The NBA's List of Early Entry Candidates

Early entry candidates testing the waters for the 2009 NBA Draft had until Monday evening to decide whether to jump in with two feet or get out the pool completely. All in all, 55 candidates pulled out while 49 stayed, including 10 international players.

As much as college fans complain about "one-and-done" ravaging the amateur game, it's worth pointing out that only five freshman are leaving school, and of those, only three (DeMar DeRozan, Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday) figure to be locks as lottery picks.

If anything, that speaks to just how weak this draft class really is; last year's draft featured seven freshman in the lottery alone, and a total of 12 in the first two rounds combined. In 2007, eight freshman were drafted.

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Freshmen

- DeMar DeRozan, Southern California 6-7
- Tyreke Evans, Memphis 6-6
- Jrue Holiday, UCLA 6-4
- Nate Miles, Southern Idaho 6-7
- B.J. Mullens, Ohio State 7-1

Sophomores

- DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh, 6-7
- Nick Calathes, Florida 6-6
- Austin Daye, Gonzaga 6-10
- Jonny Flynn, Syracuse 6-1
- Blake Griffin, Oklahoma 6-10
- James Harden, Arizona State 6-4
- James Johnson, Wake Forest 6-9
- Patrick Mills, St. Mary's 6-1
- Terrence Roderick, Alabama-Birmingham 6-6
- Jeff Teague, Wake Forest 6-2
- Dar Tucker, DePaul 6-5

Juniors

- Derrick Brown, Xavier 6-8
- Chase Budinger, Arizona 6-7
- Earl Clark, Louisville 6-9
- Kareem Cooper, Texas-El Paso 7-1
- Brandon Costner, North Carolina State 6-9
- Stephen Curry, Davidson 6-3
- Eric Devendorf, Syracuse 6-4
- Wayne Ellington, North Carolina 6-4
- Chinemelu Elonu, Texas A&M 6-10
- Taj Gibson, Southern California 6-9
- D'mond Grismore, Huston-Tillotson (TX) 6-6
- Rogér Guignard, Texas-Arlington 5-11
- Daniel Hackett, Southern California 6-5
- Paul Harris, Syracuse 6-5
- Gerald Henderson, Duke 6-5
- Jordan Hill, Arizona 6-9
- Ty Lawson, North Carolina 5-11
- Darnell Lindsay, Tennessee Tech 6-4
- Jodie Meeks, Kentucky 6-4
- Ronald Ogoke, Paul Quinn College (TX) 7-1
- DaJuan Summers, Georgetown 6-8
- Shawn Taggart, Memphis 6-10
- Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut 7-3


International Players

- Rodrigue Beaubois, Cholet (France) 6-1
- Omri Casspi, Maccabi Elite (Israel) 6-9
- Victor Claver, Pamesa Valencia (Spain) 6-9
- Christian Eyenga, DKV Joventut (Spain) 6-5
- Vitor Faverani, Unicaja Malaga (Spain) 6-10
- Sergey Gladyr, Mykolaiv (Ukraine) 6-5
- Baris Hersek, Efes Pilsen (Turkey) 6-9
- Martin Kolikoli, Tanzania 6-2
- Ricky Rubio, DKV Joventut (Spain) 6-4
- Ibrahim Yildirim, Banvit (Turkey) 6-3