As soon as I read that Mike Gansey had worked out for Memphis I knew where he would be drafted.  My first bold prediction is that Jerry West, WVU alum and Memphis GM, will use the 24^th overall selection to draft Gansey.  The pick makes perfect sense.  West follows the Mountaineers closely and has seen Gansey play a number of times in person.  Also, Memphis has a great bench and Gansey will fit perfectly in that group, backing up Eddie Jones.  Gansey is a player who, like Eddie Jones, is an excellent perimeter defender and three point shooter.  Memphis was one of the best shooting teams in the league last year.  Gansey’s 55 percent average from the field last year will only help that.  Memphis was also in the bottom half of the league in steals, three pointers made, and offensive rebounds, three things that Gansey will instantly provide.  The knock on Gansey leading up to the draft has been his strength and athleticism.  Whoever said that was obviously not familiar with Gansey because he did 16 reps of 185 pounds and posted a 34 inch vertical leap.  To put those numbers in perspective…Gansey has a better vertical leap then JJ Reddick, Adam Morrison, and Shelden Williams.  Players who are celebrated for their athleticism like Michigan State’s Maurice Ager and Memphis’ Shawne Williams only posted leaps of 35 and 31 inches, respectively.  As for strength, Gansey did 5 more reps than Ager, and ten more than Reddick and Brandon Roy.  And to put aside the last knock on Gansey, his size, he is a legit 6’4” without shoes but he has a 6’7” wingspan allowing him to play bigger than his height.  All right, I feel better, so now you know what I do, Gansey will not fall past the 24^th pick.

Now I offer 30 more bold predictions in an updated mock draft.

1. Toronto: Andrea Bargnani (Italy)

2. Chicago: Tyrus Thomas (LSU)

3. Charlotte: Rudy Gay (UCONN)

4. Portland: Adam Morrison (Gonzaga)

5. Atlanta: Lamarcus Aldridge (Texas)

6. Minnesota: Randy Foye (Villanova)

7. Boston: Brandon Roy (Washington)

8. Houston: Shelden Williams (Duke)

9. Golden State: JJ Reddick (Duke)

10. Seattle: Rodney Carney (Memphis)

11. Orlando: Patrick O’Bryant (Bradley)

12. New Orleans: Cedric Simmons (NC State)

13. Philadelphia: Marcus Williams (UCONN)

14. Utah: Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas)

15. New Orleans: Shannon Brown (Mich State)

16. Chicago: Oleksiy Pecherov (Ukraine)

17. Indiana: Jordan Farmar (UCLA)

18. Washington: Maurice Ager (Mich St.)

19. Sacramento: Saer Sene (Senegal)

20. New York: Alexander Johnson (FSU)

21. Phoenix: Sergio Rodriguez (Spain)

22. New Jersey: Kyle Lowry (Villanova)

23. New Jersey: Hilton Armstrong(UCONN)

24. Memphis: Mike Gansey (West Virginia University)

25. Cleveland: Mardy Collins(Temple)

26. LA Lakers: Marcus Vinicius (Brazil)

27. Phoenix: Luis Amundson (UNLV)

28. Dallas: Kevin Pittsnogle (West Virginia University)

29. New York: Rajon Rondo( Kentucky)

30. Portland: James Augustine (Illinois)

Yeah I put Pittsnogle in the first round, he has a workout scheduled in Dallas and I really don't see Mark Cuban being able to pass him up.  Seeing Pittsnogle and Nowitzki in the same front court together might just make me break down and cry.

Check out my breakdown of the top five players at each position in the Front Page Artcles section.  To tell me how incredibly bold these predictions are shoot an e-mail to