Hooray for jason gardner

i really am proud of him for goin back. he will be a good PG eventualy.

http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2001/s/2001/0612/1212992.html

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Jason Gardner tested the NBA draft waters and found out another season at Arizona isn't such a bad idea.

After a tough week at the final NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago, Gardner withdrew his name from consideration for the 2001 NBA draft. He will return to the Wildcats for his junior season. Gardner did not sign with an agent, leaving the option open for his return.


Jason Gardner left Chicago with a change of heart.

Gardner is the third of 58 underclassmen who declared for this year's draft to return to college. Fresno State's Tito Maddox and Kentucky's Tayshaun Price each withdrew their names from the draft earlier this month. Underclassmen who have not signed with agents have until June 20 -- a week before the NBA draft -- to withdraw their names.

Gardner, a 5-foot-10, 181-pound guard from Indianapolis, averaged 10.9 points and a team-leading 4.1 assists per game while shooting 38.1 percent from the floor in 36 games last season. But in Chicago against other NBA hopefuls, Gardner struggled to find his shot, making just six of 28 shots during the week of games. Gardner was 2-for-15 on 3-pointers, with 15 assists, six turnovers and a total of 21 points in three games.

While there are no point guard quotas for the draft, he was clearly behind St. John's Omar Cook, UCLA's Earl Watson, SMU's Jeryl Sasser, Auburn's Jamison Brewer, Cincinnati's Kenny Satterfield and Detroit's Rashad Phillips. His stock had dropped so much since leading the Wildcats to the national championship game in March that there was a threat he would go undrafted on June 27.

"I have decided to remove my name from consideration (for the draft)," said Gardner. "It is still a dream of mine to play in the NBA. I enjoyed the pre-draft experience and learned a great deal from it. I'm looking forward to the 2001-02 season with a great group of teammates."

An Associated Press honorable mention All-America pick, Gardner led the team in 3-point field goals (76), ranked second in steals (59) and shot 80.9 percent from the free-throw line. He originally declared for the draft on April 11.

A 2000 national Freshman of the Year, Gardner averaged 12.5 points as a sophomore in Arizona's six NCAA Tournament games. He was named to the NCAA all-Midwest Regional team after totaling 28 points, six rebounds and six assists in wins over Mississippi and Illinois. He scored in double figures 20 times last season and notched his second career double-double (11 points, 10 assists) vs. Oregon on March 3. Gardner's assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.33 last season was 0.66 higher than his freshman campaign.

Gardner immediately becomes the leader of a very young Wildcat squad in 2001-02. The most experienced returnee, Gardner has averages of 11.7 points and 4.4 assists in 70 career games. He is one of six returning lettermen from a squad that went 28-8 and advanced to the 2001 national championship game. Arizona also welcomes five newcomers in a recruiting class that has been judged to be one of the top five in the nation.

Nine underclassmen still remain unsigned by agents, thus may wind up returning to college. Those who still have a final decision to make are Alton Ford (Houston), Sam Clancy (USC), Damien Wilkins (North Carolina State), Jerry Green (UC Irvine), Will Solomon (Clemson), Trenton Hassell (Austin Peay), Keith Bogans (Kentucky), Bobby Simmons (DePaul) and Kirk Haston (Indiana).


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--TEX