General

Six Players We (Selfishly) Hope Return To College

May 7, 2010, 5:05 PM UTC

The deadline to pull out of the NBA draft arrives Saturday evening and with 80 college players and 23 international players joining departing seniors, there simply aren’t enough spots. (DraftExpress.com has a good list with projections, agents and status, as does CBSSports.com.)â†µâ†µCBS says there are 43 players who are categorized as “definitely” staying in the draft and six more likely to remain. Draft Express, in its latest mock draft, slots 14 seniors into the draft -- three in the first round and 11 in the second. In that group, you’re talking about 63 players. Friends, there are only 60 picks. Even with a lockout looming in the future, there are some people who are about to make a major mistake. â†µ

â†µâ†µThere are some cases where guys are leaving situations that probably won’t benefit them anymore by staying for another year. You know, the kind of bad fit someone like Samardo Samuels found himself in at Louisville. (The closest thing you’ll get to an entry pass to the post on any Rick Pitino team in the last decade is probably a missed 3-pointer.) You’ve also got guys, like Armon Bassett, who probably can’t get any hotter, but also have almost no future in the NBA or any real interest in continuing school, so putting their name in the draft is more a function of quitting school and going overseas than ever joining the NBA.â†µ

â†µâ†µSo granting all of those extenuating circumstances, here are six guys we (well, I) hope return to college for the good of the game and the good of their bankroll.â†µ

â†µ

â†µâ†µ

â†µâ†µXavier guard Jordan Crawford: While people have felt like it was a foregone conclusion that he’d stick in the draft for some time now, the projections just aren’t saying it’s a wise decision. I won’t question that Crawford’s stock is as hot as it gets right now, but sometimes a stock at its peak isn’t enough. With the higher-than-usual number of underclassmen jumping into the draft, Crawford is bringing that stock into a crowded marketplace. Look at the crop of shooting guards: Evan Turner, Xavier Henry, Willie Warren, James Anderson, Elliot Williams, Avery Bradley, Dominique Jones and more. That doesn’t even account for a combo guard like Eric Bledsoe. That’s seven guys who are fighting for first-round spots with Crawford to get a guaranteed deal. Crawford’s Xavier squad is young. He’ll have plenty of chances to shine on a winning team. Unless some team guarantees him a spot in the first round, he’s probably better off in the long run to come back next season and have a better crack at a guaranteed deal. â†µ

â†µâ†µUPDATE: Xavier announced Friday night that Crawford is staying in the draft.â†µ

â†µ

â†µBYU guard Jimmer Fredette: Fredette is working out for the Knicks today and here's the first indication about why he should return: the Knicks have no first round picks this season. (In fairness, he's also worked out for the Thunder and Celtics, who have first-round picks.) Despite the departures of Michael Loyd Jr. through transfer and Jonathan Tavernari through graduation, Fredette will still be part of a very strong team, which will keep him in the national spotlight. He should also find himself with another crack at the NCAA Tournament where he can really set his stock on fire. Fredette faces the same logjam at the shooting guard position that Jordan Crawford faces and he's probably lower in the pecking order. For all the same reasons, it'd be great to see Fredette back at BYU. â†µ

â†µâ†µUPDATE: FOXSports.com reports Fredette is returning, after injuring a quad during a workout for the Knicks.â†µ

â†µâ†µPurdue center JaJuan Johnson and guard E’Twaun Moore: In Moore’s case, I’ll simply repeat what I said about the shooting guard position being crowded, plus he’s behind both Fredette and Crawford in the eyes of many. Unless he has a pressing financial obligation that requires him to go overseas, there’s no reason for him to bolt yet.â†µ

â†µâ†µJohnson is a far more interesting case. Any time you’ve got someone with Johnson’s size and skill, you get the word “potential” tossed around a lot. He’s 21-years-old at the moment and you often hearing people talking about how ancient 22-year-olds are to NBA draft types. Johnson is someone who would’ve benefited greatly from a longer period to hold workouts. Because Purdue doesn’t exactly play a fast-paced style that showcases dynamic athleticism, Johnson would’ve had the opportunity to show more of himself as an individual. â†µ

â†µâ†µDX projects him as the 63rd best early entrant and that he could go anywhere from 31st to undrafted. His return could be a bit of a double-edged sword though. Given his age, and the fact that his stats leveled off from his sophomore to junior season, another year of the status quo would probably lead teams to believe he’s done growing as a player. Even if it was a result of the Purdue system, he’d basically be right back where he is at the moment. At that point, you wonder if he’s not better off just leaving now. Still, I’ll be an optimist and say Johnson will find a way to improve his game in his final season. Also, the draft has an abundance of big men and Johnson probably doesn’t even crack the top 15 of them at this point. Time to come back and try again next year.â†µ

â†µâ†µUPDATE: Rivals.com reports Moore is returning and that Johnson has yet to decide.
â†µ

â†µâ†µNew Mexico forward Darington Hobson: The Lobos squad that earned a No. 3 seed this season returns in tact if Hobson decides to come back to campus. While the small forward spot he’d likely project to isn’t crowded this year, he doesn’t seem to be showing up in first-round mock draft projections. Mike DeCourcy notes that -- like JaJuan Johnson -- age could be a factor. But like Crawford and Fredette, Hobson won’t have to worry about falling off the national radar because of a weak supporting cast. New Mexico should be in everyone’s top 15 if Hobson returns and he’ll surely find himself in plenty of TV games and the NCAA Tournament once again. Like Fredette, his run ended in the second round. Stretching into the second weekend will garner him a lot of attention. â†µ

â†µâ†µUPDATE: Lobos coach Steve Alford said Friday night that Hobson is staying in the draft.â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

See More: