College underclassmen For the fifth year in a row and the ninth time in ten years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. However, it would be the second year in a row that a player that qualified for the status of a "college underclassman" would be playing professional basketball overseas, as the
Haitian born
Olden Polynice (who had previously played for the
University of Virginia for a year before travelling to
Italy to play for the
Hamby Rimini) would qualify as an official entry there. Not only that, but it would also be the first time in NBA history (second time if you include the
1973 entry of David Brent from the
Carolina Cougars in the rivaling
ABA after previously playing for
Jacksonville University) that an underclassman would declare entry by playing in another American basketball league (in this case, Ricky Brown previously going from the
University of South Alabama to the
Pensacola Tornados of the
Continental Basketball Association minor league) first before entering an NBA draft. If those two players get included into the list properly, the number of "college underclassmen" that would qualify for this year's draft would increase from seven to nine total players. Regardless, these following
college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance. •
Vincent Askew – F,
Memphis (junior) •
Norris Coleman – F,
Kansas State (sophomore) • Kenny Drummond – G,
High Point (junior) •
Derrick McKey – F,
Alabama (junior) • Russell Pierre – F,
Virginia Tech (junior) • Reinhard Schmuck – F,
Baruch (junior) • Kevin Smith – F,
Minnesota (junior)
Other eligible players This would be the second year in a row that a player that previously played in college would enter the NBA draft as an underclassman (coincidentally also playing for an Italian basketball team while doing so). Not only that, but this would also be the second year in NBA history (third if you include David Brent's
1973 NBA draft entry while he was a part of the
Carolina Cougars in the rivaling
American Basketball Association) that an underclassman would enter the NBA draft by playing in another American basketball league (in this case, the
Continental Basketball Association minor league) first; the first case happened in
1971 with
Joe Hammond from the
Allentown Jets in what was formerly called the
Eastern Basketball Association. It was also the first year where a foreign-born player would qualify as an underclassman while also playing for an international team. ==Invited attendees==