Remember last year when a certain Badger basketball player was trying to figure out what to do with his life? Remember when just the thought of this player leaving made you sick to your stomach because you did not want to imagine what the men's basketball team would be like this year? Remember how this player took Badger fans through a roller coaster of emotions since he seemed to change his mind every two minutes?
Yes, I remember Devin Harris well. I remember the empty feeling I got when he announced his decision to enter the NBA draft. I remember seeing his big, goofy smile as he was shaking NBA commissioner David Stern's hand on Draft Day, when all I could think was, \How could you leave us, Devin?!"" I remember thinking that this past basketball season was going to be one to forget.
Thankfully, the team proved me wrong by giving me something to remember, and I am even more thankful we do not have to re-live this painful process again this spring.
Unfortunately many schools throughout the country have to participate in ""Will he stay? Will he go?"" whispers until May 14. This is the final day for players to enter their name into the draft unless they do so without an agent, they have until June 21 to make their final decision.
Of these schools, North Carolina seems to have the most buzz surrounding their underclassmen. Junior forward Rashad McCants has already decided to take his NCAA Championship and run with it to the NBA, but the futures of junior forward Sean May, junior guard Raymond Felton and freshman forward Marvin Williams are still up in the air.
I'm not going to give my two cents on Felton and Williams because honestly, I do not know enough about their game. Whenever I watched UNC this season, I too was impressed with May.
I am usually against players entering into the draft early (especially if they've barely graduated high school but I won't get into that), but in May's case, I think I can make an exception. Let's think about this: What more does he need to do? He got his championship, we all know he was the most outstanding player of the tournament and if the other Tar Heels are leaving Chapel Hill it could be a long season for May.
I have to give May credit because he does want to return for the sake of his school, fans and the aspiration to win another title, but let me remind you of another player who wanted to do the same thing. Think back to 1997. Arizona had just won the national championship and forward Miles Simon was the hero of the tournament. He could have easily been a top five pick, but Simon wanted to return to Lute Olson and his Wildcats to give it another run. They made it to the Elite Eight that season, but at that point, Simon fell off the map. He was drafted by Orlando with the 42nd pick in 1998, and now if you try to find Simon's player profile on NBA.com all you will see is ""The page you attempted to access does not exist on our servers."" What a great reminder for Simon to know he is a has-been in the basketball world.
This far-from-fairy tale ending probably won't happen to May. He has the size advantage over Simon so his career should be brighter, but with the team void of Felton, Williams, McCants and all the seniors, a second championship seems unlikely. If May is to return he would be sharing, excuse me, carrying the entire scoring load, since the team's next-leading scorer is David Noel, who had 3.9 points per game this season. All in all, if he were to stay and UNC messes up, his draft stock could fall faster than I did coming out of the Red Shed the other night.
Obviously this is a tough decision and one I'm glad I'll never have to make. I wish May the best of luck and I hope he makes the right decision so I can see Tar Heel fans suffer next season.
Isn't revenge sweet?
Betsy can be reached for comment at eagolomski@wisc.edu.
