Nba Draft

ZACK ROSEN and Maalik Wayns shared a position and Big 5 first-team honors. Monday morning, the point guards from Penn and Villanova, respectively, shared the court at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as the Sixers began their predraft workouts. Along with Iona's Scott Machado and Maryland's Terrell Stoglin, Wayns and Rosen went through ballhandling drills, light shooting, one-on-one situations, the usual workout fare. Trying to predict what the Sixers or any team (other than the team that wins the lottery and announces its intention to take Kentucky's Anthony Davis before taking another breath)

Kentucky's starting lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores all declared for the NBA draft in a news conference on Tuesday night. Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Somerdale) and Marquis Teague , and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb all will enter the NBA together. The group came into the season largely untested before ascending to No. 1, winning the Southeastern Conference, and capping an NCAA tournament run with a 67-59 victory over Kansas in the title game.

DOMINIC CHEEK comes from a rough part of Jersey City, N.J., where he became a McDonald's All-American at St. Anthony's High. Now he wants to start helping his parents, grandmother and three brothers (two younger) by playing basketball for a living. Wherever that might take him. "I know it could be a bumpy road," he said Thursday at Villanova, where the Wildcats' junior guard, as expected, made it official by announcing he's making himself available for the NBA draft. "But I'm willing to face that challenge, do whatever I have to do to . . . pursue my dream of a pro career.

VILLANOVA'S basketball team was supposed to return three senior starters next season, from a team that lost 19 games for only the second time in program history and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. The Wildcats already were down to two, with point guard and leading scorer Maalik Wayns having opted for early entry into the NBA draft. Now it appears they might be losing 6-6 swingman Dominic Cheek, their second leading scorer at 12.5 points a game, to early entry as well.

SYRACUSE CENTER Fab Melo is entering the NBA draft after a breakout season in which he twice got held out because of eligibility issues. The 7-foot sophomore from Brazil made the announcement Thursday. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds for Syracuse (34-3) this past season. He led the Big East in blocks per game and was named the conference's defensive player of the year. Melo missed three games in late January due to an academic issue, was reinstated, and just before the start of the NCAA Tournament was ruled ineligible again and did not play another game.

We have to admit we'd rather be in New Orleans dealing with late interviews and overhyped fans and crazy deadlines and the fact that CBS can't be on time for a first-game tipoff that the network itself scheduled for 6:09 p.m. but actually happened at 6:14 (did you really have to run a commercial between the national anthem and the player introductions?). But if you have to be home watching game action sprinkled among the ads, there's nothing better than following along on Twitter as Kentucky's Anthony Davis shows in no uncertain terms why he is college basketball's player of the year and the absolute mortal lock No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft.

NORTH CAROLINA'S star underclassmen decided they wouldn't put off their goal of playing in the NBA any longer. The school said Thursday that Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Kendall Marshall will enter the draft, ending a 2-year run in which the Tar Heels made deep NCAA Tournament runs only to fall a game short of the Final Four each time. The school didn't state whether the three planned to hire an agent in its release announcing the departures, though it appears they are in the draft to stay.

Kyrie Irving is the latest proof that a player can prosper in the NBA with limited college experience. The Cleveland Cavaliers point guard has done the seemingly impossible this season - exceed expectations despite being the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft. Entering Tuesday's game at the Wells Fargo Center against the 76ers, Irving was averaging 18.8 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 31.3 minutes per game. Because of injury, Irving played just 11 games last season, his only one at Duke.

Dion Waiters decided to play his college basketball at Syracuse when he was in the eighth grade. But after just two years with the Orange, he's heading to the next level. Waiters, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Philadelphia, announced Monday he will sign with an agent and enter the NBA draft in June. "I've decided to pursue my dream of becoming a professional basketball player by entering my name in the NBA draft this spring," he said in a statement released by the university.