This article is part of our NCAA Tourney Watch series.
As the 2017-18 Fantasy regular season nears its close, for many owners it's time to start looking ahead to next season, and the draft prep that comes with it.
While we're still three-plus months from the NBA Draft, we're less than 24 hours from the start of the NCAA Tournament, which kicks off with a pair of First Four games Tuesday and Wednesday from Dayton, OH. With the exception of 19-year-old Slovenian Luka Doncic, nearly every other consensus lottery prospect – if there ever was such a thing – is set to take part in the Tournament.
Among the headliners are DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Mikal Bridges and Jaren Jackson, each of whom lead top-four seeds with sights set on a run to San Antonio. Meanwhile, the teams housing the draft's two best point guard prospects – Trae Young (Oklahoma) and Collin Sexton (Alabama) – each snuck in as one of the final at-large bids
For the most part, there's not a ton a blue-chipper like Ayton can do in the Tournament to dramatically help or hurt his draft stock. He's going in the top-three whether he fouls out in 12 minutes or throws up a few 20/20 games. But for prospects who aren't the second coming of David Robinson, a deep run in March can mean the difference between going in the high-to-mid-lottery or the late-lottery.
Let's take a look at 13 prospects in this year's NCAA Tournament who could be impacting Fantasy basketball teams in 2018-19:
DeAndre Ayton,