Lillard appears headed to NBA

OGDEN — Weber State University has scheduled a press conference for today at which time basketball star Damian Lillard is expected to announce that he will forego his final year of collegiate eligibility and enter his name in this year's NBA Draft, where he is expected to be a first-round selection and very possibly a lottery (top-14) pick.

Today's press conference begins at noon in the Dee Events Center.

Lillard, a 6-foot-3 point guard from Oakland, Calif., just completed his junior season at Weber State, where he averaged 24.5 points per game in leading the Wildcats to a final record of 25-7 — their best finish since 2003.

Lillard received an additional year of eligibility from the NCAA in 2011 after suffering a broken foot in December of 2010. Without that injury, he would have been a senior this past season, and he is on schedule to earn his degree from Weber State this summer.

Lillard led the nation in scoring for much of the 2011-12 season before finishing second to Reggie Hamilton of Oakland (Mich.) University at 26.2 ppg. Lillard will leave Weber State as the school's second-leading scorer all-time with 1,934 career points. He also holds WSU single-season records for scoring average (24.5), points scored (784), free throws (228) and 3-pointers (94), and is Weber State's career leader in 3-pointers (246), free throws (520) and free-throw percentage (86.7) and ranks second in career assists (362). He also ranks among the top-seven players in Big Sky history in seven of those statistical categories.

Email: rhollis@desnews.com