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Kansas falls, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid out of NCAA tournament

The pool of players in the draft could include Andrew Wiggins, shown here dunking during the Jayhawks' 80-69 NCAA tournament win over Eastern Kentucky on March 21.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
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More top prospects fell on Sunday, as the NCAA tournament wrapped up the first weekend of play.

The Kansas Jayhawks were defeated by the Stanford Cardinal, 60-57, knocking freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid out of the tournament.

Both are projected to be among the top picks in June’s NBA draft. Wiggins was unimpressive on Sunday, scoring just four points on 1-6 shooting. Embiid was unable to play, sidelined with a stress fracture (back).

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Creighton senior Doug McDermott was also ousted from the tournament as his Bluejays were beaten soundly by the Baylor Bears, 85-55.

McDermott is expected to go in the lottery (top 14) in the draft. On Sunday he scored 15 points but his team never truly challenged the Bears.

Other top prospects fell out of the tournament earlier in the process, including Duke’s Jabari Parker, Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart and Syracuse’s Tyler Ennis.

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Foreign prospects Dante Exum (Australia), Dario Saric (Croatia), Jusuf Nurkic (Bosnia) and Clint Capela (Switzerland) naturally weren’t in the tournament.

Indiana’s Noah Vonleh may be a top-10 draft pick but the Hoosiers didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament.

A few high-level prospects remain including Julius Randle of Kentucky, whose Wildcats upset the top-seeded Wichita State Shockers, 78-86.

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Randle gave his team 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 30 minutes. His teammate, defensive-minded Willie Cauley-Stein, contributed just four points and two rebounds in 23 minutes.

Cleanthony Early scored 31 points on 12-17 shooting in a losing effort -- although he’s projected to be a late first, early second-rounder in June.

Forward Aaron Gordon did a bit of everything, helping the Arizona Wildcats past the Gonzaga Bulldogs, 84-61.

Gordon, a potential top-10 prospect, scored 18 points on 8-10 shooting along with six rebounds, six assists and four steals in just 23 minutes.

Finally, UCLA also advanced with a win 77-60 win over Stephen F. Austin. Jordan Adams scored 19. Kyle Anderson contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists while Zach LaVine had another quiet performance (one point).

The three Bruins should go in the mid- to late first, or early second in June.

At 23-46 this season, the Lakers should have a top-10 pick.

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Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.

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