Doug Wattley

This morning, Juwan Morgan officially declared for the 2018 NBA draft without hiring an agent. As an Indiana fan, my very first reaction to seeing this news frightened me, but it’s not as bad as it seems. Let me tell you why.

Weirdly enough, just because a college basketball player announces that he is declaring for the draft, it doesn’t mean he is done playing in college. Without hiring an agent or getting drafted, most players will go back to the collegiate level for another year. There’s a good chance he declared so he can go through the tougher workouts, find out what NBA scouts think he needs to improve, and come back to Bloomington for his senior year.

Morgan took a HUGE step last year, becoming the obvious leader for the young IU squad. He went from averaging 7 points a game to 16 all in just one year. He would be the player that the last second shot would be drawn up for, and he executed more often than not.

If he comes back next year, he wouldn’t be the only player to ever do that. From the Big 10 alone, Moritz Wagner, Vince Edwards, and Isaac Haas all declared for the NBA draft last year, but ended up not getting picked. So, they came back to Michigan and Purdue and all made an All Big Ten team. Juwan Morgan, let’s keep the ball rolling and make that happen next year.

Oh, by the way, mark your calendar for April 30th. Romeo Langford will be making his decision (to come play under Archie) at 7:00 at night.