Early To Rise

By now it's routine to see premier players leave the ACC and other top leagues after a short stay in college. This year seven ACC men's performers from five schools declared their intention to go pro with eligibility remaining. The deadline for declaring was April 27 at 11:59 PM. Players can still withdraw their names from consideration until June 16, assuming they haven't signed with an agent.

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The dates by which players must declare their intentions, and deadlines for withdrawing from the draft, keep changing, but the basic process is unchanged. That is, players have scant control of their own fate until they work through their first NBA contract, assuming they get one.

For the fourth time in six seasons, at least one Duke player is among those jumping early to the pros. Actually, both Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood are gone, both as underclassmen. Two Syracuse players also are gone - sophomore Jerami Grant and freshman Tyler Ennis.

This is the eighth time in the past decade at least two members of the same ACC squad left early. UNC has endured such upheaval three times during that period, most recently in 2012. Additionally, in 2008 four Tar Heels tested the waters (as the saying goes), but came back and proceeded to win the '09 NCAA title.

In all, 13 UNC players have left early since 2001, most in the ACC.

Prior to 1999 Mike Krzyzewski's program had a nearly unique persuasive charm: none of his players left early for the pros until a superbly talented Blue Devil squad lost to UConn in the NCAA title game. A few months later underclassmen William Avery, Elton Brand and Corey Maggette declared for the draft. Since 2002 Duke has seen 11 players depart with eligibility remaining, second-most in the conference.

Seven ACC players threw their hats into the NBA ring since 2003 but didn't get drafted. While clearly talented, most were shadowed by questions about their natural position or their maturity, physical or otherwise.

Of the 13 ACC players since 2001 who checked out their options and returned, seven were not drafted when their college careers ended - Miami's Reggie Johnson, N.C. State's Tracy Smith, Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney, Clemson's James Mays, Maryland's Ebene Ibekwe, Wake's Eric Williams, and N.C. State's Damien Wilkins, who transferred to Georgia and made it in the NBA as a free agent.