Who gets drafted higher: Jae Crowder or Darius Johnson Odom?

[bleedbluegold03]

As we get closer to the draft I am beginning to debate on which of our departing star seniors will get drafted first in the upcoming draft.

For a long while I assumed Jae was the defacto top pick with DJO operating on the fringe of many boards or being excluded entirely. After the combine though were DJO's #s - specifically his astounding vertical - were off the charts, we've seen him rise on draft boards in the past couple of weeks. So far in fact that one begins to question if we could have a player sneak into the 1st round for the 3rd year in a row.

CrackedSidewalks does a fantastic job highlighting the potential opportunity that sits in front of DJO with the Portland Trailblazers


However, one very encouraging sign for DJO was a surprise invite from Wesley Matthews Portland Trail Blazers. Portland has the wonderful fortune of having 6th, 11th, 40th and 41st picks in what is a very deep draft. They chose to invite two groups of 6 players each to a team tryout to look at players for these spots. One group was reportedly of potential lottery picks, while the other was reportedly of long-shots that seemed more likely heading for camp as undrafted players, but who they apparently saw something about that intrigued them. The interesting thing is that when word leaked out about the two groups, DJO was in the group with potential lottery picks, while Kevin Murphy of Tennessee Tech, expected to go higher than DJO, was in the B-group.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/06/djo-one-of-only-four-to-vertical-41.html

Now that some services have the two seniors within 5 picks of each other, who do you think goes first?

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

I always expected DJO would go first, it wouldn't surprise me to see him sneak into the first round. Jae is one of the toughest, hardest working players we've had come through here, and at Marquette, that's saying a lot. But despite that, he simply doesn't have NBA prototype skills. DJO has the athleticism and already has a NBA body. As I've said since his sophomore year, he reminds me a lot of Ben Gordon, and think he projects favorably as a quality NBA sixth man type.

Jae is a lot like Lazar. Great college player, but not quite big enough to be a 4 and not quite quick enough to be a 2 or 3. I think he'll get drafted and end up getting a shot, and he might even work his way up the roster to be a decent contributor. It certainly won't be lack of work ethic that derails him.

[Goose85]

I think both will make NBA rosters, but they do need to be in the right situation.
Jae should hope a guy like Sloan gets back into the NBA with a team like Charlotte. I could see Sloan appreciating what Jae brings to the table.

[bleedbluegold03]

I think the biggest thing Marquette has going for it in recent years with the 6'5" - 6'6" guys is they all are players that can make an impact on the game without plays being run for them. With the NBA being a star driven and star ego league, I think GMs and Coaches can really appreciate players that are ego-less and manage to do the small things that go unnoticed.

If you want a perfect example look no further than Shane Battier; the Heat would not be in this series if not for his performance thus far and I can GUARANTEE that not a single play's been drawn up for him