Kentucky is the premier pro factory in all of college basketball. That claim became even more true today, when the school’s top seven scorers—Aaron Harrison, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Andrew Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles and Dakari Johnson—announced that they will leave school early and make the jump to the NBA. If all seven players are drafted, it will mark the first time that seven players from the same school were selected in the same Draft.
From ESPN:
The Kentucky Wildcats will lose their top seven scorers — Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Devin Booker, Trey Lyles, Dakari Johnson, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison — to the NBA draft from the team that won 38 straight games before losing in the national semifinals.
Towns and Cauley-Stein are both considered lottery picks by NBA executives. Towns is likely to go either first or second overall along with Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor — who has yet to officially declare for the NBA draft.
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The NBA draft is June 25.
The losses account for 85 percent of Kentucky’s scoring from this past season and 77 percent of its rebounding.
The loss of seven players leaves Kentucky with freshman point guard Tyler Ulis, veteran forward Alex Poythress and athletic forward Marcus Lee. Ulis should step into the starting role, Poythress will return after a season-ending torn ACL after just eight games but Lee’s role is up in the air with another strong recruiting class coming into Lexington.
