Turner skipping senior year
Published 2:36 am Thursday, April 8, 2010
Freshman All-Americans John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and AP player of the year Evan Turner were among 10 players — including five from Kentucky — who declared for the NBA draft on Wednesday.
Wall and Cousins were joined by freshman teammates Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton and junior Patrick Patterson in leaving a Wildcats team that had a remarkable turnaround in coach John Calipari’s first year at Kentucky. The Wildcats went 35-3 and won the Southeastern Conference regular season and conference tournament titles before losing to West Virginia in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament.
Calipari met with each player individually and encouraged them to gauge their draft prospects.
“It’s extremely unusual for four freshmen from the same team to have this opportunity, but it’s my job as a coach to prepare these young men for such opportunities,” Calipari said.
Also joining Ohio State’s Turner and the Kentucky crew headed to the pros are two more one-and-done freshman in Cincinnati’s Lance Stephenson and Kansas’ Xavier Henry. Dayton junior Chris Wright, Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford and Florida junior Alex Tyus also declared their eligibility for the draft, though none have hired agents and could return to college.