Every year when players go through this process, we as fans get a pretty good idea from various sources of feedback whether or not a guy is in or out. With Luc, he originally said if he was not 1st round he would be back at UCLA. When it became clear that he was not going in the top 30, he then said he would stay in the draft if he had a second round guarantee. Getting a 2nd round guarantee is extremely rare and even if he gets that, he still has to make the team.

It seems like a no brainer to come back to UCLA for his senior year with a shot at another Final Four. If he waits, I think his stock will not get any worse than it is now and could definitely get better. On the other hand, we have heard from many different sources that he really wants to be in the NBA now. Another year seems like such a long time, especially when you are 20, but it flies by and I think it is in his best interest to return to UCLA. We’ll just have to wait and see…

A slew of web sites are reporting that Lawson, Ellington and Green are all pulling out of the draft and returning to UNC.

Credit where credit is due: Roy Williams does a nice job of keeping his kids in school—with the recent exception of Alec Stepheson noted. And, yeah, there were players on his national title team that left after winning a ring, but that only makes sense.

Even Wooden Award winner Tyler Hansbrough is back—for his senior year.

Tar Heels are the team to beat next year—we need Luc back even more now.

(I don’t follow the Duke-Carolina wars too closely. But this has to suck for Duke fans. Half a decade ago, they were the flat out darlings of the college basketball world and their coach was considered the best in the business, at least by the media. And they’ve been completely outclassed by their arch-rival lately. I’m neutral on UNC and Duke, but man … )

The deadline is 5 pm Eastern Time, so we still have about another 70 minutes to go.

This from Inside UCLA with Brian Dohn

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has until 9 p.m. Pacific time to make up his mind if he wants to stay in the NBA draft or return to UCLA.
Last check, he was having a workout with an NBA team today. He probably will take all the time that is allotted to him to make his decision.
As soon as I know something, you will know something.
Last week, coach Ben Howland said he expects Mbah a Moute to be a second-round pick if he stays in the draft and that he wants a guarantee from a team he will be picked. However, Howland said no team is going to give him that kind of guarantee. He will be too late of pick and there’s no telling who will be available as the draft comes to a close.

Especially after North Carolina brings back all three of its early entries, plus Tyler Hansbrough who never even considered leaving, Memphis brings back Robert Dozier, Texas gets AJ Abrams back, and in the Pac-10, Arizona gets Chase Budinger back. Oh well…hopefully it will all work out for him. Its too bad he didn’t see the benefit in returning one more season to all but lock up a first round selection in next year’s draft. I still see us as the strong favorite in the Pac 10 and top 10 team in the country. I guess we’ll find out right away how great this freshman class is. Undoubtedly there will be some growing pains at the beginning of next season, seeing as how much we will be forced to rely on freshmen. But with Coach Howland in charge, I’m confident we’ll be challenging for our 4th straight final four by the end of the season.

According to Brian Dohn, UCLA is holding a press conference at 3:30 to announce Luc’s decision. Usually the school does not make this announcement if the player is leaveing right? Like with Russel and Kevin, they made the announcements on their own to the media. Thoughts?

I can only hope this is the case. We’ll see, I guess.

May you be drafted by a team that appreciates your talents. I’m sure the Lakers wouldn’t mind taking you with the 58th pick if you’re still on the board.

He has been one of my favorite Ben Ball Warriors during the Bruin resurgence.

Hopefully a team will take him high enough to provide him with some financial security.

This is unfortunate for next year’s team for sure, but keep in mind that we still have an incredibly deep (in context of recent years, at least) and talented team stepping out on the court this fall. Even w/o Luc, we are better off at the 1-4 positions than last year’s Final Four team; the big effect of Luc’s departure is that next year’s 2nd unit will only be the 3rd, maybe 4th best team in the Pac-10, rather than the 2nd best ;)

with DC and Shipp coming back, AA2 likely to come back, and the addition of Morgan, but definitely far short of a Bruin dream scenario. With UNC returning everyone, they will be the prohibitive favorites, a la Florida in 2006.

If Number 12 is coming to Westwood any time soon, we will likely need one of two things to happen: 1. Another Final Four team doesn’t return their whole damn starting lineup, or 2. Our team actually returns their whole damn starting lineup.

one of these years, can it just be our team that decides to all stick together for one more year? UNC got really lucky with Hansbrough. I think we will still be a good team and will get better as the season progresses. I will really miss Luc and while I still don’t quite understand this decision, I wish him the best. Thank you Luc!

certainly a blow for Cal (expected as it may have been) in Monty’s return to the Pac.

I think this is everybody from the Pac-10 that has remained on the NBA early eligibility list, as of this afternoon.

- UCLA: Kevin Love, Luc, Russell Westbrook
- U$C: OJ Mayo, Davon Jefferson
- Stanford: Lopez (x2)
- Arizona: Jerryd Bayless
- Cal: Ryan Anderson

I wish Luc the best, but it doesn’t make much sense. To me this just means he wasn’t happy at UCLA (for whatever reason) or he nees the money. He is just too mediocre to make this decision unless there are non-basketball things in the way to skew the analysis. Too bad. I’m not sure how I feel, except I disagree with those around here who actually thought that he would hurt our team if he did come back. I wonder what role his cousin played in this.

I had a feeling the Prince would leave. I just couldn’t figure out what reason he’d have to come back, if his goal is to play in the NBA. He won’t improve his jump shot that dramatically in one year, which to me meant that he would be in exactly the same spot next year as far as the draft is concerned. Sure, he’d have a chance at a championship…but he probably knows how fickle fate is in the Final Four. I am fully supportive of him and will miss him!