As it stands right now, ESPN and its draft analyst, Chad Ford, have Ron Baker as their third overall shooting guard prospect (36th overall), which grades out as a late first round pick if Baker were to declare for the NBA draft at the end of the season.

The rest of the Shockers didn’t crack Ford’s Top 100 board — which now means nothing (if it ever did) after Ford was exposed for allegedly altering the results of his previous draft boards after they were published.

In this era of social media, fans and scout personnel heavily rely on analytics and mock drafts to determine which players would best fit particular teams. Those who can provide the most accurate scouting reports and draft boards are revered individuals.

Getting background information on players on and off the court and studying every play for every player requires time and dedication. Even then, experts don’t get it 100 percent right. In cases like these, accuracy means promotions and credibility.

 The myriad of factors that only the athlete can control make it impossible to be 100 percent — or even 85 percent — accurate in prediction of mock drafts and big boards.

Unless you’re Ford, the prophet.

Deadspin confirmed a story that was published on Reddit’s NBA subreddit that provided irrefutable evidence proving either Ford (or someone working for ESPN) went back and altered several years of Ford’s top 100 NBA draft prospects to reflect how players are currently performing.

Pre-draft “projections” for players such as MVP candidates James Harden and Damian Lillard climbed significantly. Harden moved from the sixth-ranked player in his class to the third best prospect. Lillard was listed as the eighth-best prospect, but was later moved up to fourth after he won Rookie of the Year. Perhaps the most glaring alteration was the gigantic leap Giannis Antetokounmpo had in 2013, from 17th to ninth.

Just despicable.

As competitive as things like this are becoming, we all know no one will be ever be 100 percent accurate — even the great Mel Kiper, Jr., predicted wrong a number of times. But, like any adversity in life, getting it wrong can help you grow — or in Ford’s case, can make you become a cheater.

 You know the guy that changes chess pieces when you leave the table, cheats in Scrabble, or tries to change his test answers once the correct ones are given? There’s no middle ground with cheaters. How you do anything is how you do everything. What Ford allegedly did was cheat — which I think he did — and he’ll do it again. He has done it before, as changing of his pre-draft rankings goes well beyond 10 years.

As one alleged perpetual cheater is exposed (the New England Patriots), another joins the list. Unfortunately, instead of analyzing key matchups for the Super Bowl, we are having to tune into ESPN and other media outlets arguing whether Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick and star quarterback Tom Brady are primarily responsible for 11 of 12 deflated footballs.

Regardless of whether the Patriots are held responsible for Deflategate, I think they’ll cheat again. So will Ford. It’s like the naive girlfriend forgiving her cheating boyfriend for the 19th time, hoping things will change. They won’t.