Local Teams Await Decisions by Rice, Green, Singletary

Discussion Policy

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

By Camille Powell

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 18, 2007; Page E08

The college basketball season won't begin for another five months, but the fates of three local teams will be affected today. The leading scorers for Georgetown, Virginia and George Washington -- forward Jeff Green, guard Sean Singletary and guard Maureece Rice, respectively -- have until 5 p.m. to withdraw their names from the NBA draft and return to school.

The three juniors were among the 58 collegiate players who submitted their names to the NBA in April as early entry candidates, but all three kept open the possibility of returning by not hiring an agent.

At least 10 players have announced they are withdrawing from the draft, including Georgetown junior center Roy Hibbert. Most of the underclassmen who are projected to be lottery picks have signed with agents: Ohio State center Greg Oden and Texas forward Kevin Durant -- the expected top two picks -- as well as Florida's Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah and Al Horford.

Green, the Big East player of the year, is projected to be among the first 12 players chosen in the draft, which will be held June 28 in New York. During a news conference at Georgetown on May 23, Green said he felt it was time for him to move on, but he also said his decision wasn't set in stone. He worked out for Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Boston.

Messages left for Coach John Thompson III and Green's parents were not returned yesterday.

Singletary is coming off a season in which he led the Cavaliers in points (19), assists (4.7) and steals (1.2) per game, and was named first team all-ACC for the second time. He said late in the season that he intended to return to Virginia, but he ultimately decided to weigh his options.

The 6-foot guard received mixed reviews for his performance at the pre-draft camp in Orlando. Since then, he has worked out for Houston, Golden State, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Portland and Philadelphia, according to published reports. Singletary, unlike Green, is not assured of being a first-round pick.

Rice averaged 15.8 points for the Colonials.