As the list of underclassmen declaring for the NBA Draft continues to grow, one of the more intriguing names out there officially threw his hat in the ring on Friday morning.

University of Texas sophomore point guard and Canadian sensation Myck Kabongo announced he will forego his final two seasons of eligibility. Currently projected as the No. 41 overall pick according to DraftExpress, Kabongo’s defection ends a 45-game tenure in Austin that showed great promise, but also brought its share of controversy.

“He’s fast and physically-gifted, but I’m not sure that he really understands,” one veteran NBA scout told SNY.tv. “He’ll go in the second round.”

A 6-foot-1 Toronto, Ontario native, Kabongo showed up at Texas with much fanfare as a consensus top-3 point guard in the Class of 2011. He averaged 9.6 points and and 5.2 assists as a freshman on his way to earning All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and Big 12 All-Rookie Team honors. The season was viewed by some as a disappointment thanks to all the fanfare coming in, but the skill set was there to stamp him almost immediately as an NBA prospect.

Kabongo’s sophomore season was reduced to just the final 11 games of the season after the NCAA leveled him with a 23-game suspension, having found he received impermissable benefits, then lied about it. The original suspension was for one year, but an appeal from Texas got it reduced to 23 games on Dec. 21.

In those 11 games, Kabongo averaged 14.6 points and 5.5 assists as the Longhorns went 6-5 as part of a 16-18 season. At the annual team banquet on Thursday night, he had been named its most valuable player and team captain for 2013-14.

At the center of the NCAA investigation was Kabongo’s best friend and fellow Canadian, Tristan Thompson and his agent, Rich Paul, who counts LeBron James and Canadian San Antonio Spurs forward Cory Joseph among his clients.

The NCAA concluded ‘Kabongo accepted airfare, personal training instruction and then provided false and misleading information during two separate interviews with university officials’ which led to the initial one-year suspension.

Follow Josh Newman on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Keith Frazier,

“Great visit,” Erven “Big E” Davis, Frazier’s mentor, told SNY.tv. “He really liked the guys on the team.”

Frazier saw Kansas beat Texas, 64-59, Saturday in Big 12 action.

Next up is a visit to SMU Feb. 2-4.

“He is really embracing the process,” Davis said. “He’s watching things closely in all aspects in order to make a good decision.”

He is also considering Texas Tech and Texas A&M, with Auburn showing interest, Davis said.

Wherever he lands, Frazier could be a major contributor.

“The sky’s the limit,” Davis previously told SNY.tv. “He will be a dynamic player wherever he goes. He only gets better if he gets to the next level and his body gets stronger and he gets more and more knowledge about how to play the game.

“His athletic ability and talent is second to none. Whatever school he goes to they’re gonna get a kid that ‘s going to help the team get to the next level.”

Photo: Rivals

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Special to ZAGSBLOG

After the NCAA crushed the University of Texas and sophomore point guard Myck Kabongo with a one-year suspension for receiving impermissible benefits and then lying about it, the NCAA cut the Longhorns and the Canadian sensation a break.

Early Friday evening, the NCAA announced it has reduced Kabongo’s suspension to 23 games following an appeal being heard by the Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. Additionally, he will need to repay $475 in impermissible benefits to a charity of his choice.

“Our thoughts now are with Myck Kabongo and his family,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said in a statement released by the school. “We feel for Myck. He made some mistakes early in this process, and he put himself in a tough position. That said, he was truthful and forthcoming when he talked with the NCAA.”

Barnes continued: “Despite what happened, (Kabongo) has been a great leader for this team and we will count on him to continue that as we move forward. When I talked to him tonight after the decision had been made, Myck’s thoughts were only about our team and our program. That is a tribute to Myck and his family, and it tells you everything you need to know about Myck.”

The 23-game suspension includes the 10 self-imposed games Texas had Kabongo sit out. With 13 more missed games on the horizon, Kabongo should become eligible to play on Feb. 13 when Texas hosts Iowa State in Austin. Without Kabongo, the Longhorns are 7-4 this season.

The Longhorns had sat Kabongo while the NCAA investigated whether or not he accepted impermissible benefits from agent Rich Paul, whose client list includes LeBron James, as well as fellow-Canadians Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph.

According to a statement released by the NCAA, “Kabongo accepted airfare, personal training instruction and then provided false and misleading information during two separate interviews with university officials.”

Follow Josh Newman on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Myck Kabongo’

“It hurts him big-time,” the scout said. “He played out of control last year. Most teams need to see him play five-on-five, running his team….His stock goes down.”

As of this writing, DraftExpress.com has the 6-foot-2 sophomore point guard from Texas going with the 31st overall pick, or first in the second round.

