“I told Mike, `Don’t do that, man. I’ll pay my way and take a scholarship next year.'
I've learned over the years not to hang my hat on statements like this. Now I'd love to have Andre return for another year. What fan wouldn't!?!?! But if he ends up the clear choice for the first or second pick in the draft, that will be awfully tough to turn down.
The one thing that gives me hope is that AD and his family came so close to having him prep instead of going to UConn. I'm still not sure what was behind that. If it was so that he wouldn't have to grow up so quickly by making the jump from HS to College and then College to the NBA so quickly, then maybe he and his family will want him to enjoy another year of college and be more equipped and better prepared to make the jump from playing hoops with boys to playing it with grown men and all that goes with the world of the NBA. But if it was more so that he wouldn't be exposed and hurt his draft position, then no way will he delay the jump to the next level.
I really don't know what was behind all that, but I'd be shocked if he and his family take the chance of returning and possible suffering a career ending or draft position impacting injury.
There's a lot of ball to be played before such a decision needs to be made. Frankly, I'm not going to worry about it and simply enjoy every minutes of AD that we get this season.