Who is Entering the NBA Draft

Lee Andrew Henderson
It's Spring once again which means one thing; it's time for all those crazy college kids to leave school early and play in the NBA. Now that Greg Oden has finally announced he is leaving college, like we all expected, let's take a look at who all will be missing from college basketball next season.

Last year the Florida Gators shocked everybody when Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green decided to stay in school another year. The Florida Gators came back to defend their National Championship but this year they decided it was time to move on and all four will be entering the draft a year early.

Another player who made the decision to stay in school last year was Duke's Josh McRoberts. McRoberts has now decided it is time for him to exit too.

A couple of Final Four teams will also be losing pieces to their teams. The Georgetown Hoyas will have to find replacements for two of their best players since small forward Jeff Green and center Roy Hibbert have both decided to enter their name in the NBA Draft as well. The two time Final Four UCLA team will be losing their star player, Arron Afflalo, and LSU's 2006 Final Four team will be losing Glen "Big Baby" Davis also. The Kansas Jayhawks didn't quite make the Final Four but they will also be saying farewell to Julian Wright.

Of course the two players that everyone were most curious about were Texas' Kevin Durant and Ohio State's Greg Oden and as most people expected they will both be entering the NB Draft and will probably be selected first and second. Greg Oden will also be taking his teammates Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook with him too.

The North Carolina Tarheels could be a favorite next season after they got good news that Tyler Hansborough and Ty Lawson would be returning. Other players deciding to stay include Arizona's Chase Budinger, Kansas' Mario Chalmers, Stanford's Brook Lopez, Virginia's Sean Singletary and Indiana's D.J. White.

The NBA Draft already looks like it will have a pretty talented lot to choose from but there are still a few players left to make decisions. Other players that could still decide to leave early include UCLA's Darren Collison, Tennessee's Chris Lofton, Kansas' Brandon Rush, Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey, Boston College's Sean Williams and North Carolina's Brandon Wright. If these players do decide to stay then Tennessee, UCLA, Kansas and North Carolina might all be favorites to win their conferences and make a run at the NCAA Championship.

Published by Lee Andrew Henderson

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  • Greg Oden and Kevin Durant will be chosen first and second in the draft.
  • All four Florida juniors are leaving college.
  • North Carolina has Tyler Hansborough and Ty Lawson returning and possibly Brandon Wright.

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