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Arizona Basketball: Stanley Johnson strongly considering returning for his sophomore year?

Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson have reportedly decided to leave for the NBA, but could Stanley Johnson stay?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

To be honest, it's pretty surprising that Stanley Johnson hasn't declared for the NBA Draft yet. Of all the Arizona starters, Johnson always figured to be the most likely to leave. Yet, a tweet from Huffington Post's Jordan Schultz and a report from CBS' Jon Rothstein suggest that there's still a chance that Johnson returns to Tucson for another year.

In Rothstein's article, a source mentions that Stanley doesn't want to go out losing his final game:

"He's really torn," one source said. "He doesn't want to go out like he did against Wisconsin. For five years in basketball, Stanley has always won his final game. He's used to winning.

It's nice to think about the possibility of Stanley coming back for another season since he'd instantly become a National Player of the Year candidate and would provide some stability for a team that's losing a lot of key pieces, but I believe it's still highly unlikely that he decides to come back. DraftExpress.com has Johnson projected to go 9th overall in the draft, and it's hard to see anyone turning down that kind of opportunity.

That being said, if Stanley comes back and dominates his competition, he could become a top five pick. It's surely a tough decision for Stanley to make. You only get one go-around in college basketball and once you leave it's gone forever.

I'm sure Stanley will take his time making this decision, and he has until April 26th to decide his fate. Nonetheless, expect him to enter the draft.