SB Nation NBA Reacts Part 2 of 2: Most fans were watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for Cade Cunningham and scouting prospects

This is the second part of the results from the SB Nation NBA Reacts survey that ended on Mar. 16. For the first part of the results on Washington Wizards fan confidence, click on the link below:

March is a big-time basketball month at the college level. Currently, the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are entering the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight phases of their annual classics. Since the survey is for NBA fans, the relevant questions were focusing on the men’s tournament.

In a poll of all NBA fans who are subscribed to Reacts (and responded to the survey), 59 percent said they were watching the tournament:

SB Nation

It also makes sense that a plurality of respondents said that they are watching the tournament to scout future NBA players. Since most NBA players come from college programs, this makes sense. In a very close second place, respondents said they were just fans of the game. While some are watching games to monitor their bets, NBA fans aren’t just NBA fans — many have a favorite college team too, so it makes sense that that choice was picked by over 20 percent of respondents.

SB Nation

National fans were also given a list of five players who they are most excited to see. Of the five players listed, Oklahoma State forward Cade Cunningham was by far the most popular with well over 50 percent of respondents wanting to see him last week.

SB Nation

The Oklahoma State Cowboys were a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region and were eliminated in the second round by the No. 12 seeded Oregon State Beavers last Sunday, 80-70. While Cunningham scored 24 points, he still shot 6-of-20 from the field. They defeated No. 13 seed Liberty in the first round, 69-60, despite another 3-of-14 shooting experience by him.

Unfortunately, if you watched Cunningham for the first time last week, you probably weren’t that impressed with him based on his performances in two games. That said, it’s important to look at his entire body of work since he is still a Wooden Award Finalist and All-American after averaging 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game this season while shooting 43.8 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three.

Also, the Cowboys defeated other ranked teams in the Big XII in successive fashion with Cunningham playing up to form in most of these games, including victories over Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor and West Virginia. In fact, they beat WVU in back-to-back games, once on the road on Mar. 6 and five days later in the Big XII tournament.

Assuming he goes pro (and probably will), would you like to see the Wizards draft him if they get the top pick in this year’s draft? Let us know in the comments! And if you haven’t signed up for SB Nation NBA Reacts, click on the link below.