Okafor hits NBA draft

[pretense78]

UConn's Okafor Declares for NBA Draft




NEW YORK (Reuters) - Emeka Okafor will enter this year's NBA draft, the University of Connecticut center said on Friday.

Okafor, who led the Huskies to the NCAA (news - web sites) national championship earlier this month, will forego the final year of college eligibility and could go as high as number one in June's draft.

"All good things come to an end," Okafor told a news conference.

"I've had a great three years here. I got my degree and we won the championship. It's time to move on."

He said he had been thinking of declaring for the draft before Connecticut won the national title. He also insisted previous back injuries had been cleared up.

Okafor was named college basketball Final Four (news - web sites)'s outstanding player after dominant performances against Duke and Georgia Tech.

In the final against Georgia Tech, he scored 24 points and 15 rebounds.

Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said: "Be sure to take a picture, you won't see his like at the University of Connecticut again."


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That's cool that he decided to get his degree before hitting the draft. Too many guys don't do that.

[lethal]

And unlike almost all other early entrants, Okafor will graduate from UConn with a degree. Only took him 3 years too. Pretty impressive.

[mrazntre]

in what though?

[pretense78]

in what though?
Finance.

[mrazntre]

nice!

[Ron]

He seems to be in great shape for the draft!

Technicalities:
Needs to work on hitting that fadeaway and some of his post moves if he want to do well against some of today's better defenders in PFs like Kevin Garnett and Ben Wallace.

[kurei kun]

a high gpa too. 3.91? something like that

he's a top 2 pick. no doubt. he'd be number 1, but the hawks might be in the position to grab dwight howard with the number one, so who knows.

what's scary is that his chronic back problems a la tyson chandler might hurt his value.

still, he's one of the best players to come out of the college in a long time. fundamentally sound, an outstanding defender in college. has a height similar to zo mourning and i think he has enough in his frame to fill a little more muscle

okafor improved a lot between his freshman and sophomore years by working wth the great bill russell, and heck even russell said that okafor was the closest player to himself.

good player, won't be a good offensive player but better than ben wallace. a solid player like elton brand, but will never post up 20 and 10 like brand. probably a career of 14, 12, and 3 blks

[kerosene]

He should've been player of the year.

[mrazntre]

man.

and if his back goes out, he can just kick ass at Deloitte, Touche and Tomatsu.

[Ron]

He should've been player of the year.

True.

Most of the people who voted for POY (coaches, editors, etc) probably picked the other guy because Okafor had better people surrounding him.

I hope they don't use this argument on Kevin Garnett.

[kurei kun]

True.

Most of the people who voted for POY (coaches, editors, etc) probably picked the other guy because Okafor had better people surrounding him.

I hope they don't use this argument on Kevin Garnett.

was it jameer nelson who got it?

and am i the only one who thinks jameer nelson was the most overrated player in the ncaa this year?

dalonte west > jameer nelson

[yoMAMA]

finance is a harcore major...[my major :biggrin: ] and he's got like a 3.9 from what i read on ESPN [and he walked in 3 years!].............

this dude is sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kurei kun]

oh and he's a top 2 pick easily. if he falls out of the top 2 or even the top 5, then the gms are smoking crack.

[kerosene]

Damn, I gotta get his autograph before he graduates. Imma go look for him maybe today or tomorrow.

[kurei kun]

grab gordon's and villanueva's too

[FrankieY18]

i'm going to pick him on my fantasy team