A&M's Elonu to forgo senior season

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Texas A&M junior forward Chinemelu Elonu, widely expected to withdraw from the NBA draft, stunned the Aggies by deciding Monday to forgo his senior season.

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon confirmed Elonu’s decision to ESPN.com on Monday afternoon, an hour before the 5 p.m. ET deadline to withdraw.

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Turgeon said the 6-foot-10 Elonu, who had outperformed expectations in predraft workouts, told him it was time to move on. Elonu graduated in May. But, according to Turgeon, losing Elonu is a "big hole" to fill for next season.

The Aggies did get juniors Donald Sloan and Bryan Davis back from the NBA draft, which gives them their second and third-leading scorers (11.8 points and 10.8 points, respectively).

The Aggies were already losing senior guard Josh Carter (13.8 ppg) off a 24-10 team that beat BYU in the first round of the NCAA tournament and lost to Connecticut in the second round.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

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Andy Katz | email

Senior Writer, ESPN.com

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• Senior college basketball writer for ESPN.com
• 22 years covering college basketball, including on TV
• Former president of U.S. Basketball Writers Association