Tom Crean stumbled on OG Anunoby almost by accident. The Indiana coach was at an Atlanta AAU event to watch two other recruits. "He's got this headband on, he's pressuring the ball defensively and he's not even in the book," Crean told Indiana TV station WTHR in January. "So we checked the stat sheet, we saw his last name and then we started doing some research.”

Soon after, the Hoosiers pursued Anunoby. “He didn’t mess around. He called me every day for the next week,” Anunoby told The Indianapolis Star. “He told me how much confidence he had in me, and made an offer. Some coaches said they had to see more. He said he didn’t.”

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This week must have been a familiar sensation, then. The rest of the nation is learning all about a freshman averaging 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds a game, all because of his lockdown defense in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Now fast forward to today. The Hoosiers are set to take on North Carolina in the Sweet 16, and Anunoby could see defensive assignments ranging from Marcus Paige to Brice Johnson. He may be a March Madness sensation, but he has little time to enjoy the new fame.

Anunoby isn’t thinking about the NBA right now. But the NBA is starting to think about him. Unlike Crean, pro scouts still do want to see more from him. ESPN ranks Anunoby 43rd. CBS has him 64th. DraftExpress has him going 17th in their 2017 mock draft. Some sites don’t even have him listed.

The consensus seems to be that Anunoby’s recent success is too small of a sample size to get excited about. The secret is there’s actually plenty of reason already.

Defensive dynamo

It all starts on defense for Anunoby, who owns versatile qualities that are highly sought after in the NBA. He’s 6’8” with a reported 7’6” wingspan. He came to Indiana at 210 pounds but now weighs over 230, and his frame can support even more muscle.

Think about it this way: Anunoby has the length of DeAndre Jordan, the height of Jimmy Butler and the quickness of Tony Allen. With that unique mix, he defends all five positions in college and checks all the boxes for a player with elite defensive potential at the next level.

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The defensive dominance everyone witnessed against Kentucky is nothing new. He manhandled Iowa senior forward Jarrod Uthoff. He competed against potential Naismith award winner Denzel Valentine. He made life a living hell for Wisconsin upperclassman forward Nigel Hayes. In limited minutes, he even contained potential No. 1 pick Brandon Ingram.

But in Indiana’s win over the Wildcats, the 18-year-old’s season came to its pinnacle with him locking down seven different Kentucky players. He jostled senior forward Alex Poythress. His box-outs made 7-footer Skal Labissiere move as easily as a feather. He switched onto speedster point guard Tyler Ulis and engulfed him with his long wingspan.

But his most impressive moments came against sharpshooter Jamal Murray, who had one of his worst games this year, largely due to Anunoby.

Few highlights better exemplify Anunoby’s defensive ability than this one. Murray had what looked like an open shot, but the Indiana freshman immediately recognized the team’s defensive error. He was then as quick as a thunderbolt with his closeout, and his pterodactyl wingspan allowed him to block the shot as it left Murray’s fingertips.

Murray scored five of his 19 points while being defended by Anunoby, but even those never came easy. Kentucky ran Murray through mazes of screens to spring him free, but Anunoby was always there lurking. Here’s another example of how he suffocated Murray:

Anunoby locked everyone down. He has the size and speed to bother guards like Murray and Ulis — Kentucky’s record scratched almost every single time Anunoby switched onto Ulis — and the size to defend larger players like Poythress and Labissiere.

Offense awaits

All Anunoby really needs to do to find success in the NBA is defend at a high level and drain open 3-pointers. That's the modern NBA's template for a starting wing player: It's where Butler and Kawhi Leonard got their first cracks at the Bulls' and Spurs' rotations and where players such as Wesley Matthews turned themselves into solid starters making eight-figure salaries.

So can Anunoby do that? Here he is doing both:

That's the quintessential 3-and-D play, with Anunoby quickly helping off his man to heavily contest the open shooter, and then splashing a 3 on the other end.

