at TexasESPN.com news services
The Texas Longhorns will reportedly be without one of their leading scorers next season.
LaMarcus Aldridge, whose sophomore season ended with a disappointing performance in Texas' overtime loss to LSU in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, has told teammates and the Longhorns coaching staff he will enter the NBA draft, three sources told The Dallas Morning News.
Aldridge is projected as a possible high first-round pick in the NBA draft -- and ranks at No. 3 on ESPN Insider Chad Ford's Top 100 -- but declined to discuss his future after Texas' loss.
Aldridge's 26-point, 13-rebound performance against West Virginia in the Sweet Sixteen had scouts buzzing that he had solidified his place as a potential No. 1 pick in the draft, according to Ford. But his 2-for-14 performance against LSU had scouts backing off a little bit.
The 6-10 forward averaged 15.0 points and 9.2 rebounds a game during the regular season.
In related news, Longhorns coach Rick Barnes will remain at Texas, despite reports the North Carolina State had targeted Barnes in its coaching search, the Morning News also reported.
Barnes' annual base salary will increase from $1.3 million to $1.8 million, and he will receive a $125,000 bonus if Texas reaches the NCAA Tournament, according to the newspaper.
In 2006, the Longhorns won a school-record 30 games, and earned a share of the Big 12 regular season title.
So this means that Darrell Arthur (or Dorrell) is much more likely to join the Longhorns. :(
ReplyDeleteI have heard that they still need to free up 1 more scholarship though to make room for Arthur.
So they have about two weeks to run off one of their Freshmen I guess.
It will be interesting to see if they do in fact "run off" one of their schol players.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Arthur, it seems to me KU would make more sense since UT already has a blue-chip power forward coming in, Kevin Durant.
Then again, with Buckman and Aldridge gone, I guess he has a better chance of moving into the starting lineup right away at UT, whereas KU has three returning big men (four if you count Julian).
He had been talking as if KU was sort of ahead of the pack throughout the season, and we already knew Aldridge was almost certain to leave anyway. So you wouldn't think this would change anything, but logic doesn't always prevail in these things.