If DJ does not hire an agent, I assume Barnes does not have a scholarship to offer Ebanks or Witherspoon. If DJ decides in June to enter the NBA draft it will be to late.

If DJ leaves, I would love to have Ebanks join James as the second, “almost Kelvin Sampson player” to come to Austin.

Evans picked Memphis, but my understanding is that Barnes did not have a spot for him at that time anyway.

But during the week of festivities, everyone was in his ear. Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt recently visited Ebanks, and White team teammate Iman Shumpert, who’s headed to Georgia Tech, spent the weekend telling Ebanks to join the Yellow Jackets. Evans mentioned Memphis all week. Even Seattle SuperSonics rookie and former Texas star Kevin Durant, whom Ebanks is often compared to, has made a recruiting pitch. “He’s a good kid,” Durant said. “A lot like me. I wish he would come to Texas.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2008/04/19/2008-04-19_devin_ebanks_future_no_slam_dunk-1.html

http://www.texassports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=16&url_article_id=8838&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

Even though DJ stayed two, but the mass exodus after one year of NCAA ball is getting out of hand. Clearly these kids weren’t going to school for the education so they need to alter the rule and enforce some sort of age requirement or have nothing at all. I would much rather see an NBA team draft some high-schooler who flops, and helps bring down that club, than the likes of UT, Memphis, Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, et al be stricken with one year wonders. It’s sad to see some of these great coaches foam at the mouth to try to get these kids for one year. I say let the NBA have them, and restore college basketball to the way the game is suppose to be played.

. . .but that’s just one man’s opinion.

In most of the half-dozen games I saw this season, DJ, who prided himself as the take-charge leader of the team, seemed to panic--or at least lose his cool—in tight games. Against KU, I believe, in the final 1-1/2 minutes, we were tied, and he took a rushed, premature 3-point shot, missed, turned the ball over, and we went on to lose. Another time, he completely missed the basket on a free-throw down the stretch. We won that one, but I did notice this last-minute lapse on several occasions. His mental game doesn’t seem to have the keen edge it should for a leader in the pros. . . .or maybe I’m just hoping he’ll come back for another year!

Does it sound like a guy who has any intention of coming back? Nope.

He’s hiring an agent, and I think he’s hiring one soon. All this talk about preparing for a possible injury is just because one of his family members said the only way he was coming back was if he got injured. I expect him to take Durant’s approach and finish out the academic year, and then he’s history.

But good for him, and it’s better for the team that this is happening now and not this summer.