Here is the list of Early Entry Candidates. There were a few surprises - such as Alabama's Alonzo Gee, former Kansas State 7-foot castoff Jason Bennett, the UAB Duo of Walter Sharpe and Reggie Huffman and a pair of mid-major guards - Bruce Price of Tennessee State and Courtney Pigram of East Tennessee State.
Players have until 5 p.m. ET on June 16 to withdraw.
A.
On the basis of letters received prior to midnight April 27, 2008, the
following basketball players from the listed U.S. colleges and post-graduate
institutions have applied as “early entry” players to be eligible for selection
in the 2008 NBA Draft:
A.J. Abrams, Texas Josh Akognon, Cal State Fullerton Joe Alexander, West Virginia Antonio Anderson, Memphis Ryan Anderson, Cal Darrell Arthur, Kansas D.J. Augustin, Texas Derek Bailey, Providence Christian Academy (KS) Jerryd Bayless, Arizona Michael Beasley, Kansas State Jason Bennett, Tallahasee CC (FL) Keith Brumbaugh, Hillsborough CC (FL) Chase Budinger, Arizona Derrick Caracter, Louisville DeMarre Carroll, Missouri Charles Carter, Oklahoma Baptist Josh Carter, Texas A&M Mario Chalmers, Kansas Lee Cummard, BYU Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis Robert Dozier, Memphis Wayne Ellington, North Carolina Alonzo Gee, Alabama C.J. Giles, Oregon State Eric Gordon, Indiana Jamont Gordon, Mississippi State Paul Graham II, Florida Atlantic Danny Green, North Carolina Donte Green, Syracuse Kalen Grimes, Missouri Richard Hendrix, Alabama J.J. Hickson, N.C. State George Hill, IUPUI Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin Reggie Huffman, UAB Stefon Jackson, UTEP Shawn James, Duquesne Davon Jefferson, USC DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M Kosta Koufos, Ohio State Ty Lawson, North Carolina Brook Lopez, Stanford Robin Lopez, Stanford Kevin Love, UCLA Leo Lyons, Missouri O.J. Mayo, USC Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA JaVale McGee, Nevada Jerel McNeal, Marquette Kojo Mensah, Duquesne Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga Courtney Pigram, East Tennessee State Trent Plaisted, BYU Bruce Price, Tennessee State Anthony Randolph, LSU John Riek, Winchendon School (MA) Derrick Rose, Memphis Brandon Rush, Kansas Walter Sharpe, UAB Josh Shipp, UCLA Kiwan Smith, Redlands CC (OK) Marreese Speights, Florida Ronald Steele, Alabama Robert Vaden, UAB Lorrenzo Wade, San Diego State Bill Walker, Kansas State Gordon Watt, Houston Baptist Russell Westbrook, UCLA Raymond Wright, Arkansas-Monticello
On the basis of letters received prior
to midnight April 27, 2008, the following international basketball players have
applied as “early entry” players to be eligible for selection in the 2008 NBA
Draft:
Alexis Ajinca Hyeres-Toulon (France) Nicolas Batum, Le Mans (France) Rodrigue Beaubois Cholet, France) Mikheil Berishvil, BC Vita (Georgia) Omri Casspi, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv (Israel) Victor Claver, Pemesa Valencia (Spain) Nando de Colo, Cholet (France) Danilo Gallinari, Armani Jeans Milano (Italy) Serge Ibaka, L'Hospitalet (Spain) Sergey Ilin, Budivelnik (Ukraine) Koe Ingles, Melbourne South Dragons (Australia) Jonas Jerebko, Biella (Italy) Mladen Jeremic, FMP Zeleznik (Serbia) Maxym Korniyenko, Dnipro (Ukraine) Luc Louves, Orleans (France) Rudy Mbemba, Solna (Sweden) Henk Norel, Alicante (Spain) Maxim Sheleketo, VEF Riga (Latvia) Giorgi Shermadini, Maccabi Tbilisi (Georgia) Ante Tomic, Zagreb (Croatia) Maksym Vilkhovetskyi, Dnipro, (Ukraine) Ronald Zakis, VEF Riga (Latvia)
We have received information that the following players may either have
signed professional basketball contracts with teams in leagues other than the
NBA or otherwise exhausted their NCAA Division I basketball eligibility. If
this information is correct, these players would also be eligible for selection
in the 2008 NBA Draft. Because this information has not been verified, however,
teams should do their own due diligence (as with any other draft selection) and
call the League Office before picking any of these players in the 2008 NBA
Draft.
