game for a Duke team that earned the overall top seed in the tournament, which means his numbers came in a system designed to win now rather than optimize his individual statistics.

What scouts like about Boozer is his passing for a player his size. He averaged 3.1 assists with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is a profile that translates well to stretch-four roles in modern NBA systems. His physical maturity relative to other freshmen is also notable. At 225 pounds, he is not going to be pushed around by college big men, and that body readiness reduces the development timeline that teams with rebuilding needs typically have to project.

Darius Acuff Jr. as the wildcard in the top-five conversation

Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. has moved into the top-five range of multiple draft boards after a strong finish to the SEC regular season. Acuff averaged 19.7 points per game and shot 42 percent from three-point range over the final two months of the season. His combination of shooting volume and accuracy from deep is the specific skill that NBA teams are currently paying a premium for at the guard position, and it has elevated him from a mid-first-round projection at the start of the year to a player now being discussed in the same breath as the top three.

Acuff's weakness, according to multiple personnel evaluators who have spoken publicly on draft podcasts and at the combine preview events, is his size at 6-foot-3 and his on-ball defense, which grades out below average for a projected lottery pick. That profile is not disqualifying in the current NBA environment, but it does raise questions about fit with teams building around defensive identity.

What NBA teams are actually watching during the tournament

Teams near the top of the draft lottery watch March Madness differently than fans do. A scout evaluating a top prospect in a first-round game against a No. 16 seed is watching how the player responds to physical defense from an opponent who has had two weeks to prepare a specific scheme targeting his tendencies. They are watching body language after missed shots, how he communicates on the defensive end without the ball, and whether his energy level varies based on the competition.

Teams are also watching the second and third-round games more carefully than the first round because the competition level rises and the game plans get more specific. A player who performs at an elite level against a Sweet Sixteen opponent has done something that translates directly to an NBA audience. The 2026 NBA Draft lottery is scheduled for May 13, and the draft itself is June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.