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Friday, May 17
Updated: Sunday, May 19, 4:53 PM ET
Fewer underclassmen in 2002 draft
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
A year after a record number of underclassmen declared for the NBA draft, the NCAA's new plans to declare players ineligible if they play at the Chicago pre-draft camp kept 2002's number to 54 early entries.
The number could have been even far fewer than the 58 underclassmen in the 2001 NBA draft had the NCAA gotten the word out sooner. But the NCAA chose to give underclassmen notice with an obscure -- at least to the general student population and coaches -- column on its web site.
The rule isn't new, just the enforcement. But the NCAA let players know that if they play games in the Chicago pre-draft camp next month then they are subject to being declared ineligible on a game-for-game penalty should they return to college next season. That means three games of pickup ball in Chicago could mean missing the first three games of the 2002-03 season.
The rule, had it been brought to light last month instead of last week, probably would have meant players like Stanford's Casey Jacobsen, Ball State's Theron Smith, Houston's George Williams, Purdue's Willie Deane, Fordham's Smush Parker and Auburn's Adam Harrington likely would have shied away from declaring. Take these names off the list, along with Pepperdine's Glen McGowan, Eastern Illinois' Henry Domercant, Ohio's Brandon Hunter and Wyoming's Uche Nsonwu-Amadi, and suddenly it drops from 54 college underclassmen to 44 -- a figure that isn't as daunting.
The list, however, is filled with the potential lottery picks who are common knowledge. All-Americans like Duke's Mike Dunleavy, Kansas' Drew Gooden and Connecticut's Caron Butler, along with the possible mid- to late first-round picks like Duke's Carlos Boozer, Michigan State's Marcus Taylor and Virginia's Roger Mason Jr., are obviously confident they made the right choice. The usual cast of dismissed, or ineligible players, also dot the list. Names like New Mexico's Marlon Parmer and Missouri's Uche Okafor.
The one group that didn't jump at a new NCAA rule was high school seniors. The word must have gotten out to them that declaring for the draft -- just to see where they would get picked -- could be a costly mistake. The new NCAA rule states that a high school senior could declare and get drafted, but still retain his college eligibility if he chose to attend school by the first day of classes in the fall and didn't sign with an agent.
But the NBA retains the rights of any high school senior at the 2002 draft pick salaries -- up until the year after the player's eligibility expires. The three high-profile high school players, all believed to be ineligible, who retained agents, are Amare Stoudemire, DeAngelo Collins and Lenny Cooke. Only two high school seniors -- Brandon Roy (Washington) and Giedrius Rinkevicius (Missouri) -- took advantage of the new rule and could still go to college in the fall even if they get selected.
The fear some college coaches had, however, never materialized. High school seniors like Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse), Jason Fraser (Villanova) and Evan Burns (UCLA) chose to stay out of the draft and enter when they're ready to bypass their remaining college eligibility, or after their senior seasons.
Along with the college underclassmen and high school seniors, 14 foreign-based players under the age of 22 also declared for the draft. Among these players were potential first-round picks Maybyner "Nene" Hilario of Brazil, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who played for Benetton last season, and German Boris Diaw-Riffiod.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com
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