Roundup: Exum to NBA, Nebraska dismissal, more

  • 01/28/2014 10:13 am in

As expected, class of 2014 Australian guard Dante Exum will skip college and declare for June’s NBA draft.

In a statement to ESPN.com, Exum said he will sign with agent Rob Pelinka, who represents Kobe Bryant and former IU standout Eric Gordon.

Indiana was heavily involved in Exum’s recruitment and even had him on campus for an official visit last January for the Minnesota game, but it became clear in recent months that he was leaning heavily toward the draft.

ESPN.com, DraftExpress.com and NBADraft.net all project Exum to be taken in the top five.

Nebraska dismisses Biggs

The Omaha World-Herald, citing two sources, reported late Monday that Nebraska has dismissed junior point guard Deverell Biggs for disciplinary reasons.

Biggs, who missed Nebraska’s win over Minnesota on Sunday, was the team’s second leading scorer in Big Ten games at 10.8 points per game.

According to the World-Herald’s report, Biggs has had several issues while in Lincoln, including a driving-while-intoxicated charge during his redshirt season, another minor traffic violation and also multiple skipped film sessions this season.

Indiana plays at Nebraska, which is 2-5 in the Big Ten but 9-1 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, on Thursday.

Other notes and links:

· Class of 2016 Gill St. Bernard School (N.J.) guard Tyus Battle will visit Syracuse on Saturday for its game with Duke according to multiple media reports. Battle has a scholarship offer from Indiana and visited Bloomington last fall.

· Indiana is the Big Ten’s eighth based team if you look at efficiency margin, according to UMHoops.com.

· Rosters for the McDonald’s All-American game will be announced on Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU. If James Blackmon Jr. is selected, it will mark the fourth straight season the Hoosiers have landed a McDonald’s All-American.

· Speaking of Blackmon Jr., he’s now up to No. 33 on the all-time state scoring list. With 61 more points, Blackmon Jr. will pass Steve Alford for 25th all-time. The Marion senior has 2,056 career points and is averaging 36.2 points for the 9-3 Giants.

· Class of 2016 Taylor County (Ky.) point guard Quentin Goodin will take an unofficial visit to Bloomington on Sunday for the Michigan game, according to his father, Chris. Goodin is the No. 33 player nationally in the 2016 class according to the 247Composite and has offers from Indiana, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and West Virginia, among others.

· The Omaha World-Herald takes a look at Noah Vonleh, who is improving rapidly according to Tom Crean.

· Cody Zeller talks about his favorite NBA cities and life in the league in his latest rookie diary on SI.com with Matt Dollinger.

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