As you may have seen by now, NBADraft.net has reported that Texas forward Tristan Thompson will forego his remaining college eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. The report cites "sources close to the situation." As many of us have noted, there is a University of North Texas senior named Tristan Thompson who recently signed with an agent, suggesting that the NBADraft.net report was based on a confusion of the two TTs.
But NBADraft.net is sticking with its story. I emailed the reporter and asked if he had possibly been confused and was told that no, he meant the Tristan Thompson with the Longhorns. I asked further if he would be willing to give me some information on his source(s), and he politely declined, but added that based on where he got the information, he was "99% sure" it was accurate.
That is a, um, pretty high degree of confidence. At the very least, there's no question that NBADraft.net intended to report what they did. They were talking about Texas' Thompson, and they are reporting that he's gone. Already.
While it is heartening that Tristan's mother is denying the report, unfortunately such denials are not uncommon in these situations. If Longhorns fans are looking for something on which to pin their hopes, I would instead point to the fact that no one else is reporting it yet. I've put out feelers elsewhere amongst those who tend to be the first to know and have yet to find any confirmation of the story. At least for now, I'm holding out for confirmation from another source.
Until then, we wait.