It seemed inevitable when the NCAA moved up its deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft -- from mid-June to early May and then finally to just eight days after the Final Four -- that some basketball player would ignore that date and declare when he saw fit.
It seemed unlikely the player who’d do that, though, would be forward Quincy Miller.
Which means sticking it to Baylor.
Miller told Yahoo! Sports NBA writer Marc Spears he is leaving Baylor and signing with an agent, ending his college career after just one year. Miller made his announcement in a press conference on April 10 -- that NCAA deadline we talked about -- that he would return to the Bears as a sophomore. The NBA allows players to place their name on the early entry list until this Sunday.
At 6-9, 210 pounds, Miller is long and agile, but he proved to be far from a finished product as a college freshman. He averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in 24 minutes per game, struggling as a defender and with his jumpshot. He had only one double-figure scoring game in the NCAA Tournament, getting 10 points in the Bears’ first game, against South Dakota State. He was overwhelmed in the Elite Eight against eventual national champion Kentucky, shooting 1-of-6 from the field for three points in 19 minutes.
Miller had entered Baylor as Scout.com’s No. 4-ranked prospect, but he was coming off a knee injury that kept him from competition during most of his senior year in high school and appeared to need more time to regain his confidence.
Draft analysts rank Miller as a potential first-round pick -- Draft Express lists him as the 18th best NBA prospect. Baylor now loses four of its top six scorers from last season’s 30-win team.
Baylor had kept star forward Perry Jones for a second season after Jones determined he was not physically or mentally prepared for NBA-level competition. The school's run of recent athletic success also includes the Heisman Trophy won by quarterback Robert Griffin, who will become the No. 2 player selected in Thursday's NFL Draft.
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