Harangody weighs draft options

by Pete Byrne (pmbyrne@wsbt.com)

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Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody (44) dunks over West Virginia guard Alex Ruoff, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Morgantown, W.Va. Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009.(AP Photo/Don Wright)

By WSBT Sports

Story Created: Jun 3, 2009 at 5:06 PM EST

Story Updated: Jun 4, 2009 at 11:25 AM EST

NOTRE DAME - Notre Dame power forward Luke Harangody is facing perhaps the biggest decision of his career: Stay in the NBA Draft, or come back to Notre Dame for what could be a special senior year.

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After three stellar college seasons, Harangody figured he owed it to himself to test the NBA waters.

“I think for the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt this way," Harangody said on April 16. "Sitting down and talking to Coach, and him basically telling me I owe this to myself, I think that gave me the confidence to go ahead and make this decision. Obviously sitting down and talking with my family also had a large deal with it too.”

"You don’t just do it to say 'Oh let’s just see what it feels like and what they tell me,'" Notre Dame coach Mike Brey advised. "You do this to get drafted and go! And Luke’s never played a game just to play it. He’s always played a game to win it. And I think he’s gotta play this game to win it."

Exactly what constitutes winning, only Harangody can decide.

Since that announcement, Harangody has spent the last few weeks working out for NBA teams.

The NBA allows underclassmen to declare for the Draft at no risk. As long as Harangody doesn't hire an agent, he has until June 15th to change his mind and return to school for his senior year.

A two-time All-American, some experts say his stock will never get higher than it is right now.

However, ESPN college basketball analyst Sean McDonough feels strongly that Harangody has more to gain by coming back.

"I don’t think there’s any question about it," McDonough told WSBT recently. "He should come back for another year of college. During the NCAA tournament I had the chance to go to dinner one night with three or four NBA scouts and I asked them about Luke and Tyler Hansbrough, because a lot of people link the two together. And, the consensus about Luke among the scouts that talked to me was that at the very best he would be a late First Round Draft pick, and maybe, probably not even that. So, I think if he came back here at Notre Dame, there’s so much for him to accomplish, so many records for him to set, and maybe he could have the kind of senior year that Tyler Hansbrough just had. I’d love to see him come back.”

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