Angel Alamo Sacramento State/Caguas (Puerto Rico) Sadell Ayala, Iowa Western, Humacao (Puerto Rico) Takais Brown, Georgia/Torpan Pojat (Finland) Sasha Cuic, Oregon State/AEL (Cyprus) James Davis, Lamar/Saitama Broncos (Japan) Rockminn Dillard, Grand Rapids CC/Grand Rapids (IBL) Viktor Dubovitskiy, Chipola JC/Lok Novos (Russia) Tom Garlepp, UC Santa Barbara/Perth (Australia) Jaaron Greene, George Washington, Corning (ABA) Jerome Habel, San Diego State/San Diego (ABA) Tearon Hill, Western Nebraska CC/Texas (ABA) Nathan Jawai, Midland CC/Cairns (Australia) Bart Jillisen, Carl Albert JC/West Brabant (Netherlands) Jadranko Jusu####ic Gulf Coast CC/Zenica
Celik (Bosnia) Antonio Kellogg San Francisco/Polpharma (Poland) Ryan Kersten New Mexico/New Zealand (Australia) Robert Krabbendam Virginia Tech/Amsterdam (Holland) Jorge Lebron Hofstra/Ponce (Puerto Rico) Josh Love Hill JC/West Texas (ABA) Damian Martin Loyola Marymount/West Sydney (Australia) Gal Mekel Wichita State/Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv
(Israel) Sammy Monroe Newberry/Austin
(D-League) Raed Mostafa Western
Kentucky/Horsens (Denmark) Curtis Muse Mineral
Area CC/Silute (Lithuania) Geoff Payne Southern Utah Jermain Raffington Southeastern
Iowa CC/Chemnitz (Germany) Mike Taylor Iowa State/Idaho (D-League) James Tyler Patterson School-NC/Elkhart (IBL) Aleksandar Ugrinoski Arkadia (Austria)/Utah (D-League) Jari Vanttaja Baylor/Componenta
(Finland) Fabricio Vay Akasvayu
Vic (Spain)/Iowa (D-League) Damiano Verri New Mexico JC/Basket Trapani (Italy) Stephen Weigh Utah/Rockhampton (Australia) Isaac Wells Arkansas State/Indesit Fabriano (Italy) Devino Williams Palm Beach CC/Halifax (ABA)
Jusa####ic Brings “European” Style To GCCC
PANAMA CITY - The Gulf Coast men’s basketball team is coming off a disappointing 11 win season last year. A season that ending with only five players on the Commodores roster.
But, the Commodores are much improved, with a full roster, for this year’s campaign. Gulf Coast has won five of it’s last six games.
One answer to the early success: the European-born 6-10 center.
“We call him J.J.,” Gulf Coast point guard Marcus Nicks said. “But his real name is Jadranko Jusu####ic. With an accent on Ja-dran-ko. Don’t ask me to spell it.”
No matter how you spell it, J.J. is helping the Commodores spell W-I-N.
Jusu####ic leads the team in scoring with 17 points per game and he leads the team in rebounds with nine.
“He’s a big help to us,” Nicks said. “With his inside-out game, he creates a match-up problem for defenders on the other team.”
It’s J.J.’s “European” style that causes the problems. He runs the floor, he passes, he plays solid defense, and standing just under seven feet tall he can shoot the long ball!
“He’s got a good touch,” head coach Jim Hatfield said. “Anytime you shoot over 40 percent, you’re okay.”
J.J. was born in Bosnia. He and his family moved to Australia as refugees after the Bosnia and Herzegovina War.
In Australia, he played basketball at an academy that prepared the nations athletes for national and Olympic games.
Coach Hatfield had never seen Jusu####ic before coming to the United States. Hatfield said th
Hopefully half of these guys are just checking to see where they stand now so they know how much they have to improve to get dratfed higher next year like the 2 Memphis Players Anderson & Dozier.
They entered their names in the draft to go to the NBA pre-Draft Camps to find out what teams think of them and if they are not highly sought after they will pull thier names out before the June 16th dead line. I think they will pull out alone with a lot of other players who won't get drafted high.
Of the players here that do get drafted, how many of them will be starters or get significant playing time? For every under developed "project" they bring in to sit the bench for a few years, they have to cut a proven veteran to make room. This lowers the overall talent and skill of the NBA. This is exactly why they need to raise the age requirement.
The good news is if you stay in the draft, are not drafted, do not hire an agent, and otherwise do not accept any money, you maintain your remaining college eligibility. Whether a player's former college or university will accept him back is a different issue.
I know in 2005, Kentucky freshman Randolph Morris entered the NBA Draft. He went through that draft without being selected. Because he did not do anything else to cost him any future college eligibility, he was able to go back to Kentucky. He played two more seasons, and because he had already been through one draft, he was free to sign with any NBA team whenever he wanted. About a week after the 2006-07 college basketball season ended, Morris signed with the New York Knicks as a free agent, and did play briefly in the NBA that season.
As for age requirements: My feeling is if you are old enough to serve in the military, if you have the talent, you should be able to pursue a career in the NBA. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League allow 18-year olds to play in their leagues. Why are people against 18-year olds playing in the NBA? I hope it is not a race thing.
You're both right. These early draft entrees hurt the game and most of them never develope into good NBA players. On the other hand who are we to say that someone is to too young.
Here's the problem, there are way too many kids that are no where near ready for the NBA that enter the draft, never develope, only make a few Million before they find themselves getting paid the league minumum to ride the bench or get cut from the team all together.
There shouldn't be an age limit but maybe based on season and tourney play combined with Pre-NBA Draft camps that the NBA & the NCAA only allow the draft to be filled with 80% Gradutes/4 year students and 20% Non Graduates/1-3 year students/national players so that only the top level players get drafted and for the 4 year students it doesn't matter cause their NCAA time is over. For those that don't make it they can come back to college and try next year. Everyone wins, the NBA gets the top tanlent, non-Graduates get more time to develope and College programs keep most of their team instead of rebuilding every Year.
First let me say that "college" athletics is a joke. These schools make millions off their "students" and then complain when they want to make their own. There should be no school sports. In other parts of the world communities support their club teams, pay the players and the community fans root for their teams. Colleges should be for education and not for sports. Ninety percent of the kids who go onto the pros don't graduate with their classes anyway, so let's stop the hypocritical BS.
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Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com - This is the only place you'll find continuous daily updates from the world of college basketball, so check back as often as you'd like.
