April 06, 2007
Florida Basketball: Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
The Florida juniors and lone senior Lee Humphrey are the only starting five to ever win back-to-back NCAA titles (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images).
Below is story adapted from Andy Katz at ESPN.com.
Florida coach Billy Donovan told ESPN.com that juniors and likely first-round draft picks Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green will declare for the draft by the April 29 deadline and sign with agents, preventing them from returning for their senior season. Donovan also gave Kentucky the hand this week and decided to remain coaching a Florida.
A four-spot of scholarships became available at Florida on Thursday. And Billy Donovan's decision to remain the Gators' coach might mean unsigned power forward Patrick Patterson is not far behind. Blog Insider
A number of NBA sources consider Horford, Noah and Brewer potential top 10 picks, while Green is expected to go somewhere in the first round. All four decided against testing the draft process last year after winning a national title. All but Brewer are the sons of professional athletes.
If you guys saw the press conference you noticed the tears that flowed as these four guys leaving each other for the NBA.
Fellas, was this a good move?
Posted by anthony at April 6, 2007 10:46 AM | TrackBackProbably. It would have been cool to see them go for the three-peat, but their legacy is concrete now. Brewer's stock has gone way up this year and personally I'd take him ahead of anyone else on the team hands down. I think he and Horford are the most NBA-ready and I love Brewer's versatility. He could probably end up being a Josh Howard type of player, and any team would be happy to have that on their roster.
I'm most happy about Donovan staying. It's good to see there is still some loyalty left in sports.
Posted by: Darnay at April 6, 2007 11:41 AMDefinitely good move - the clock ticks on an athlete's body and it is good to start making income as early as possible; never know what may happen to one's knees in the future.
Posted by: barlow at April 6, 2007 12:37 PMAgreed, the whole point of college these days is to attend as a means to the greatest possible future income. Some guys play basketball others go into finance, etc.
Posted by: anthony Bradley at April 6, 2007 01:27 PM...going 3-in-a-row is nigh-impossible. Leave on top boys; good decision.
Even if they weren't planning on going pro (and now would be the second best time for them personally/individually to do so; best being at the end of last year), this is the pinnacle. The likelihood of having a three-peat is so slim that it's not worth the chance, and then THAT would be what you were remembered for; the guys who came back for a THIRD time and failed...rather than the sophomores who came back to win it again as juniors.
Posted by: Shawn at April 8, 2007 08:40 PMWho cares! It's Florida/SEC basketball for poop's sake! Ahem, now, if we're talking about Pac-10 ball then I'm all ears. :-)
Posted by: Tyler at April 8, 2007 11:20 PM