Thursday afternoon, Statesmen hoops writer Mark Rosner tweeted that a source close to Texas forward Tristan Thompson's family and an NBA scout told him that Thompson will enter the NBA draft.

A tweet from Thompson several days ago talked about finishing a paper, so he's still involved in passing his classes at Texas, which is a good sign for the Longhorns, but it sounds like Thompson may not return for his sophomore season to play with long-time friend Myck Kabongo.

Obviously, if Thompson does leave it would be a major hit to the Texas frontcourt, which would consist of Alexis Wangmene, Clint Chapman and freshmen Jonathan Holmes and Kevin Thomas.

For all the criticism of Rick Barnes over the years, players leaving early for the NBA has played as large a role in the lack of Final Four appearances as anything else. And it looks increasingly like 2011-12 won't be the season that the Longhorns finally catch a break.

With Thompson, Texas is a contender. Without him, not so much.