Though I am a huge college basketball fan, I didn't really see most of the guys projected to be available to us enough times to comment on them at length.

Fortunately, one of the beautiful things about this here Internet is there are many blogs out there that follow these guys all year long and can give insight into what kinds of players they are and what they are capable of becoming.

Today we continue our series with Ohio State point guard Mike Conley, Jr., who the Hawks could take at #3 or gamble and perhaps draft at #11.

Our guest expert today is Sean Sheehan, who writes about the Buckeyes for the blog Around The Oval. Here's what he had to say about the Buckeyes' other freshman phenom:

Mike Conley, Jr..:
Draft Express profile

How he got here:
Mike Conley came to OSU as a highly-touted freshman, but many Ohio State fans viewed him as a guy just brought in to make Greg Oden happy. Once the season started, Conley quickly proved those people wrong. He started at point guard from the first game and did a great job. All season, he demonstrated excellent court vision and passing skills, as well as a knack for coming up with steals on the defensive end. Toward the end of the season, he became a more aggressive player offensively, using his speed to drive to the basket almost at will. While Oden got most of the headlines, Conley was the most consistent player on the team, and arguably the best.

Strengths:
Conley's biggest strengths are his court vision and passing skills. He almost always made the right pass at Ohio State, whether he was driving and dishing to an open shooter or threading the needle between two defenders on a fast break. While he's very good at finding and making the right pass, he's even more impressive when he's making passes other point guards wouldn't even consider. He repeatedly got the ball to teammates in ways that didn't seem possible until after the fact, making impressive passes on fast breaks or wrapping passes around defenders inside. Even with these seemingly higher-risk passes, Conley was still making good decisions. He finished the season with a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, one of the top marks in the country. He also possesses outstanding speed, which allowed him to get into the lane against just about everyone and either get a layup or a pass to an open teammate for a three. When he gets to the basket, he can finish with either hand (in fact, while he's left-handed, it almost seems to me that he prefers to finish with his right). While I wouldn't call him outstanding defensively, Conley is a solid on-ball defender and is very good playing passing lanes (he finished the season with 2.2 steals per game, good for 26th in D1 basketball).

Weaknesses:
The most glaring weakness in Conley's game is he isn't much of a shooter right now. He only hit 30% of his threes, and from the free throw line he was only 69.4%. I believe he can eventually get those numbers up to respectable levels, but I don't think he'll ever be better than a decent shooter. A second concern would be one of Conley's favorite shots, a floater that he'll take near the top of the lane. It doesn't look especially pretty, but it was effective all season. While it may continue to work in the NBA, I am a little concerned that the bigger, more athletic big men in the NBA might be able to swat that thing to the other end of the court. Conley's size is a minor concern. At 6'1, 175 lbs., he isn't small for a point guard, but he doesn't possess ideal size, either.

Why Hawks fans should want him:
He combines a high basketball IQ with the ability to make big plays. When people call someone "a smart player," they usually mean "he's boring, but at least he doesn't do dumb things." Conley manages to avoid doing dumb things while also doing exciting things. He was a steady, consistent performer all season who was equally capable of distributing the ball to his teammates and scoring on his own. Furthermore, he seemed just as happy to feed the ball to his teammates as he did to score himself. A shooter like Joe Johnson would benefit from Conley drawing defenders away while driving to the basket, while guys like Marvin Williams and Josh Smith would benefit from Conley's ability to get the ball to them whether they're posted up or cutting to the basket. Point guard seems to be the Hawks' position of greatest need, and Conley is the best point guard in the draft with the highest upside.

What might give Hawks fans pause:
Other than the above weaknesses, the biggest concern would probably be Conley's lack of experience. While he played some talented teams in high school and college, he only played one year of college ball and didn't face a high level of competition week in and week out. It remains to be seen how he'll respond to the competition he'll face in the NBA (though that is a concern for most players in the draft). Another concern is how Conley will fare without Oden down low. He did get some experience in early in the season when Oden was injured, but most of those games were against pretty poor competition. It's a lot easier to look good with one of the best center prospects in years in the low post, and we don't really know how Conley will play without him (though I wouldn't be too worried about it).

What current player he reminds you of:
T.J. Ford. Both are very quick point guards with excellent passing skills, and neither is much of a three-point shooter. I think, though, that Conley is ahead of where Ford was when he was in the draft, both in terms of defense and decision-making, and will end up being quite a bit better than Ford.