On Thursday, reports surfaced that Texas freshman big man Tristan Thompson, who last month said he planned to return to Austin for his sophomore season, would be entering the NBA draft.
That was confirmed by the school on Friday, though Thompson doesn't plan to hire an agent just yet, leaving the door open for him to return to the Longhorns before the May 8 deadline.
But, oh, there's more.
As expected, 6-foot-7 sophomore gunner Jordan Hamilton, who was the Longhorns' leading scorer this season, also declared himself eligible for June's draft. He'll sign with an agent, meaning he's officially all the way in. Hamilton's size and outside shot make him a probably first-round pick with tremendous upside.
The kicker is the decision of freshman guard Cory Joseph� ? a longtime teammate and friend of Thompson's from their days growing up outside of Toronto ?�to also throw his name in the ring.
Joseph is also opting to not attach himself with an agent just yet, but his choice comes as a significant surprise.
The 6-foot-3 point guard is oozing with promise, and showed several flashes of it during a rookie campaign in which he started all 36 games and averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and three assists.
One thing that held Joseph back some, though, was that he was forced to split point guard duties with steady senior Dogus Balbay. What made Joseph such a force as a prep standout at Findlay (Nev.) Prep was his ability to run the show and provide a little bit of everything on both ends of the floor in the process while assuming the alpha dog role.
There's no promise that he'll be able to assume that role full-time next year at Texas, either, as the Longhorns have another top Canadian point guard prospect coming in in McDonald's All-American Myck Kabongo.
Another potential draw to the draft for Joseph? His former Findlay Prep teammate, Avery Bradley, averaged similar numbers (11.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.1 apg) in his lone season at Texas in 2009-10, left early, then went 19th overall to the Boston Celtics. If he can get a first-round guarantee over the next couple of weeks from an NBA team, the opportunity to get paid might be too tough to turn down.
But no matter what Joseph decides, Texas will likely have some major growing pains next season.
It's highly unlikely that Thompson won't remain in the draft, as both his raw potential and the decisions to stay in school made by the likes of Jared Sullinger, John Henson and Tyler Zeller has turned him into that much more of a limited commodity. Several experts have him already pegged as a mid-first round choice.
If that scenario plays out, Texas will have a very young and thin front line, complemented by an also-young back-court. Basically, they'll be pretty young no matter what, and what once looked like a sure-fire preseason Top 10 team won't have so much buzz come October.
As pointed out on Thursday, though, there's a strange silver lining to come from all of this for Texas and head coach Rick Barnes. It eases some pressure on a program that's endured two tough skids to end each of the last two regular seasons and hasn't been out of the NCAA tournament's first weekend in four of its last five trips.
Ryan Greene also covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun. Read his Rebels coverage and follow him on Twitter.
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