NCAA Tournament 2016: 5 Midwest Region Players for Lakers to Watch

Five players in the Midwest Region of the 2016 NCAA Tournament that the Lakers should watch

The 2016 NCAA Tournament will truly get underway on Thursday after the First Four games have been played and all eyes will be on the stars of the college basketball world. There’s no doubt that fans and NBA scouts alike are going to be watching the projected top lottery picks for the 2016 NBA Draft, but there’s more than just those players to watch come tourney time, especially if you’re the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers are going into the upcoming offense with a serious need to add talent on their roster for a number of reasons. Not only are they a rebuilding team that has a young core of players that they need to build around, but they also have a very limited number of players under contract after this season, meaning adding a couple of young players through the draft and as undrafted free agents wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

Obviously the Lakers are going to be looking at the top prospects for the 2016 NBA Draft that are competing in the NCAA Tournament in the hopes that they keep their first-round pick if it falls into the top-3 once the lottery has worked it’s either cruel or merciful (depending on the outcome) magic. However, the Lakers’ ability to identify sleepers and underrated talents in the second round or potentially in guys that go undrafted has arguably been one of their greatest strengths in recent years.

Subsequently, the Lakers scouts will have their eyes glued to the NCAA Tournament in a major way. Looking specifically at the Midwest Region with the Virginia Cavaliers as the No. 1 seed, these are the five prospects that they should have their eyes on.

Next: No. 5 Michael Gbinije