The pandemic year provided a unique college basketball experience for many young players. The season, for all its ups and downs, pauses and limitations, produced a fair amount of NBA-caliber talent and a fairly deep 2021 NBA Draft class.

What it also did was move plenty of intriguing prospects who were on the bubble heading into the draft towards a return to school. Today, our focus is on the best of that group; the NBA-caliber talent we have our eyes on most heading into next year. How will their experience show out? Are they improving in key ways as a prospect that will increase their stock and make a return to school worth their while? Which players are we expecting to burst onto the scene?

Today we'll profile the ten names who stand out as top talents to us, predict what tiers or draft ranges they might currently be penciled near and what they can do this year to increase that standing.

Turning the page to 2022, the pandemic still hangs over this crop of talent like a storm cloud. Last season's pandemic-shortened season stifled the results from many young players who were robbed of a traditional preseason process. Others took the opportunity to get an extra year of eligibility and open transfer rules to find an advantageous home that could more readily prepare them for professional waters.

The major theme either way: this is a fairly depleted class of returners when it comes to high-end pro talent. There were very few with first-round likelihood who came back to school. But that doesn't mean the ripple effects of the pandemic stop there. The incoming freshman class, for as highly touted as the elite talents are, remain underscouted by NBA teams due to the cancellation of their final AAU seasons en masse and the lack of in-person scouting as a result of COVID. For those who don't quite reach first round status as freshmen, many could be looking to return to school in 2022-23 to increase their stock.

What does that mean? Expect a decidedly older flavor to the second round next year. As we preview the best returning prospects in college basketball, the shortage of first-round alphas gives way to a field chocked full with second-round hopefuls. As we've always seen, preseason perceptions often get shattered and guys rise or fall with regularity.

The previous ten prospects we looked at had very wide draft ranges. Not to say that the next ten we'll breakdown here do not, but I have much more confidence that these will either end up drafted or are fairly known commodities that cede the surprise factor and are able to withstand a tough performance or two. A few guys with first-round talent and upside, but this is a tier with some solid role players or guys who I really believe in based on their prior collegiate performances.

Turning the page to 2022, the pandemic still hangs over this crop of talent like a storm cloud. Last season's pandemic-shortened season stifled the results from many young players who were robbed of a traditional preseason process. Others took the opportunity to get an extra year of eligibility and open transfer rules to find an advantageous home that could more readily prepare them for professional waters.

The major theme either way: this is a fairly depleted class of returners when it comes to high-end pro talent. There were very few with first-round likelihood who came back to school. But that doesn't mean the ripple effects of the pandemic stop there. The incoming freshman class, for as highly touted as the elite talents are, remain underscouted by NBA teams due to the cancellation of their final AAU seasons en masse and the lack of in-person scouting as a result of COVID. For those who don't quite reach first round status as freshmen, many could be looking to return to school in 2022-23 to increase their stock.

What does that mean? Expect a decidedly older flavor to the second round next year. As we preview the best returning prospects in college basketball, the shortage of first-round alphas gives way to a field chocked full with second-round hopefuls. As we've always seen, preseason perceptions often get shattered and guys rise or fall with regularity.

We started by looking at an early 20 names on this list who are more fringe draft prospects than firm second-rounders. With this crop of names from 30-21 on our list, we have ten guys who possess pretty wide draft ranges. Some are college stalwarts who could play themselves into the "great college guy, not a great pro" tier. Others will wind up knocking on the door of the first round, if not cementing a spot there. These ten guys are all hard evaluations for me for one reason or another, making them guys who I put into this middle tier of returners.

As Summer League ends and the first returns are out on the 2021 draft cycle, it's time to fully immerse ourselves in the 2022 NBA draft class. We have enough initial lessons and data points from the 2021 guys through Summer League to have glimpses into our projections -- not enough to draw conclusions from, but small tidbits that can illuminate which rookies come in more ready than others.

Turning the page to 2022, the pandemic still hangs over this crop of talent like a storm cloud. Last season's pandemic-shortened season stifled the results from many young players who were robbed of a traditional preseason process. Others took the opportunity to get an extra year of eligibility and open transfer rules to find an advantageous home that could more readily prepare them for professional waters.

The major theme either way: this is a fairly depleted class of returners when it comes to high-end pro talent. There were very few with first-round likelihood who came back to school. But that doesn't mean the ripple effects of the pandemic stop there. The incoming freshman class, for as highly touted as the elite talents are, remain underscouted by NBA teams due to the cancellation of their final AAU seasons en masse and the lack of in-person scouting as a result of COVID. For those who don't quite reach first round status as freshmen, many could be looking to return to school in 2022-23 to increase their stock.

What does that mean? Expect a decidedly older flavor to the second round next year. As we preview the best returning prospects in college basketball, the shortage of first-round alphas gives way to a field chocked full with second-round hopefuls. As we've always seen, preseason perceptions often get shattered and guys rise or fall with regularity.

That said, here's our first dive into the 2022 class in written form, looking at the 50 best returners by our measure, starting with players who come in 50-31.