This year, 181 collegiate underclassmen (as well as 55 international players) filed as early-entry candidates for the 2018 NBA Draft according to the NBA. These college underclassmen had until Wednesday, May 30 to withdraw their name from draft considerations (as long as they didn’t sign with an agent,) and be eligible to play for their college next season (international players have until June 11 to withdraw).
It should come as no surprise that many of the underclassmen have decided to take their name out of the early-entry list being that only 60 players get selected in the draft.
Here are the players that will be heading back to college after originally testing the draft waters. They are grouped by whether they will be in their sophomore, junior, or senior year of eligibility next season in college.
Sophomores
- Nojel Eastern, G (Purdue)
- Jaylen Hands, G (UCLA)
- Jalen McDaniels, F (San Diego State)
- Jontay Porter, F (Missouri)
- Cody Riley, F (UCLA)
- Max Strus, G (DePaul)
- PJ Washington, F (Kentucky)
- Tremont Waters, G (LSU)
- Lindell Wigginton, G (Iowa State)
- Kris Wilkes, G (UCLA)
Juniors
- Udoka Azubike, C (Kansas)
- Tyus Battle, G (Syracuse)
- Ky Bowman, G (Boston College)
- Tyler Cook, F (Iowa)
- Carsen Edwards, G (Purdue)
- Jared Harper, G (Auburn)
- Charles Matthews, G (Michigan)
- Isaiah Moss, G (Iowa)
- Lamar Peters, G (Mississippi State)
- Shamorie Ponds, G (St. John’s)
- Nick Ward, F (Michigan State)
- Austin Wiley, C (Auburn)
Seniors
- Sedrick Barefield, G (Utah)
- Lamonte Bearden, G (Western Kentucky)
- Bryce Brown, G (Auburn)
- Jordan Caroline, F (Nevada)
- Chris Clemons, G (Campbell)
- Mike Daum, F (South Dakota State)
- Jon Davis, G (Charlotte)
- Noah Dickerson, F (Washington)
- Torin Dorn, G (NC State)
- Jon Elmore, G (Marshall)
- Robert Franks, F (Washington State)
- Admon Gilder, G (Texas A&M)
- Jessie Govan, C (Georgetown)
- Ethan Happ, F (Wisconsin)
- Tyler Hall, G (Montana State)
- Jalen Hudson, G (Florida)
- Justin James, G (Wyoming)
- Zach Johnson, G (Miami)
- Abdul Lewis, F (NJIT)
- Fletcher Magee, G (Wofford)
- Caleb Martin, F (Nevada)
- Cody Martin, F (Nevada)
- Shelton Mitchell, G (Clemson)
- Matt Morgan, G (Cornell)
- Marcquise Reed, G (Clemson)
- Reid Travis, F (Stanford - will transfer)
Of the more noteworthy players who will return to school are the Martin twins of Nevada.
Cody averaged 14 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks last season while his brother Caleb posted averages of 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 steals.
The NBA Draft will take place on June 21 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The top five picks in order are owned by the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Dallas Mavericks. Many mock drafts have Arizona freshman center DeAndre Ayton going with the first overall selection, according to the nbadraft.net.