Anunoby is shooting 44.8 percent on 29 three-point attempts this season, but don’t read into the percentage too much because he’s not a knockdown shooter yet.

He can hit open 3s, but he usually has a slow gather and release, which has led to a handful of blocked attempts. The ball also tends to come off the side of his hand, which might be the cause of his poor production from the free throw line (47.6 percent). You can see the ball come off his ring finger in the clip above.

But OG does have solid touch and it shouldn’t take much shot doctoring to fix his mechanics. There’s no guarantee it happens, but a more upright stance and a quicker release might be enough to make him a competent shooter.

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That’s precisely what he needs to earn minutes in his prime at the next level, which is why the hesitancy to label him a first-round level prospect is wrongheaded. His defense is potentially that good, so the offense just needs to fit in a clearly defined role — a role just like the one he has at Indiana: hit open shots, don’t make bonehead mistakes and make athletic plays like this:

And this:

One of the concerns surrounding Anunoby is that he’s playing such a minimalist role that his weaknesses haven’t been exposed. He hasn’t been asked to create off the dribble or be a playmaker, because he’s not good at it at this stage of his career. He looks rigid shooting off the dribble and rarely even attempts pull-up jumpers.

Anunoby also has a loose handle and gets called for travels when attacking closeouts. It's frustrating because he does have a quick first step, but his footwork prevents him from taking advantage of it. As a passer, the majority of his assists come within the flow of the offense, not with any type of creativity or vision.

He also has a few frustrating tendencies like bringing the ball down after rebounds, which leaves him prone to being stripped. Sometimes he also doesn’t go up as strong as he should, opting for a layup instead of a dunk.

Still, Anunoby’s extension on that rebound is bonkers. To even come away with the offensive board is remarkable. But he has to finish or draw a foul there, and he does neither. The key for him will be to play as aggressively on offense as he does on defense. He appears somewhat timid on offense, which doesn't always allow him to take advantage of his athletic gifts both as a leaper and as a ball handler.

Setting expectations

Those aren’t the nastiest warts to have. Most of his turnovers are travels and charges, not foolish passes. He rarely makes mistakes that’d make his coaches and teammates cringe. And he might not shoot out of a cannon when he jumps, but he is still explosive.

He obviously hasn’t developed into a player that can do much more on offense than shoot open shots and score in transition, but that’s okay at this stage of his career. It’s almost like the criticisms of Anunoby focus on whether he can develop above-and-beyond expectations, like Leonard or Paul George have. The chances are that he won’t, but the evidence is there that he can at least develop into a prized 3-and-D role player.

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In a league thirsting for versatility, that alone makes him a valuable prospect.

If he does become a quality shooter, he does have a quick first step and the athleticism to make him a threat driving closeouts once his technique improves. Here's a glimpse of the future:

This could become a potent source of offense, since he has the tremendous physical dimensions to out-quick bigs and the size to out-muscle guards. He could become the type of player that can switch onto anybody on defense, but can make matchups pay on the other end. Those players are a tough cover for any team, and Anunoby could be too, even if he never does develop offensive skills beyond that of a role player.

Staying at Indiana another season or two is likely the best choice for Anunoby because he’ll get to improve his game in a growing role, and raise his draft status accordingly. Crean has done a good job of developing players, and Anunoby's progress within this season has already been exponential. Crean views Anunoby as a player who can develop similarly to Victor Oladipo, another unheralded recruit who started as a defense-first player and later developed into a star scorer, so perhaps Anunoby will follow the same development plan.

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Indiana’s road to the Final Four won’t be easy, but a couple more strong performances by Anunoby could make his decision more difficult — or easier, depending on your vantage point. At the least, the NBA's new rules could allow him to test the waters. The 2016 NBA Draft class lacks top-end talent, so a team could be willing to take a gamble on him in the first round.

All it takes is one coach or executive to believe in you. Anunoby knows the feeling.

Kevin O'Connor can be contacted on Facebook and Twitter at @KevinOConnorNBA. His 2016 NBA Draft Guide can be pre-ordered by clicking here.