Could College Basketball Get A Surprise Return Former Player Of The Year?
On June 22, 2023, the National Basketball Association (NBA) will hold its two-round draft. Fifty-eight picks will be selected. Former Kentucky basketball Player of the Year (POTY) Oscar Tshiebwe remained in the breeze on the May 31st deadline to pull his name out and return to college basketball. His draft status is questionable.
Most NBA draft analysts have Oscar anywhere from 62-75 on the best-available player list. With 58 picks in this year's NBA draft, it is questionable if he will be selected this Thursday. If Tshiebwe were to go undrafted, could he play again in college basketball next season?
Or even suit up for his beloved Kentucky Wildcats for one more season? A mostly unknown rule changed a few years ago would allow that to happen. Here is how. (insert in from a Krem 2 article)
*Players Can Participate In The NBA Draft & Return To College
*Now, here's another aspect that has changed. Players can go all the way through the NBA draft process. This means they can participate in the draft day; if a team doesn't take them, they can return to college. Of course, this is for early entrants still with college eligibility.
*The one stipulation is to do this, the player must have participated in the NBA Draft Combine.
*To return, the athlete must inform the school's Athletic Director by 5 pm.m. the Monday after the draft.
*Again, before the 2019 rule changes, if a player was a part of draft day, their college eligibility was lost.
*If a player enters the draft and is drafted by a team, they lose their college eligibility. You can't be taken by a group and then decide you want to return to college. This protects NBA teams and their draft picks.
*Therefore, a player can't return to college to raise their draft stock if they are unhappy with where they were taken.
*Players can enter the NBA Draft three times
*In total, a player can enter the NBA draft three times. There is a limit set on withdrawing twice. So, players cannot return to college the third time they enter.
The big blue nation (BBN) should pay close attention this Thursday to see if their now former star center gets drafted. If he doesn’t get selected in the draft, there is a possibility that he could return for one more year to wreak havoc in the SEC for the Wildcats. Oscar would ha5 pm until 5 pm on Monday, June 26, to inform his Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart.
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