[octothorp]

Seems like a good time to do an update on this. In regards to the young Canadians who've made the jump, Thompson continues to look solid for Cleveland, but hasn't taken a big step forward this year. Still projects to be a solid double-double sort of guy in the NBA. Kris Joseph and Cory Joseph are both back-and-forth from NBA to d-league. In Cory's case, it's typical of the Spurs that they bring along their young prospects quite slowly. Sacre also got assigned to the Lakers d-league, again not really a surprise.

Kabongo continues to sit out for Texas, as the NCAA investigates some aligations of improper benefits. There's no timetable for his return, and the Longhorns are really struggling without him.
Khem Birch quit on Pittsburgh last year, and will finally be eligible to play for UNLV after Christmas. I don't think anyone really has a sense of where he's going to be at, but needless to say, his long-term prospects have suffered a setback.

Now, the good news: Canada currently has two of the top-three ranked freshmen in the NCAA.

Birch's teammate, UNLV PF Anthony Bennett came into this year as the top-ranked PF in this class, and he has not disappointed. He's averaging 20 pts and 8 rbs with a .548%, in 28 minutes a night. The most impressive thing for him is his consistency... his worst scoring game so far was 16 pts, his worst rebounding game was 6 rbs. That's impressive consistency for a freshman.

The bigger surprise is Nik Stauskas, who's proving to be an exceptional sharpshooter, averaging .605 from 3. It'll be great if he can keep shooting well for the full season.

Some other Canadian freshmen to watch include Negus Webster-Chan, who isn't putting up gaudy numbers, but is playing big minutes for the well-ranked Missouri Tigers. Teammate Stefan Jankovic hasn't had much of a chance to play yet.

7'5 Sim Bhullar is also making his NCAA debut this year, and is more or less matching expectations, scoring at a high efficiency (.632 FG%), but not having the athleticism to stay on the court for more than 20 minutes a night. I had heard that he had gotten his weight down to 330, but I see he's listed at 365 again. That'll be the questionmark about whether he can ever be an NBA player.

Dyshawn Pierre has been inconsistent for Dayton.

Oliver Hanlan has been playing pretty well for Boston College and averaging over 32 minutes.

As for returning Canadians:

Kyle Wiltjer continues to play an important role on Kentucky, though the Wildcats are underperforming expectations this year.

Pangos and Olynyk continue to play well for Gonzaga, both have shown growth but Olynyk has really taken a massive step forward, averaging 14 and 7.

Dwight Powell with Stanford is another guy who's taken a huge step this year, averaging similar 14 and 7 stats (although against lesser competition).

Brady Heslip, who had that great NCAA tournament last year, continues to live and die by the 3, but has only really had it working one game this year.

As for guys not yet in the NCAA:
Wiggins continues to impress. He reclassified to the 2013 draft class, and is still the top-ranked player at that level. His prep-school teammate Xavier Rathan-Mayes is also doing well. Trey Liles continues to be the top-ranked PF in the 2014 class.

Those are all the guys I've got my eyes on... anybody else worth watching out there?


edit: can't believe I forgot to mention Andrew Nicholson, who's doing well in his rookie season with the Magic. He just had a couple games where he had 14 and 19 points. His rebounding numbers aren't what you'd hope for yet, but they'll come up.

another edit: moreso just as a reminder to myself, Keanau Post might be a player worth keeping an eye on. A 7'0 Center, currently he's in junior college, but is being heavily recruited by major NCAA programs for next year.