Posted at 10:01 a.m., Thursday, April 5, 2007
Florida's juniors to declare for NBA draft
Bloomberg News
The four junior starters who helped the University of Florida win two straight men's college basketball championships will enter the NBA draft, school president Bernie Machen said.Coach Billy Donovan, who was mentioned by ESPN and other media outlets as a candidate for the University of Kentucky job, said he will return to the Gators.
Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Taurean Green will all give up their final year of college eligibility for the NBA, Machen said in an interview. The quartet and senior Lee Humphrey teamed to become the first starting five in NCAA tournament history to win back-to-back titles.
"They will announce soon that they're going to stand for the draft," Machen said in an interview for Bloomberg Radio's "On the Ball" program that will air this weekend. "They thought about it and decided it was in their best interest to move on."
All are considered by scouts to be first-round picks. College underclassmen have until April 29 to declare for the June 28 draft. They can withdraw their names by June 18 if they don't hire an agent.
