UConn's Alex Karaban among prospects withdrawing from NBA Draft

After winning a pair of national championships as a starting forward at UConn, Alex Karaban will return to the Huskies for his junior year in search of a third consecutive title, he announced Wednesday.

The No. 36 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Karaban had been testing the NBA draft waters but will withdraw his name from the 2024 pool in order to retain his college eligibility. 

He averaged 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 31.4 minutes per game as a redshirt sophomore and has made 38.9% of his three-point attempts across his two college seasons.

Big man Ugonna Onyenso, who spent his first two college seasons at Kentucky, has also opted to withdraw from the NBA draft, agent Daniel Hazan tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

Onyenso told Givony last month when he initially declared for the draft that he was “100% focused on the NBA” and wasn’t thinking about “coming back to play college basketball.” However, it appears he changed his mind after getting some feedback from teams during the pre-draft process. 

The No. 68 player on ESPN’s big board is in the transfer portal and still has to determine where to spend his junior season, Givony notes.

Meanwhile, another player on ESPN’s board (at No. 52), Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II has decided to keep his name in the draft and forgo his final year of college eligibility, as he announced on Instagram.

The Atlantic 10’s Defensive Player of the Year and co-Player of the Year in 2023-24, Holmes averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 blocks in 32.5 minutes per game for the Flyers, posting an impressive shooting line of .544/.386/.713 in 33 games (all starts).

Here are more of Wednesday’s draft decisions from early entrants ahead of the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline:

Withdrawing from the draft:

• Swingman Chibuzo Agbo will transfer from Boise State to USC for his super-senior season via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
• Northwestern swingman Brooks Barnhizer will return to school for his senior season via Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68.
• Guard Johnell Davis will transfer from Florida Atlantic to Kansas for his super-senior season via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
• Guard Garwey Dual will return to school for his sophomore season. He played at Providence last season but is in the transfer portal now.
• St. Joseph’s forward Rasheer Fleming will return to school for his junior season (Twitter link via Rothstein).
• Clemson guard Chase Hunter will return to school for his super-senior season.
• Forward Arthur Kaluma will return to school for his senior season. He played at Kansas State last season but is in the transfer portal now via Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
• Forward Baba Miller will transfer from Florida State to Florida Atlantic for his junior season.
• Southern Idaho center Shahid Muhammad will return to school for his junior season.
• UIC swingman Toby Okani will return to school for his super-senior season.

Remaining in the draft:

• Memphis senior forward David Jones will stay in the draft and forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility.
• Bowling Green State sophomore guard JZ Zaher will stay in the draft and forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility.