College Prospect Spotlight: South Dakota State's Zeke Mayo
The upcoming draft class is extremely deep, filled with not only one-and-done talent, but also prospects that have spent several years at the college level. The latter can often be the type of player that makes an immediate impact in the NBA as a rookie with additional experience and years of play.
Furthermore, there's always a handful of college players who don't get as much national attention as they deserve, but are incredible players who could make an impact at the next level despite not playing at a school in a premier conference.
For this week’s spotlight, we take a look at South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo, who has legitimate NBA talent.
Zeke Mayo (Guard | South Dakota State Jackrabbits)
6'4” | 185 lbs
Season Stats: 18.3 PPG | 6.2 RPG | 3.4 APG | 1.3 SPG | 37.5% 3PT
William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports
Background
Mayo grew up in Lawrence, KS and emerged as one of the best players in the entire state. He followed in the footsteps of his father Reggie, who played basketball at Dodge City (Kansas) Community College as well as Tennessee Tech.
Early in his freshman season at South Dakota State, Mayo became a permanent starter but was a highly impactful player even when he was coming off the bench briefly. He earned 2022-23 First Team All-Summit League honors last year, but has taken yet another leap this season.
NBA Upside
Known for being a great shot maker, Mayo can create for himself and score from all three levels. He's a quality 3-point shooter on high volume, but also has a reliable mid-range game and can finish at the rim. Mayo is an elite free throw shooter as well. Given his ability to score and known down perimeter shots, he's earned an 81 PSP and 84 3PE from Cerebro Sports in his third season. He also has upside as a passer with the ability to facilitate the offense and set the table for his teammates, notching a near 20% assist rate over his past two seasons.
The 6-foot-4 guard is a solid positional rebounder and the type of player that has triple-double upside as he leads the Jackrabbits in points, rebounds and assists. With that in mind, what's been most impressive about Mayo's play this season has been the increase in efficiency. He's been able to maintain his scoring output on fewer shots due to shooting a higher clip from nearly everywhere on the floor.
Mayo is also a peaky defender who is disruptive on that end and can make plays. Given all of the things he's able to do on the court, it's clear he has the upside to be worth a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft if he maintains this level of play.
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