Katz Projects College Stayers And NBA Leavers

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ESPN.com’s Andy Katz has been talking to plenty of NBA insiders as the deadline for college players to withdraw their names from the draft approaches.  He’s also posted the conclusions he’s drawn from those discussions.

In SEC terms, Katz believes “NBA decision-makers expect” Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins to return to school next season.

So much for the positive.

Katz writes that “NBA personnel don’t expect” Terrence Jones or Brandon Knight to re-join Liggins in Lexington next year.  They also don’t expect Tobias Harris to return to Tennessee.

In Katz’ words, “No one at any of those schools will be stunned if all of that becomes truth.”

The plans of UT’s Scotty Hopson are still “considered a bit of a mystery.”  ESPN’s basketball analyst does say, however, that “it wouldn’t come as a shock if he stayed in the draft to avoid a possible rebuilding season.”

Back to UK’s Jones for a second — not everyone seems to think he’s definitely gone.  John Clay of The Lexington Herald-Leader posted a couple of tweets from the NBA site DraftExpress.com today stating:


Could Terrence Jones go back to school?  From what I’m hearing that’s a strong possibility.  Would surprise a lot of people.


So when it comes to the SEC’s undecided you can mark these down as follows:

DeAndre Liggins, UK — probably back
Brandon Knight, UK — probably gone
Terrence Jones, UK — probably gone… but still a glimmer of hope
Tobias Harris, UT — probably gone
Scotty Hopson, UT — still a mystery… but probably gone