North Carolina underclassmen Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green will return to Chapel Hill after removing their names from the NBA draft Monday.
The school's announcement came less than an hour before the deadline for underclassmen who had not hired agents to withdraw from the draft. It means the Tar Heels figure to enter next year as prohibitive favorites to reach the Final Four. North Carolina will return its top six players while also adding one of the nation's top recruiting classes.
All three players had participated in the predraft camp before working out for individual teams in recent weeks. Coach Roy Williams said the three gained "valuable information,"
but said the timing for a leap to the NBA "was just not exactly right at this point."
Other players withdrawing were Texas guard A.J. Abrams; Arizona forward Chase Budinger; Ronald Steele of Alabama; Robert Dozier of Memphis; Jeremy Pargo of Gonzaga; UAB guard Robert Vaden; and Tennessee-Martin guard Lester Hudson.
UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, DeAndre Jordan of Texas A&M, California's Ryan Anderson and Alabama's Richard Hendrix will enter the draft.
Projected as a likely second-round draft pick, the 6-foot-7 Hendrix said the fact that he already had his degree helped make the decision easier.
"I feel strongly that this is an opportunity for me to reach my individual and personal goals as a basketball player,"
said Hendrix, the Crimson Tide's leading scorer and rebounder. "I feel that this decision is the right decision for me. I have no regrets with this decision."
Steele missed last season following arthroscopic surgery on both knees. He already has a degree in financial planning.
"I'm really excited about coming back my senior year to play,"
Steele said. "After praying about this and talking with my family, my coaches and people within the NBA, I feel like I made the right decision for me."
Dozier said in a statement that he loved the process and the honesty he found.
"I'm coming back with the mind-set that next year's team can be even better than what we were a year ago, knowing a lot of that will fall on my shoulders,"
Dozier said.
Memphis was beaten by Kansas for the national championship. The Tigers already had lost freshman guard Derrick Rose and junior All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts to the draft.
"I want Robert to come back with two things in mind: to help the team win a national championship and become the player of the year in college basketball,"
Memphis coach John Calipari said.
