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In fact, he almost disappeared.

While fellow freshmen Koa Peat and Ivan Kharchenkov splashed their way into college basketball, playing standout roles to lead ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV over Florida in a season-opener last November, Burries made just 1 of 6 shots and fouled out after 17 minutes against the Gators.

He struggled in Arizona’s next two marquee games, too: Going 1 for 9 against UCLA on Nov. 14 with three turnovers to three assists, then collecting only four points, no assists and two turnovers at UConn on Nov. 19.

Yet on Tuesday, Burries is still expected to become the first Wildcat taken in the NBA Draft, forecasted somewhere in the 8-12 range, a lottery pick regardless of that November performance.

There may be a correlation here, the way Burries expressed it.

“The best thing for me was to actually have a slow start at the beginning of the year,� Burries said last month at the NBA Combine. “Going through adversity like that kind of helped me see who I was.�

Also, he had been told about patience. Five-star rankings can lead to lottery picks but not always, or at least not right away.

“I knew I had what it took to make it to the NBA,� Burries said. “My dad told me, 'you have the chance to play in the NBA — you're gonna play, but it doesn’t matter if you take one year, two years, three years or four years. There’s no pressure on trying to be one and done.'�

UA coach Tommy Lloyd tried to diffuse the pressure, too.

Early last season when Burries struggled, he regularly told media that Burrries simply needed more "at-bats." It was also true that Peat (who owns four FIBA gold medals) and Kharchenkov (a former German pro) already had higher-level experience.

Then he told Burries what appeared to be pretty much the same thing.

“He was like, 'You know, it's OK. You’re gonna struggle. It happens. That's what freshmen do. The main thing is, you're gonna make mistakes but I still believe in you,'" Burries said.

“The best thing he said to me was, 'I still believe in you the same way I believed in you when I was recruiting you, and I think nothing different of you now.' That’s when, like, I just felt free.�

Burries didn’t struggle much longer. He collected 20 points, six rebounds and five assists against Denver on Nov. 24 while hitting 3 of 7 3-pointers.

Then in December, he returned to high-major competition a different player. Burries had 16 points at McKale Center against Auburn on Dec. 6, then stunned after entering a game with Alabama the next week despite having made just 1 of 10 3-pointers against high-major competition.

Banking on Burries to continue struggling from deep, the Crimson Tide defense sagged off him slightly at times, and Burries took full advantage: He scored 15 straight points, and finished with 28, helping the Wildcats turn a two-point halftime deficit into a 96-75 win in Birmingham, Ala. Burries wound up making half of his 10 3-point attempts.

“Brayden got on a little bit of heater,� Lloyd said after that game. “I trust him when he's doing that, and it was pretty special. Some of those 3s he makes in transition, that's the stuff we've seen him do when we were recruiting him, and so for him do it on this kind of stage was pretty cool.�

Burries said after the Alabama game he was starting to feel more comfortable and established, and he never really let up from there. Burries averaged 17.5 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 38.2% from 3-point range in Big 12 play, becoming a first-team all-conference pick.

For the season, despite playing with four other starters who all averaged in double-figure scoring, Burries led the way with an average of 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and shot 39.1% from 3-point range despite his early struggles.

“On a team that had a lot of different options, he turned out to be option No. 1,� ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “As a freshman, that's really impressive because he's got a lot of growth in front of him. But what he's got right now is incredibly impressive. This is a guard-heavy draft, but he's going to hear his name in the top 10.�

While Burries has been most commonly projected to go at No. 9 to Dallas, he has been put anywhere from 8 to 12 in major mock drafts. He worked out Thursday for the Golden State Warriors, who hold the 11th pick.

“Coming here would be crazy," Burries said during a press conference after his Warriors workout, citing his relationship with Warriors forward Draymond Green and Golden State’s relative proximity to his Southern California home. “Even today during my workout, he was talking to me before and during the workout, he was just encouraging.�

There’s still some uncertainty about where Burries might land among all the guard talent around him in the mid- to late-lottery range: Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., Houston’s Kingston Flemings and Louisville’s Mikel Brown among them.

All are potential NBA stars, but all have slightly different skillsets.

Bilas said Burries’ “outstanding� shooting, toughness and the burst he shows when driving to the basket help make him Arizona’s best prospect — but also cited how Burries scrambled over to block BYU’s Robert Wright when Arizona led the Cougars just 84-83 with 16 seconds left on Jan. 28.

That block “sort of saved the game,� Bilas said.

But whatever happens Tuesday, Burries may wind up taking the same approach he tried in November: Being patient and letting it all play out.

“Whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen,� Burries said. “There’s not too much that can be changed outside of going to my workouts and trying to be the best version of myself. That's the main thing.

"I don't really tend to look at the mock drafts. I really just want to go to a team that's the best fit for me. To a team that doesn't just want me, but needs me and has a plan for me to help me evolve as a player.