Asked what will happen to his draft status, Jonathan Givony of Draft Express told SNY.tv: “Depends what he decides to do between now and the draft. After his poor freshman season scouts needed to see how much he improves as a sophomore. I don’t think he’s shown enough to be considered a definite first rounder based on upside alone. He’ll have to show more somewhere. Unfortunately I’m not sure the D-League is an option for him because he was already enrolled at Texas.”

The news of Kabongo’s suspension was first reported by Yahoo! Sports and confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the case, who said the announcement will come online on the NCAA site on Thursday.

A Canadian who played at St. Benedict’s Prep for current Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley and later for Findlay Prep, Kabongo averaged 9.6 points and team highs of 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals last season.

Still, Kabongo can take hope in the case of former Kentucky forward Enes Kanter, who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for his association with a Turkish professional club. Kanter was still taken with the No. 3 overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2011 Draft.

“It didn’t hurt Kanter, it won’t have an affect on Myck,” a second NBA scout told SNY.tv. “Scouts know what he is.”

Photo: AP

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

NEW YORK — Unlike Texas, Georgetown doesn’t have two players sitting out.

But the No. 15 Hoyas — who destroyed Texas in the Jimmy V Classic, 64- 41, at Madison Square Garden — still appear to have a big upside going forward.

“We are a work in progress,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said after his team improved to 6-1. “I think that we are going to be much better than we are today.”

Thompson III has his youngest team ever and Georgetown is the youngest team in the Top 25, so there is reason to believe the ceiling is high going forward.

The Hoyas already have wins over both UCLA and Texas — two struggling teams that face off Saturday in Houston — and a gritty overtime loss to No. 1 Indiana two weeks ago at the Barclays Center.

In their past two games, they have held their opponents — Tennessee and Texas — to a combined 77 points. Texas shot 14-for-48 (29 percent) and committed 22 turnovers.

“I think they had to work for everything and that’s what we want them to do,” Thompson III said. “We want them to earn their baskets. Our guys did a pretty good job of helping each other out today.”

Georgetown has a couple of NBA prospects in Otto Porter (14 points, eight rebounds) and Greg Whittington (five points, six rebounds) and a strong point guard in Markel Starks (11 points, four assists) as well as capable role players like Nate Lubick (13 points on 6-for-7 shooting) and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (seven points, six rebounds).

Porter, who was mysteriously left off the All-Tournament Team at the Barclays Center two weeks ago, is currently ranked No. 13 on the DraftExpress.com mock draft board for 2013, and Whittington is considered a top sophomore.

“The team and coaches want me to be aggressive and that is one thing I wanted to pick up coming into this year, to be more aggressive,” Porter said.

If he does, and if the young Hoyas continue to play defense like this, they could be a real factor in the Big East and nationally coming crunch time.

“I think that’s what makes this very exciting,” Lubick said. “The fact that we can get a lot better. There are a lot of things we can sharpen up on, on both sides of the floor. We’re a young team and we don’t really pay attention to those rankings too much but we are just very excited to get better.”

TEXAS STRUGGLING, ESPECIALLY AT POINT GUARD

Texas continues to play without point guard Myck Kabongo, who is awaiting word from the NCAA on his eligibility, and forward Jaylen Bond, who is out with a foot injury.

“We’ll be a much better team when we’re back,” Bond told Andy Katz earlier Tuesday.

Without them, Longhorns point guard Javan Felix struggled, going 1-for-9 for four points with three assists and five turnovers.

All told, the Longhorns’ 22 points led to 19 Georgetown points.

“At the first timeout I asked them, ‘Do you guys have any idea how many turnovers we have?’” Texas coach Rick Barnes said.

“I had a response from one guy. ‘Two.’ We had seven. Well, you’re not in there mentally in the game. As a group we should know that.”

Barnes also said his team — now 5-3 — lacked a winning mentality.

“We don’t have that winning attitude as a group that you gotta have,” he said.

Barnes refused to blame his team’s struggles on the absences of Kabongo and Bond.

“It’s not about that,” he said. “These guys are better. We’re better than we’re playing and obviously I’m going to hold myself responsible for that.”

Thompson III conceded it is hard to coach when a team is missing key players like Kabongo.

“This is a fragile business,” he said. “It’s very fragile and so a couple people leave, you don’t anticipate them leaving. They got injuries and got guys sitting out for NCAA reasons. It’s fragile and a lot of times it can make a big difference.”

Photo: Daily News

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

By JOSH NEWMAN

Special to ZAGSBLOG

NEW YORK – As the NCAA continues to investigate whether or not University of Texas sophomore sensation Myck Kabongo received impermissable benefits during the offseason, his best friend and the man in the middle of it all, Tristan Thompson, has no choice but to sit idly by, unable to help as Kabongo has already missed the Longhorns’ first two games.

