Your Knicks-centric guide to Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament

The time has come once again for every Knicks fan’s favor biannual tradition: Watching the NCAA tournament when the team still has their pick in the upcoming draft. Hell, the Knicks will have THREE picks in June — one in the first, two in the second. That means it’s time to get our scouting hats on, boys and girls, as we scope out all the hot prospects while we engorge on 12 hours of nonstop hoops!

Tom Ziller has provided us with a handy viewing guide of draft prospects in his “Good Morning, It’s Basketball” newsletter. (Subscribe, why dontcha!) The DraftExpress mock draft is used for the purposes of this list.

Current draft rank is in parentheses. All times are Eastern.

Lauri Markannen (No. 7): Arizona vs. North Dakota, Thursday at 9:50 p.m. on TBS

Jonathan Isaac (No. 9): Florida State vs. Florida Gulf Coast, Thursday at 9:20 p.m. ET on TNT

Caleb Swanigan (No. 29): Purdue vs. Vermont, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on truTV

Sadly, only three first-round prospects are in action today. But one of those players, Arizona stretch 4 Lauri Markkanen, has been mocked to the Knicks at No. 7 overall. This mock is mostly based on talent and not need, but when has Phil Jackson ever turned down a big!

Also, you might as well pay attention to Florida State forward Dwayne Bacon, who has been mocked to the Knicks in the second round.

Feel free to fall in love with some random players, and let us know in the comments.

Ball is life! Draft is life!