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| | Tuesday, May 23 Austin, Satterfield top list of surprises | |||||
| By Andy Katz ESPN.com Mississippi State signee Mario Austin was a surprising omission when the early-entry NBA draft list was released Friday, while Kenny Satterfield's inclusion on the list stunned Cincinnati's coaching staff. But by late Friday, the Bearcats' staff had supervised him writing a letter to the NBA to pull his name out of consideration. Austin, a McDonald's All-American, changed his mind for the third time late last weekend when he decided against sending in his letter to the NBA. Last Friday, The Associated Press quoted Austin saying that he would declare for the draft. By Saturday Austin told ESPN.com that he changed his mind and was going to declare. By the early-entry draft deadline on Sunday, he changed his mind again and was committed to sticking with the Bulldogs. His mother and Austin have repeatedly said that he's eligible to play next season. "He changed his mind again and is going to school," Austin's mother, Deborah said Friday. "He thought it was best for him to go school because he was scared he was going to go in the second round. He didn't want to do that." Elsewhere on Friday morning, Cincinnati assistant Rod Baker was helping Satterfield fill out paperwork to attend the 20-and-under U.S. National Team trials next week in Colorado Springs, Colo. But, to Baker and Bearcats head coach Bob Huggins' surprise, Satterfield had apparently already filled out an application -- to enter the NBA draft. Satterfield's name was one of the 35 college underclassmen to have their names on the official NBA early-entry list. A week ago, the freshman point guard announced he was declaring but then changed his mind last Saturday. "We had no idea," Baker said. "We were blindsided by it." Baker said Satterfield sent in the letter when he announced he was testing the waters. But he never sent in a letter to pull his name out of consideration. He never signed with an agent and still plans on attending the U.S. National team trials. Meanwhile, everyone else who publicly declared for the draft -- including high school seniors Darius Miles (St. John's signee) and DeShawn Stevenson (Kansas signee) were on the list. There were a few random names on the list, such as like Joe White, who didn't play at Texas A&M last season but was listed as coming from the school. The most legitimate name that had not been reported was Texas-Pan American guard Brian Merriweather, who averaged 20.4 points a game. Twenty foreigners declared for the draft. Seven-foot-one center Iakovos Tsakalidis (Greece), 6-8 Hidayet Turkoglu (Turkey) and 6-9 Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria) are all legitimate first-round picks, according to NBA scouts who were polled by ESPN.com. Scouts said 7-2 Dalibor Bagaric (Croatia), 6-4 Sani Becirovic (Slovenia), 6-10 Primoz Brezec (Slovenia), 6-8 Antonis Fotsis (Greece), 6-9 Kaya Peker (Finland) and 6-8 Mladen Sekularac (Yugoslavia) could fall anywhere from late first to the end of the second round. The two most notable names from other professional leagues who are eligible for the draft, according to scouts, are 7-2 Soumaila Samake (Cincinnati Stuff of the IBL) and 6-8 Vasco Evtimov (Greece). Samake is a potential first-round pick, while Evtimov, who played at North Carolina two seasons ago, would struggle to get into the second round. Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com. | ALSO SEE Draft: Projecting the first round Early-entry candidates for NBA draft Draft: Who could go in the first round Nets weigh M&M's: Mihm and Martin Draft: Top five players by position Draft: Who's advising these guys?  | |||||