New Indiana coach Archie Miller will not have the luxury of inheriting a Hoosiers roster populated with an overload of NBA talent. Junior guard James Blackmon Jr. has decided to stay in this year's draft pool for good. His Indiana career is over, and with this move he becomes the third IU player to sign an agent this spring, joining OG Anunoby and Thomas Bryant.
The future of a fourth Indiana player, junior Robert Johnson, is still to be determined. A source told CBS Sports last week that Johnson's future with the Hoosiers is "50-50" as to whether he'll be back in Bloomington.
Blackmon's decision was first reported by FanRag Sports.
Blackmon has nothing left to prove at the college level, both on the floor and in the classroom. He walked across the stage this weekend to receive his undergraduate degree, completing his coursework in three years. He posted this photo Saturday.
Blackmon was a dependable scorer for Indiana for most of his career. He averaged 17.3 points last season for the 18-16 Hoosiers. Blackmon played only 13 games his sophomore year before tearing an ACL.
If Blackmon is drafted, his long-range shooting will be the primary reason. He shot 41.5 percent from 3 in 76 games at IU. But Blackmon's stock is widely debated. He's not a surefire draft pick, and in fact he did not receive one of the 67 invites to the 2017 NBA combine. (Anunoby and Bryant did.)
Even if he isn't drafted, Blackmon's offensive acumen all but guarantees he'll be picked up by a team to play in Summer League at the least. From there, we'll see. The NBA Draft will be held June 22 in Brooklyn, N.Y.