Syracuse’s Tyler Lydon remains 1st-round pick in latest DraftExpess projections

Syracuse Orange sophomore forward Tyler Lydon gained national exposure with an eye-opening freshman season that helped SU reach its sixth Final Four in program history.

With his early season success last year — 18 points vs. Charlotte, 16 points vs. UConn and 13 points vs. Texas A&M — Lydon jumped up further on 2017 draft boards.

Now despite his early season struggles, DraftExpress still has Lydon going 20th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. The rankings were updated on Monday morning. While that means they also failed to include yesterday evening’s 26-point outburst, it’s unlikely that one game would sway things much. Still, it’s reassuring for scouts that he can have such a quality scoring game against a quality opponent like UNC.

In the first mock draft that included Lydon (April 20), he was projected to go 18th overall. He then bumped up one spot to 17th in the next mock draft (October 4), but dropped to 20th on January 5 and remains there now.

He’s ranked as the 23rd-best prospect in the country, according to DraftExpress.

On Monday, Lydon showed his potential — yet again. He scored 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor against No. 9 North Carolina. Unfortunately for Syracuse, it wasn’t enough.

His efficiency of playing both inside- and outside-the-arc opens up more for his teammates. Lydon is one of those rare players that can still have an impact on the game if he isn’t touching the ball. He always has to be accounted for, otherwise he’ll hurt you.

Here’s DraftExpress’ video from the Georgetown game on Lydon, where he scored 29 points on 12-of-13 shooting.