After helping lead Tennessee to the Elite Eight this past season, freshman wing Nate Ament is taking his talents to the NBA. The one-and-done player made the announcement last Thursday night as he thanked his coaches, his teammates, and the Tennessee fans for their support during his time on Rocky Top.
There’s going to be a lot of talk about where exactly Ament will land in the draft over the coming weeks. Before the season, he was widely projected as a top-five pick. Just last week, one analyst had Ament landing all the way down at No. 18 in the draft. But the reality, as it often is, probably lies somewhere in the middle.
ESPN released its first mock draft since before conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, giving fans an updated look at some of the top draft prospects and their projected landing spots. Draft analyst Jeremy Woo has Nate Ament going 10th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks as the second SEC player off the board in the first 10 picks.
“While Ament’s stock has slipped from an early top-five projection, he had productive stretches this season within a tricky team context and has room to help himself in workouts,” Woo writes. “Although scouts are split on whether he has star upside or projects better as a long-term supporting player, there is still plenty of intrigue around the opportunity to select a prospect of his caliber later in the lottery. As a tall skill player with real shotmaking upside, Ament fits a player archetype that teams often love to swing on.”
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During his freshman season at Tennessee, Ament averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 35 games. He proved to be a solid player early in the season, but he lacked some superstar moments. That was until SEC play, at least.
Starting with a blowout loss to Florida in early January, Ament’s offensive game began to solidify. That game, which took place on Jan. 10, was the start of a double-digit scoring streak that lasted through the SEC Tournament – aside from a late February game against Alabama, in which he only scored two points in 11 minutes after going down with a knee/ankle injury. As the SEC season progressed, Ament began to hunt his shot on the court. He was more assertive, more commanding, and more aggressive with his takes, whether it be from the perimeter or working to get to the foul line.
During a streak from Jan. 24 to Feb. 18, Ament went for 20+ points in six out of eight games, including 29 at Alabama, 28 against Ole Miss, 29 at Kentucky, and 29 against Oklahoma. And while he only scored 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting in the next game against Vanderbilt on Feb. 21, Ament had one of Tennessee’s most clutch late-game shots of the season to put the Vols over the top of their rivals in Nashville.
Tennessee has had 10 NBA Draft picks during the Rick Barnes era on Rocky Top, including five straight years. During that time, the Vols have had four first-round picks. By all accounts, Nate Ament will be the 11th drafter player overall and fifth first-round pick of the Barnes era this June.
