Okay, Krauser has made his declaration (hat tip to Steve)

University of Pittsburgh junior guard Carl Krauser announced Tuesday morning that he will make himself available for the 2005 NBA Draft. Due to NCAA rules, Krauser will retain the option to withdraw from the draft and return for his senior season at Pittsburgh since he will not sign with an agent. The NBA Draft Early Entry withdrawal deadline is on June 21, 2005, one full week before the NBA Draft (June 28).

“With Carl scheduled to graduate this year, he wants to see where he stands with NBA Draft possibilities,” Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said. “He has expressed a desire not to retain an agent and have the opportunity to return to the University of Pittsburgh next year. We support him in his goals while he finishes up requirements for graduation.”

Krauser is doing everything he should do. Krauser will come back if he doesn’t think he is going to get a chance in the NBA.

Krauser hopes to get an invitation to the NBA pre-draft camp June 7-10 at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute, a session that often proves important to a player’s fate in the draft.

“I’m going to leave my options open,” Krauser said. “I’m going to try to get into the Chicago camp and see what happens.”

If Krauser is not invited to the camp or does poorly, he can withdraw by June 21 and retain his college eligibility. He said he wants to play only in the NBA, and has little interest in playing in a developmental league or in Europe.

Those last two will likely be last resorts, after next season. I’m sure Brandin Knight has told him all he wants to know about the NBDL.

One of our readers, who went with the original handle of “Anonymous” tipped us off to the Meet Coach Wannstedt meeting for the students. Here’s the official press release from Pitt. Thursday in the Pete lobby, at 8 pm.

For those of us not students or outside the Pittsburgh area — so we couldn’t sight him hanging out on the South Side (Pat and Shawn) — he will be interviewed on the virtually unwatchable ESPN2 morning show “Cold Pizza” at 8:40 am.

One other story to mention. Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads gets a piece on not being bitter or leaving Pitt after (somehow) nearly getting the head coaching job.

Working with Wannstedt is an opportunity that truly excites Rhoads, even though it will be much different than working under Harris.

The biggest adjustment for Rhoads is that Wannstedt is a defensive coach and is hands-on with the defense. Harris was an offensive coach who served as offensive coordinator and spent very little time on the defense.

Wannstedt has put his touch on the defense, but the changes are mostly subtle. Rhoads said he has enjoyed having another defensive mind to pick for ideas. He said he isn’t territorial about the defense.

Sure there’s no problems. That should be one of the more intriguing sub-plots this season. I figure if the defense rebounds, Rhoads bolts at the first opportunity.

To the absolute surprise of no one, Carl Krauser is expected to make himself eligible for the NBA draft today. Krauser has until June 21 to decide to return to Pitt, provided he doesn’t hire an agent and does graduate in the spring.

Krauser might not be eligible next season even if he doesn’t turn pro. Krauser entered Pitt as a partial qualifier, so he must graduate this year to be eligible for the 2005-06 season. Neither Krauser nor the school have said if he is on schedule to graduate.

Krauser also has another option: He can declare himself eligible for the draft without hiring an agent and then, after judging the NBA’s interest in him, choose to return to Pitt by withdrawing his name.

Pitt originally planned to make Krauser available to reporters Monday night to make his announcement, but then postponed the interviews until Tuesday.

Oh, and today is also the team banquet. Nice timing.

I’m going to assume for the moment that Krauser will graduate on time. This has been expected, and honestly it is a smart thing for Krauser. There’s no reason not to at least find out how he matches up with other point guards at the pre-draft camps and what his chances are to get drafted. I honestly don’t think he will be on most team’s list for either round. The draft is going to be deep with point guards.