Invitations are going out for the Orlando predraft camp and the NBA's committee has received positive feedback that a number of underclassmen will play.
There still is time for players to back out, but as of Wednesday ESPN.com has learned that the following underclassmen have indicated they will participate at the June 6-10 camp: UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar, Texas point Daniel Gibson, Michigan State guard Shannon Brown, Connecticut forward Josh Boone, Florida State forward Alexander Johnson, Texas forward P.J. Tucker, Arizona point Mustafa Shakur and Cal State Fullerton point Bobby Brown.
There is no word yet on Memphis' Darius Washington and whether he will be playing. On this list, Farmar, Gibson, Shakur and both Browns (no relation) could still return to school.
Missouri guard Thomas Gardner and UCLA guard Arron Afflalo weren't on the list. Nevada forward Nick Fazekas made it clear that he didn't want to attend. He could still return to school.
Players who wanted to be invited for the physical-only portion rather than playing but were denied that free pass were Villanova point Kyle Lowry, Kentucky point Rajon Rondo and Rutgers guard Quincy Douby. No information was available on Iowa State's Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock or South Carolina's Renaldo Balkman. Balkman and Lowry still can return to school.
Underclassmen who will be in Orlando for physicals only are Connecticut point Marcus Williams, Arkansas guard Ronnie Brewer, Gonzaga forward Adam Morrison, Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge, LSU forward Tyrus Thomas, Bradley center Patrick O'Bryant, Connecticut forward Rudy Gay and NC State center Cedric Simmons, who would be the only one on this list who hasn't signed with an agent on this list (although Memphis forward Shawne Williams and Pitt center Aaron Gray might be "physical-only" as well. Like Simmons, Gray hasn't signed with an agent).
Cal's Leon Powe initially told the committee he wouldn't play, but he told ESPN.com Tuesday he wanted to, making his status for the camp unknown.
Final nuggets
• The NCAA Tournament selection committee will discuss expanding the tournament at its next meeting in late June in Orlando, but please don't read too much into this.
The issue was broached by Syracuse's Jim Boeheim when he met with the committee recently. The committee hasn't taken a look at expanding the field for quite some time, but the reality of existing TV and facility contracts make this a moot point unless CBS suddenly decided to strongarm the committee into changing the dates of the event and working around the Masters.
If the NCAAs were expanded and went a week earlier, they would interrupt the conference tournaments. There are existing contracts with ESPN, CBS and facilities for upward of 10 years out that could make this a very difficult proposal to get passed.
The reason this hasn't been broached recently is the NCAA wasn't going to discuss expanding the Tournament while it was in litigation with the NIT. That's over, since the NCAA bought the NIT rights. If the Tournament were to expand, it would negatively impact the NIT, and the NCAA would be hurting its own product as well as potentially damaging existing contracts with ESPN and Madison Square Garden.
One proposal that might make its way into the discussion sooner than expansion is to reduce the at-large pool by one from 34 to 33 and get rid of the opening-round game. Remember, the opening-round game was put in place after the committee didn't want to decrease the at-large pool by one once the WAC split into two conferences forming the Mountain West and moving the number of auto bids up to 31 in 1999. The thinking by the committee at the time was to preserve the at-large berths, mainly for the big boys, but that hasn't always worked out to be the case. The last few spots in this past field were given to the Mountain West (Air Force) and the Missouri Valley (Bradley), not the ACC (Florida State and/or Maryland).
It's not helping perception that each year the selection committee comes dangerously close to having both historically black conferences (the MEAC and the SWAC) in the game -- a situation that wouldn't go over well in many quarters.
• Within minutes of my mock lottery draft being put on SportsCenter on Tuesday night, one NBA official called in to say look for Connecticut's Rudy Gay, not Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, to go to Charlotte at No. 3. And I still could see Toronto moving down a few spots to draft Italy's Andrea Bargnani.
Andy Katz
