College
UC, XU losing players to NBA
By Paul Dehner Jr. and C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted April 7, 2010 12:59 PM ET
Cincinnati's two highest-profile college basketball players may not be around next season. There are reports that both UC's Lance Stephenson and Xavier's Jordan Crawford will be entering the NBA draft.
Stephenson said throughout the final month of the Bearcats season that he would return for his sophomore year.On Wednesday, the New York high school star told SNY that he would not be living up to those words and will be declaring for the NBA Draft.
"After speaking with Lance and his parents, I fully understand and support his decision to continue his development as a professional," said head coach Mick Cronin. "Lance is a very determined and hardworking young man and he knows that he has much to learn and must improve as a player. Lance and his family are very aware of the path that lies ahead for him and one thing that I have 100 percent confidence in is that Lance is willing to work as hard as he can to reach his potential. We appreciate his efforts on the floor and in the classroom at UC and wish him all the best as he pursues his goals as a professional."
Word from UC is that Stephenson has hired an agent.
Xavier sports information director Tom Eiser said that, according to Chris Mack, Crawford indeed has declared for the draft as was originally publicized by his mother's Twitter account, but Crawford did not hire an agent.
He is also still going to school at Xavier.
As long as Crawford doesn't hire an agent, the star of Xavier's run to the Sweet 16 could still withdraw his name from consideration.
Stephenson's stance, however, is clearly final.
According to Adam Zagoria's blog, the quote from Stephenson is that supporting his family ended up playing a significant role in this decision.
"I have decided to withdraw from the University of Cincinnati and enter my name into this year's NBA draft," Stephenson said to SNY. "After carefully reviewing my options, it is now clear to me that the need to emotionally and financially support my family, especially my young daughter, along with my long-standing and burning passion to play in the NBA, outweighs my desire to return to the University of Cincinnati."
So, apparently, it ends.
Stephenson, who owns the New York high school record for points in a career, breaking that of high school-to-professional star Sebastian Telfair, led a tumultous journey to picking a college. He ended up landing at UC. Stephenson averaged 12.3 points and 5.4 rebounds as a freshman.
He came on toward the end of the season, where he averaged 14.2 points and 6.7 rebounds over the final nine games. He was the primary force in UC's run to the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
One of the premier sources of draft information, DraftExpress.com, tweeted that Stephenson's declaration may have been a mistake. Stating that the New York star would be initially projected from the late second round to undrafted.
"He had a very underwhelming season and has zero buzz right now," tweeted Jonathon Givony at DraftExpress
The same couldn't be said for Crawford, who led the Musketeers with 20.5 points a game and also averaged 4.7 repounds and 2.9 assists per game. He led the Musketeers with 32 points in its season-ending loss to Kansas State and averaged 29 points a game in three NCAA Tournament games.
NBAdraft.net pins Crawford on the cusp of the first round in its breakdown of the Xavier sophomore.
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Men's Basketball, News, University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Tags: Bearcats, Lance Stephenson
Comments (0)