Dunn decides to stick around Baylor
Dunn held a press conference late Thursday afternoon to inform Bears fans that he will return to school for his senior season. That's good news for a program that will graduate its point guard and team leader Tweety Carter and is losing junior power forward Ekpe Udoh to the NBA.
Dunn was really never much of a threat to declare for the NBA Draft after leading the Bears with a 19.6 scoring average. Despite a terrific season, the Monroe, La., native has not been rated highly by draft experts, although he did improve his stock with an excellent postseason and did emerge as a potential second-round pick in some mock drafts.
Only first-round picks garner guaranteed contracts, so had Dunn declared he would have taken a significant risk. Had he gone undrafted, he also would have surrendered his final year of eligibility. Dunn could have declared, but not hired an agent. In that case he would have had until May 8 to back out of the draft and return to school.
Dunn, who will be a top contender to lead the Big 12 in scoring next season and could be a preseason MVP candidate, will be counted on, as the lone senior, to lead a young and talented team.
Baylor had six freshmen on last season's team and a solid draft class is on the way. On Wednesday, the Bears signed Winston-Salem, N.C., point guard Stargell Love for the 2010-11 season. Love joins early signees Perry Jones (Duncanville, Texas), a 6-foot-10 forward ranked No. 3 overall in the ESPNU Top 100, and 6-3 guard Bakari Turner (Plano, Texas) to complete the three-player signing class that is ranked No. 17 by ESPN.
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Richard Durrett
Richard Durrett joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He writes about colleges, the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. Richard spent nine years at The Dallas Morning News covering the Rangers, Stars, colleges, motorsports and high schools.
Tim MacMahon
Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
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