The 2019 NBA Draft is less than one week away. Coming after the conclusion of a season characterized by a noteworthy trend. One that could challenge the draft hopes of many Cincinnati college stars.

A three-pointer frenzy characterizes the modern NBA. Fueling a scoring boom in the league over the course of this decade. In the NBA Playoffs, 12 of the 16 teams that qualified scored over 100 points per game. The Golden State Warriors scored 114.1 points per game; trailing only the Los Angeles Clippers 114.7. The championship winning Toronto Raptors scored 106.6 points per game.

In the playoffs alone, eight Raptors scored 150 points or more. Kawhi Leonard led the team with a whopping 732 points. Roughly a third of those points came from three-point range. The Raptors, Warriors and Clippers scored less in the playoffs than in the regular season. No team in the NBA scored less than 103.5 points per game in the regular season. An astounding 20 of 30 teams scored roughly 110 points per game or more. All teams had a three point shooting percentage above .300.

This scoring frenzy spells danger for many local college basketball team’s draft hopes. Xavier Basketball was a poor three-point shooting team last season. Ryan Welage was Xavier’s most dependable three-point shooter. The graduate transfer led the Xavier Musketeers with a .420 three-point percentage. No Musketeer other than Welage shot above .400 in that category last season.

Welage, Kyle Castlin and Zach Hankins are Xavier’s three draft eligible seniors. All were graduate transfers, that won’t play for the Musketeers next season. It would be a big surprise to see any of those players selected in the NBA Draft. After all, the Musketeers had a fairly solid draft class last year. Yet, no Musketeer had their name called on draft night.

That was a class that featured Trevon Bluiett, Karem Kanter and J.P. Macura among others. All key players on a team that won the Big East’s regular season title. Plus, earned a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. It’s difficult to see how players from a team that didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament fare better. Especially after a season that featured poor outside shooting.

Ultimately, Cincinnati Basketball’s draft class looks more promising going into the draft. Compared to Xavier, the Cincinnati Bearcats were a better outside shooting team last season. Two Bearcats had a better three-point percentage than Welage. Mamoudou Diarra led the Bearcats with a .500 three-point percentage. Justin Jenifer had a .444 three-point percentage last season.

Jarron Cumberland was the Bearcat getting the most draft buzz. However, he withdrew his name from draft consideration in May after exploring his prospects. He will stay with the Bearcats for his senior season. Jarron will play alongside his cousin Jaevin; a graduate transfer from Oakland University. A school new Cincinnati coach John Brannen faced as one of Northern Kentucky Basketball’s Horizon League rivals.

Cumberland’s return leaves Justin Jenifer, Cane Broome and Tre Scott as the Bearcats best draft prospects. Broome and Jenifer graduated earlier this spring; Scott graduated last winter. It is unlikely that all three will be drafted. Instead, the Cincinnati area’s most likely draftees are Darius Bazley and Jaxon Hayes. Bazley recently graduated from Sharonville, Ohio’s Princeton High School. Hayes is a Cincinnati native, he spent his freshman year with Texas Basketball. Both rank among the top 35 in CBS Sports’ draft prospect rankings.

This year’s NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 20th.