You might as well size up North Carolina for a set of rings.
The trio of Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Ty Lawson have decided to withdraw from the 2008 NBA Draft and return to Chapel Hill for the 2008-09 season.
They will join reigning National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough and three McDonald’s All-Americans next year under head coach Roy Williams.
The trio had entered their names into the NBA Draft pool in April but did not hire agents, leaving open the possibility of returning to school. The deadline to withdraw from the draft was 5 p.m. Monday.
“After a long and exhaustive process of gathering information and sharing it with these youngsters, I stepped back and asked them to make their own decisions,” Williams said on Monday afternoon. “I’m very pleased with their decisions because I get to coach them for another year. I’m also pleased that they went through the process and gained valuable information. It was reassuring that the feedback they got from the NBA teams is the same type of feedback our coaching staff has been giving them.
“It was a lengthy process, but one that is fair for these youngsters. Everyone should have the right to be evaluated in terms of possibly reaching his dreams. I feel strongly that all of these young men will eventually be NBA players. The timing was just not exactly right at this point. They had my 100 percent support throughout the process, regardless of which decision they might have made.”
Ellington, a member of the Paterson (N.J.)-based Playaz Basketball Club who completed his sophomore season in 2007-08, has scored 1,092 points, was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2007-08 and has earned ACC All-Tournament Team honors in both seasons. He scored a career-best 36 points in a dramatic overtime win at Clemson, scored 20 or more points nine times as a sophomore and has the ninth-best free throw percentage in Carolina history.
