Deciding factors vary for draft hopefuls

To go or not to go:

For many of the college stars who will be selected in the first round of tonight's NBA Draft, and some who won't as well, that was the question.

Those who opted for the NBA this year answered so either because they finally feel they're ready, or because they are seniors and have no other choice.

Not all, however, decided to go the first time they declared themselves to be draft-eligible.

Instead, some went to the NBA's pre-draft camp, some worked out for a limited number of teams on their own dime, some consulted with advisers and almost all agonized over the call.

Such was the case with three-time Western Athletic Conference player of the year Nick Fazekas, who contemplated turning pro after his junior season for the University of Nevada ended at the Huntsman Center with an upset first-round NCAA tournament loss to Montana.

He nearly went.

Fazekas, though, kept his options open by not signing with an agent.

Ultimately he determined that because he probably was not going to be taken by sometime in the middle of the 2006 draft's opening round, the best thing to do was return to Nevada for his senior season.

"Probably the best decision I made," said Fazekas, even if he is still a first-round bubble pick tonight. "I'm more NBA-ready now."

Not everyone handles the situation similarly.

"There's a lot of them that stay in that shouldn't," Jazz player personnel director Walt Perrin said.

"It varies on a year-to-year basis," added Perrin, who when asked will give a prospect his take on whether the timing's right. "I think this year there ... (are) a few guys that probably should have gone back to school. There are guys who made, I think, the right decision in staying in the draft. And there might be a couple guys who probably made the wrong decision by pulling their name out."

Here are the tales of a few — all under serious consideration by Jazz brass as a potential pick at No. 25 tonight, along with several others, including Italian shooting guard Marco Belinelli and Vanderbilt small forward Derrick Byars — who've pondered the possibilities:

MORRIS ALMOND

The Rice University shooting guard, thought to be quite high on the Jazz's radar, declared and made a name for himself at last year's NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando.