Joe Alexander SELECTED BY: Milwaukee Bucks, Round 1(8)

SI Rank 8 GRADING SYSTEM

BIOGRAPHY: Few players helped their draft stock over the 2007-08 college basketball season as much as Alexander. Considered a raw project who was little more than a good athlete prior to the season, Alexander's emergence as one of the Big East's best players has him considered as a potential lottery pick after he averaged 23.9 points in his last nine games. Alexander had a marginal sophomore season in 2006-07, averaging 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds, then put on 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason, enabling him to penetrate more effectively and draw contact. He shot fewer than two free throws per game as a sophomore, then averaged 5.4 as a junior, seventh in the conference. He has impressive leaping ability, which helped him become the team's leading rebounder (6.4 per game) as a junior in addition to its go-to scorer (16.9 ppg). He's improved his ability to create off the dribble and has an excellent baseline turnaround jumper. Overall, however, Alexander needs to improve his outside shot. After taking nearly four 3-pointers a game as a sophomore, Alexander took just one a game last season and made only 27 percent of those. With the NBA 3-point line four feet farther back, he's not a 3-point threat at the next level. He also needs to improve his lateral movement on defense, but he certainly has the athletic potential and long arms to be at least an average defender. Ultimately, unless Alexander develops better perimeter skills, he's probably more of an energy guy off the bench on a team that likes to run. He hasn't signed with an agent, so he could go back to school, but based on what he showed last season he could be selected as early as the mid-teens of the first round. Alexander's stock may not improve much, but his skill set could benefit greatly by his staying for his senior season.