Well, maybe not back to Pitt for Krauser.

Pitt guard Carl Krauser withdrew his name from the NBA draft yesterday, but that doesn’t mean he is returning to the Panthers for his final year of eligibility.

In fact, it is very likely he won’t return to Pitt but instead will head overseas to play professionally in Europe next season, then re-enter the draft next year.

“It just wasn’t a good business decision for me to go to the NBA right now. I will decide to go back to school or go overseas in the next couple of weeks,” Krauser said.

“It will be a hard decision because I love Pitt and my teammates. However, I’d like to continue the professional level of competition that I have experienced the last couple of months. The way I see the game now is totally different. My whole mind-set is different.

“I love Pitt, but, if I go overseas, I will be able to play at the professional level.”
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Krauser’s decision yesterday represents a dramatic change of heart. He had said many times he would not consider going overseas or to a minor league (like the National Basketball Developmental League) and that his decision was the NBA or Pitt.

He said there were a number of factors that led to this shift. After working out at the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago, it became clear he was not going to be a first-round pick. But he played well enough to attract the attention of a number of European scouts and he spoke with enough people to realize there is some good money to be made overseas.

Also, if he goes overseas and makes improvements to his game and gets experience against professional players, he believes he’ll be in a much better position to be a first-round pick next year. Plus, the crop of point guards in the draft next year will not be nearly as deep.

“I was thinking about keeping my name in the draft, but I just realized I have to look at the long term for my family,” Krauser said. “There are a ton of point guards in the draft. I’m not going to get caught up in the crossfire, I’d rather be sure that I am going to be drafted. It is better for me to wait on the NBA now.”

I’ve been saying for almost 6 months that he needed to wait a year, just because of the sheer volume of point guards.

This situation is not good for Pitt. He’s going to drag this out much longer than is healthy. Pitt won’t know if it has an open scholarship until it is just about useless. The rancor and animosity this could build in the locker room and with the coaches could be ugly, real ugly.

It is Krauser’s right and career, but there does come a point where it just reaches absurdity. Still, I’m surprised we don’t hear about more players considering this multi-track plan. There is a selfish logic to it.

I’m not sufficiently knowledgeable on the NCAA rules, but Pitt and Coach Dixon almost have to consider giving him a shorter decision deadline or pull his scholarship — if this is allowable. There might be some fallout as viewed by potential recruits for coming down like this on Krauser, but this is uncommon territory.

I said earlier that I think Krauser should go because it is what he wants. The quotes from this article are reinforcing it. If he comes back to Pitt, then it is based on getting him more exposure and showcasing himself for the NBA. He could easily implode this team.

And I thought things would get simpler after today.