Open thread: Moe Harkless Day aka the 2012 NBA Draft

The NBA Draft starts at 7 pm Eastern, and we'll be popping some comments in the post here and in the comments section as we wait for the selection of one Maurice Jose Harkless, Big East Rookie of the Year, leader of the youthful Red Storm, the beginning of the resurgence of St. John's basketball, and the first "one-and done" to be picked in the draft since Omar Cook in 2001.

Harkless is projected to be drafted anywhere in the mid- to late-first round of the NBA Draft, decided to leave St. John's after one season to turn professional.

Moe Harkless should go in the first round; but we'll be watching the whole shebang. At least until he gets drafted. Keep checking back, because I know I'll have some choice words when Andre Drummond gets drafted for analysis, commentary, sartorial criticism, and links.

Will Maurice Jose Hago 16th, to the Rockets, as Chad Ford predicts?

Or as high as 14th, as HoopsWorld and Scott Howard Cooper think, to the Bucks?

Will he go 20th/ 21st to the Celtics?

Will he go lower?

And while we wait, St. John's fans:

+ The NY Daily News' Roger Rubin on Harkless' aspirations for his fam in South Jamaica:

Harkless also looks forward to helping his family in South Jamaica. His mother Rosa, who works at Applebee’s three days a week, lives with six others in their small-ish home. Harkless keeps asking where they might enjoy living, although he suspects it will still be in Queens.

"I want to make life better for them, especially my sister and mother and grandmother they’re the people that raised me," he said. "If I needed anything, they were the ones I went to. To be able to help them out is important to me."

+ From the NY Post: Six draft prospects raising city's hoops profile

"A lot of people say New York basketball has fallen off. This is an indication it hasn’t," the 6-foot-8 Harkless said. "We’re putting New York back on the map."

+ DraftExpress' similarity scores, where Moe Harkless has a similar game to LSU's Anthony Randolph (but Moe has a little more motor and is a bit shorter).

+ A Slam Online interview.

+ The Rumble's take: "I can get you to the NBA": Why Moe Harkless' night means everything for the Red Storm

+ SB Nation NY: 2012 NBA Draft: Will Moe Harkless Be A One-And-Done Boom Or Bust

+ A good video analysis of Moe's game from DraftExpress:

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