By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
Eligible for the 2014 NBA Draft, 18-year old Australian sensation Dante Exum has yet to decide on whether to pursue a professional career or attend college for at least one year beginning in the fall of 2014. The one thing he does know is that if he does attend college, it will not be this fall.
The fact that Exum graduates from the Australian Institute of Sport in October has led to speculation that he would enroll in school in December, play the second semester, then declare for the NBA Draft. Exum, who is currently slotted as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft by DraftExpress, put that notion to rest in an interview with ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman on Wednesday.
“Schools have been saying I can start in early December and play this season,” Exum told Goodman. “But if college is the option, I’ll stay in Australia, do workouts with the national team and then go to college next August. Playing this season in college is not an option.”
If college is the move, Exum told Goodman Indiana, North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan and Oregon are his finalists. As it stands right now, the Hoosiers are the presumed favorites.
“Indiana was one of the first schools to show a real deep interest in me,” the 6-foot-5 Exum told SNY.tv back in July. “So I decided to take a visit to Indiana earlier this year. Just so I can see their program and what they are about. But it will be interesting to compare them to some of the others school I want to look further into when I take those visits.”
Exum is coming off a big spring and summer with strong showings at the FIBA U19 World Championships and Nike Hoop Summit, He was able to parlay that success into a spot on the Australian Senior National Team, which recently qualified for next summer’s FIBA World Cup by defeating New Zealand, 2-0, in a best-of-3 series to win the FIBA Oceania Championship.
He saw limited action in the two games at shooting guard while playing behind former St. Mary’s standout Matthew Dellavedova, who will be going to training camp next month with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
