According to Shams Carania of RealGM Terran Petteway plans to leave the Nebraska Basketball team and declare for the 2015 NBA draft.
Nebraska junior forward Terran Petteway plans to declare for the 2015 NBA draft, sources tell RealGM. Announcement likely after Final Four.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 2, 2015
Petteway has played two seasons at Nebraska including a season as the Big 10 scoring champion and an All-Big 10 First-Team award in 2013-2014. This season Petteway averaged 18.2 points per game along with 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 35 minutes. In his career at Nebraska he totaled 1143 points in his Husker career, if the reports are true.
Petteway has denied the report via his twitter account stating that he has not made a decision.
"@_TP5: People gotta chill with the lies.I haven't made any decision to declare for the draft yet.I'm still talking things out w/ my family"
— Robin Washut (@RobinWashut) April 3, 2015
According to WalterFootball.com’s latest NBA Mock Draft, they had Petteway slated as a second round pick, 45 overall to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Feb 26, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Terran Petteway (5) dribbles the ball in the second half of the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. The Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers by the score of 81 to 57. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
This departure wouldn’t necessarily be unexpected for NU as rumors swirl that Petteway would attempt to make it in the NBA, but it would especially sting with the previous departures of Tarin Smith and Walter Pitchford. If No. 5 does declare after the Final Four, Nebraska basketball will return only one of their top five scorers from the 2014-2015 team, Shavon Shields, and three of the top eight (Benny Parker, Tai Webster). Shields averaged 15.4 points per game while Parker and Webster averaged a meager 4.2 and 3.9 per game respectively.
For a Husker team that struggled on the offensive end this would be a devastating blow on the court.
This doesn’t mean the move is all negative, however, as it does allow for more roster flexibility if Nebraska and coach Tim Miles intend to bring on any transfers or eligible high school players from the 2015 class with now three scholarships open. As previously noted, Mike Edwards, a 2015 forward from Michigan, is being pursued by Nebraska heavily. Also on the radar is Providence guard Tyler Harris, who recently announced Nebraska was in his top 10. Also, Kansas transfer Andrew White III also becomes eligible to play for the first time.
However it shakes out, GO BIG RED!!!