Villanova University announced that freshman Jeremiah Robinson-Earl will forgo entering the 2020 NBA Draft and return for his sophomore season.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl will be returning to Villanova for the 2020-21 season, #NovaNation ✌️✌️✌️ https://t.co/PuTupDuMeT
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) April 14, 2020
Most college basketball analysts immediately indicated they would put Villanova as their preseason #1 team after the announcement Robinson-Earl would return.
The 6’9’’ forward was projected as a second-round pick by most draft analysts. With another year in school, Robinson-Earl will have a chance to improve his draft stock considerably.
Robinson-Earl’s frontcourt mate Saddiq Bey has declared for the draft, but may return to Villanova. If the sophomore Bey returns for his junior season, it would only bolster an already loaded Wildcats roster. Outside of potentially Bey, Villanova returns all of their key rotation players from a team that went 24-7 last season.
As a freshman, Robinson-Earl averaged 10.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Villanova head coach Jay Wright, no stranger to NBA interest himself, said “A few days ago Jeremiah called me and told me he wanted to just continue working out and concentrate on getting better. He said ‘I don’t want to bother with the NBA stuff, so I just want to say I’m coming back.’ He didn’t want to make a big deal out of this.”
