What was widely assumed for the past few weeks, has finally come to fruition when Kosta Koufos declared earlier this week for the NBA Draft. The 7’0 freshman phenom who averaged 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds while recording 67 blocks, entered his name into the draft but has put off hiring an agent, leaving open a small possibility that he could return to school. Koufos came on strong late in the season finishing off his collegiate career with a National Invitational Tournament MVP while leading the team to a NIT championship. Koufos will have to officially decide his future by June 16th, which is the deadline to return to school for those that initially declared.

Also, speculation is rampant about the possibility of playing professionally in Greece with the Greek national team and a professional team after (Koufos has family ties to Greece). Koufos turned down a multi-million dollar contract last summer from a Greek team to play for OSU. Koufos is ranked just below the lottery on most NBA mock drafts.

This is a big loss for the Buckeyes but it’s a little easier with the arrival of Rivals’ new overall #1 recruit BJ Mullens.

-Furthermore, freshman Eric Wallace has opted to leave the program to transfer to a yet to be determined school. Wallace played rarely for the Buckeyes this year but looked to get solid playing time next year with the departure of Kosta Koufos. Wallace will depart after finishing up final exams during the first week of June, therefore not crippling the team’s APR like last year’s early entrants did. Matta issued this statement in a release earlier today:

“Eric is a tremendous person and student-athlete. We are thankful for his contributions to our team this past year. We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”

DTI joins Matta with wishing Wallace good luck in the future.