Quinton Ross's stock on the rise?

[Otto]

Interesting article on CNNSI:

NBA loses 27 early-entry candidates

NEW YORK (AP) -- Charlie Villanueva, who starred with LeBron James in high school all-star games this year, withdrew from the NBA Draft on Friday, one of 27 early entries to drop out.

He joins 7-foot-4 Russian Pavel Podkolzine, considered a potential lottery pick, among the dropouts. Villanueva, who is from Brooklyn, N.Y. and attended Blair Academy in New Jersey, said he will attend the University of Connecticut.

The 6-foot-10 Villanueva, who in the McDonald's all-star game converte two alley-oop dunks from the Akron, Ohio, high school star, originally intended to go to Illinois but changed his mind when coach Bill Self moved to Kansas.

James is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The 18-year-old Podkolzine learned this week that he has a pituitary gland disorder that will require surgery and decided to return to Varese in the Italian League.

Also on the list of pullouts were two other players viewed as possible first-round choices -- 6-9 Viktor Khryapa of Russia and 6-10 Anderson Varcjao of Spain

Three college freshmen, Sani Ibrahim of the College of Southern Idaho Antonio Lawrence of San Jose State and Erazem Lorbek of Michigan State, all pulled their names back, choosing to stay in school.

The withdrawals left 46 early-entry candidates -- 29 college and high school players and 17 international players.

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It certainly can't hurt Q that there are fewer fish in the draft pond.

Will Antonio Lawrence be eligible at San Jose State? I thought I'd read somewhere that academics were an issue with him.

[Dark Horse]

Surely Q will rise a little with all those guys dropping out of the draft.
I'm going to guess he goes in the first 12-15 picks of the second round.
Good luck, Q!

[EastStang]

Believe it or not his stock may be hurt by the less than stellar performance Sasser has shown in the NBA. Think Duke players stock is going down with the Duke curse (Williams, Hurley, Hill, Laettner (nothing wrong just a bomb)?

[giacfsp]

That may be true, but Ross and Sasser are much different players. Sass is a shoot-first (and -second) scorer who doesn't do the little things as well as Q does.

Here's CNNSI.com's take on Q:

ANALYSIS: Ross, the WAC Player of the Year in 2002-03, has a well-rounded game. He can score outside, but also excels in the open court and is a great finisher on the break. He gets a lot of rebounds (6.4 per game this season) and can make free throws. Also a solid defender. Didn't make a high percentage of his 3-pointers this season and also had a poor assists-to-turnover ratio (63 assists, 64 turnovers).

PROJECTION: Late Second Round