Any info on these guys from the inside?

From Chad and company...

Here's are March Madness edition of our IN and OUT List.

IN

The only question left about UConn forward Caron Butler is how much his past will interfere with his draft status. He seemed to quiet almost all of his critics on the court Sunday, when he played a virtually flawless game inside and out versus N.C. State. Scouts have wondered whether the 6-foot-7 Butler had the perimeter skills to play small forward in the pros. Butler ended the game with 34 points and nine rebounds and toward the end made almost every big shot for the Huskies. He was 2-for-3 from the three-point line, and with the game on the line, was a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. One scout compared him to Ron Artest with a more polished offensive game. While teams will surely scrutinize his past (he spent a year in juvenile detention after bringing a gun and cocaine to school) Butler seems to have his life and his game back in order.

Speaking of the Huskies, lots of scouts are buzzing about 6-foot-9 freshman power forward Emeka Okafor. Okafor had a great rookie season, averaging 7.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg and 4.2 bpg. In the tournament, he's looked nothing like a freshman. He's got the NBA body already, along with far advanced rebounding and shot-blocking skills. While his offense is still raw, scouts say his basketball IQ is phenomenal. Give him another year or two to polish his skills and we're probably talking lottery pick.

UCLA center Dan Gadzuric, who has, for the last four years, tried to rekindle the hype that followed him out of high school, has made the most at a last-ditch effort to impress pro scouts. Their scouting reports on Gadzuric already are thick. The skinny is that he has legitimate size to play center at the next level, pro skills in the post, is very athletic and agile for his size, and can be unstoppable when he gets the ball in the paint. In other words, four years into his college career and scouts are still talking potential. He disappears for long stretches, hasn't hit the weights the way he should and has shaky knees that will surely be overexamined in workouts. But his monster game versus Cincinnati (26 points on 13 of 20 shooting and 13 rebounds) did enough to keep him on teams' radar screens and that first-round bubble.

A strong performance versus Kansas likely sealed the deal for Stanford's Curtis Borchardt. Scouts walked away convinced that Borchardt had the rebounding and shot blocking skills to make it at the next level. He outplayed another potential lottery pick, Chris Marcus, in round one, and hung with tough Kansas defenders like Nick Collison and Wayne Simien. With a dearth of big men in the draft and in the league, someone will dangle enough carrots to convince him to go pro and cash in on that potential.

Georgia's shooting guard Jarvis Hayes is out of the tournament, but it isn't his fault. A 31-point opening performance versus Murray State followed by 26 points and 11 rebounds versus Southern Illinois had everyone buzzing. He still needs more schooling, but his name is hotter than it's ever been.

If Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince had his way, he wouldn't even be leading the Wildcats into the Sweet 16. He declared for the NBA draft last summer, but pulled out when the consensus among NBA scouts was that he was a borderline first-round pick. A so-so senior season hasn't done much to change that prognosis. But he really turned it on Saturday versus Tulsa. He scored 41 points, grabbed nine rebounds, had four assists and three blocked shots and hit every big shot going into the stretch. It may not be enough to cover Prince's flaws. He plays primarily power forward at Kentucky. Every time he's been forced to play more on the perimeter he's struggled. His game versus Tulsa (he was 6-for-8 from three) should dispel some of those doubts, but Prince is going to need a few more games in the tournament or some strong workouts and draft camps to solidify a position in the first round.

OUT

It wasn't a rosy tournament for everyone, though a bad performance in one or two games rarely hurts a player's stock. (Jamaal Tinsley may beg to differ).

Duke's Mike Dunleavy raised some eyebrows when he struggled versus Notre Dame's physical defense. The knock on Dunleavy is that he is still too soft to make the leap to the pros. Dunleavy's 12-point, four-turnover performance against the Fighting Irish may have solidified that complaint in some scouts' minds. With that being said, scouts still think he's a lock for the Top 10 if he declared for the draft this summer.

Alabama's Rod Grizzard better go back to school. A dud versus Florida Atlantic (six points on 2 of 8 shooting) followed by a mediocre performance versus Kent State (17 points on 6 of 16 shooting) had scouts agreeing he's not ready for the NBA.

Florida's Brett Nelson is flirting with the draft again, but he probably should think twice. His 4-for-19 shooting clunker versus Creighton had scouts chanting "One more year!"

Illinois is in the Sweet 16 and Frank Williams seems to be heating up, but Sunday's game had scouts shaking their heads again. Williams completely disappeared in the first half only to reemerge in the second half and take over the game with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. While Williams showed all the skills that make scouts drool at the end of the game, it's the first half that has them worried. Teams wonder whether Williams has the focus to play at the next level. He has the tendency just to tune out for long stretches and then tries to turn it on at the end of games. That may work, sometimes, at the college level, but it won't get it done in the NBA.

I can't say I've seen a great deal of Gadzuric but I did see UCLA beat Cincy in double OT. If his performance in that game is anything to go by, he should be a first rounder and a pretty good player in the NBA. I think he could be a very handy power forward or center.

The knock on Gadzuric is that he has the potential, but rarely shows up to deliver. I'm glad the fellow countryman did so last game and hope he'll do ity again to improve his stock, it's doubtful if we should draft him though. He's getting famous for disappearing acts.

Yeah - but what has beautiful gotten for the Knicks.. Look at Houston.. beautiful to look at and worth a ton of money, but does he win games?