NBA mock draft roundup: Bruno Fernando pre-combine edition

Maryland men’s basketball’s Bruno Fernando gets started on his second NBA Draft Combine today in Chicago. He’ll look to cement himself as a first round pick during measurements, drills, scrimmages and crucial interviews.

With the NBA Draft lottery now in the rearview, it’s a good time to look at where the Angolan center is projected to land with the combine getting started today. Most outlets have him at the tail end of the first round, with Bleacher Report as an outlier with Fernando as the No. 14 pick, right at the end of the library.

Here’s a roundup of where Fernando’s projected to fall:

While Bleacher Report represents the high end of the center’s projections, ESPN, SB Nation and The Ringer have Fernando falling out of the first round entirely. He’s split the opinions of the writers at the latter—Danny Chau has Fernando at No. 24 on his big board, Jonathan Tjarks has him at 30 and Kevin O’Connor has him at No. 37.

The most popular team Fernando’s been projected to is the San Antonio Spurs, as three outlets have him landing under Gregg Popovich’s tutelage. The Athletic and Basketball Insiders both have San Antonio taking him at No. 29, while Tankathon has the Spurs taking Fernando with the No. 19 pick.

Fernando has started to slide down draft boards a little, as some analysts have expressed concerns about his defense (the Big Ten all-defensive team selection had 1.9 blocks per game, which is actually a lower number than scouts look for in an elite center). A good showing during the scrimmages and interview portions of the combine could assuage doubts and keep him in the guaranteed contract portion of draft.

In other news

Fernando sat down with Stadium last week to talk about what it would mean for him to become the first Angolan-born player to make it to the NBA.

Women’s lacrosse’s NCAA quarterfinal match against Denver now has a time. The Terps will face off on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET in Maryland Stadium for a trip to their 11th straight Final Four.

Men’s lacrosse entered the NCAA Tournament unranked and was nearly sent home by in-state foe Towson in the opening round. Instead, the Terps pulled out an overtime win and avoided a heartbreaking three-game skid to end the season.

Baseball wrapped up its final midweek game of the season with a win, topping James Madison 6-5.

Gary Parrish has men’s basketball ranked No. 7 in his latest offseason top-25 after John Beilein’s departure from Michigan. It’s still early in the offseason, though, so these should all be taken cautiously until players start returning to school.