Arizona Wildcats’ Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to leave school early for NBA

The Arizona Wildcats have officially lost one of their best and most versatile players.

Apr 7, 2015, 11:01 PM Updated: 11:57 pm

The Arizona Wildcats have officially lost one of their best and most versatile players.

“I would just like to say thank you to the city of Tucson and our great fans for everything over the last two years,” forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a sophomore, said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Tucson. “The love you guys have shown me has been overwhelming. It’s not every day a kid where I’m from gets an opportunity like this, and I’ve just tried to embrace it.

“With that being said, I’ve decided to enter my name in the 2015 NBA Draft.

The announcement comes after more than a week of rumors, and comes as little surprise. Hollis-Jefferson is projected by most to be a first-round pick, and NBADraft.net has him going 29th overall in their latest mock draft while DraftExpress.com has him being selected 23rd.

Of course, it’s a tough blow for an Arizona team who went 34-4 last season.

“I would just say that you always hope when it comes to an end, that it ends like this,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed coaching a player more than I’ve enjoyed coaching Rondae.”

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Hollis-Jefferson averaged 11.2 points, a team-leading 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game for Arizona this past season. He was usually matched up against the opponent’s best scorer, whether it was a point guard, a power forward or anything in between. In fact, in Arizona’s Elite 8 loss to Wisconsin, he was often tasked with defending 7-foot Frank Kaminsky, the NCAA Player of the Year.

Hollis-Jefferson said he had come to the decision to leave for the NBA a week or two ago after talking to Miller as well as his family.

“It’s definitely a tough decision to make, being as though you’re loved in the program, you did so much here, you established so much here, it’s amazing,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “Leaving this program is tough, but I feel as though it’s the best decision for me and my family. So, I’m ready to take that next step.”

Hollis-Jefferson is not the only member of Arizona’s starting lineup who will not be back last season. Point guard T.J. McConnell will not return, and it’s been rumored that guard Stanley Johnson and forward Brandon Ashley will also make the leap to the professional level.

Center Kaleb Tarczewski has also been talked about as someone who could be done at Arizona.

If all decide to leave school, Miller will be left needing to replace his entire starting lineup from this past season.

“If that happens then that’s something that we knew was a possibility a long time ago,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen, we want these guys to come back because that’s in their best interests as well.”

While Miller does not know when each player will be ready to announce their plans, he said he thinks Ashley will be the next to make a decision.