By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
Kentucky freshman big man Julius Randle took to Twitter Wednesday evening to deny a report that he had already decided to enter the NBA Draft.
The tweet said, “Idk who reported what but I haven’t made up my mind about the draft yet. Haven’t even talked to my family about it. So it’s all false.
Randle’s tweet contradicts an earlier report from ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, who cited multiple sources in saying that Randle had already chosen to leave Lexington after one season. UK spokesman John Hayden could not confirm Goodman’s report to SNY.tv.
“No, he just sent a tweet to clear this up,” Randle’s mother, Carolyn Kyles, told SNY.tv via text message. “We are planning on talking about it this weekend.”
If Randle, who averaged 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds for the Wildcats, does eventually declare, it won’t come as a shock. It has been considered a foregone conclusion since before he even stepped on campus.
Randle should be a lock for the top 10 and could find himself inside the top five after a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats marched all the way to Monday’s national championship game before losing to Connecticut, 60-54.
DraftExpress currently has Randle going fourth overall behind fellow-freshman sensations Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker. Wiggins and Embiid have announced they will enter the draft, but Parker has not. The deadline to declare is April. 27.
With the deadline looming, more Kentucky defections are expected in the near-future.
The rest of UK’s all-freshman starting five, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, James Young and Dakari Johnson could potentially leave, as could sophomore big man Willie Cauley-Stein.