“It’s definitely sad not having your best friend not be able to start his college season when everyone else is starting to play,” Thompson said on Tuesday evening before his Cleveland Cavaliers took on the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. “He’s worked so hard this summer to have a phenomenal sophomore year and it’s sad to not see him play.”

The point of contention here is whether or not Thompson paying for a flight for Kabongo to come to Cleveland earlier this year qualifies as impermissable benefits. Thompson and Kabongo have been friends since they were kids growing up in Toronto. They also played high school basketball together in the United States at perennial national powers St. Benedict’s Prep and Findlay Prep.

Thompson has told the NCAA he paid for the flight, but was reimbursed by Kabongo’s brother. Further complicating matters is a Yahoo! Sports report, which said the NCAA investigation involves whether or not Rich Paul, who lives in Cleveland and counts Thompson and LeBron James among his clients, provided improper benefits to Kabongo.

Thompson has no way of knowing when the NCAA will release its decision or what that decision will be, but he would like to think it will be sooner than later.

“They wanna keep it private, so we have to respect that,” Thompson said. “I don’t feel like it will be a situation like (former Kentucky forward Enes) Kanter or other guys where they miss a significant amount of time. Maybe a game, another two games. I’m not sure, but I think he’ll be playing soon.”

Thompson was referencing Kanter, a 6-foot-11 Utah Jazz forward, who was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA after receiving approximately $33,000 from Euroleague and Turkish power Fenerbahçe Ülker in excess benefits.

The NCAA ruled that this amount was above and beyond what was considered acceptable and later rejected Kentucky’s appeal.

As a freshman, Kabongo started 34 games for Texas last season. He was third on the team in scoring with 9.6 points per game and led the Longhorns with 5.2 assists a game. He has been projected as a possible first-round 2013 draft pick.

Kabongo has missed a 55-53 win over Fresno State on Friday and a 69-46 win over Coppin State on Monday. The Longhorns are off until Nov. 19 when they begin play at the Maui Invitational against host Chaminade.

“He’s my best friend,” Thompson said. “There is an understanding we had a prior relationship before even going to college. We’ve been friends since we were little. I hope they understand I just got him a flight. They just want to make sure I didn’t give him an excessive amount of money, or that anything came from an agent through me. I let them know it’s my friend, we have a relationship and I think they understand.”

Photo: US Presswire

Follow Josh Newman on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

“It was a good visit,” Austin told SNY.tv. “I liked the campus, the team, the coaching staff and the strength and conditioning coach.”

The 6-foot-5 Austin considers himself a point guard but can play both guard spots. He said Texas is looking at him as a possible replacement for point guard Myck Kabongo, the former St. Benedict’s Prep and Findlay Prep star.

“They just said htey need a big guard like me,” Austin said of his conversation with head coach Rick Barnes.

“Usually when teams make a run for the national championship they have big guards so they said could use me in that type of way.”

Austin said he knows Texas sophomore forward Jaylen Bond, a fellow Philadelphian.

“We played against each other in some pickup games,” he said.

Austin said he’s still considering UConn, Providence, Temple, Xavier, Florida and UCLA along with Texas.

“I don’t have anything scheduled right now,” he said, adding that he needed a break after three straight visits.

As for when he might commit, Austin said,  ”Basically going on a feeling. Whenever I feel it’s the right time.”

FREE THROWS

Rene Castro, a 6-2 point guard from Worcester (Mass.) Academy, committed to Butler Monday via his Twitter feed….Jordan Bell, a 6-7 forward from Long Beach (CA) Poly High, will visit UConn this coming weekend after visiting Oregon this past weekend, according to Kevin Duffy. He is also considering Auburn.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

The 6-foot-5 Austin is coming off back-to-back visits to Providence and then UConn.

“[Texas assistant] Coach [Rob] Lanier called and got in touch with everybody he needed to get in touch with,” Lonnie Lowery, Austin’s AAU coach, told SNY.tv.

“Him and Coach [Rick] Barnes came in to see Brandon a couple weeks ago. They came in and watched him. They’ve been doing a good job of talking to everybody and Brandon was interested so he definitely wanted to take a visit.”

Austin considers himself a point guard and could be a replacement for sophomore guard Myck Kabongo.

Kabongo is currently practicing with the Longhorns while the NCAA investigates his relationship with an agent.

Austin is considering several other schools, including Georgetown, Xavier and Temple and his recruitment could heat up in the next couple of weeks before the early signing period.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Julius Randle’s

“We’re happy for the young man and his family,” Carolyn Kyles told SNY.tv Saturday in reference to the 6-foot-8 Lee, who pledged to Kentucky last week, becoming the fifth member of John Calipari’s 2013 recruiting class.

“That was their commitment [based] on what was best for Marcus. Great players complement other great players on their team. Julius and his family will talk in the spring and decide the best place for him. Nothing has changed his thought about Kentucky. He’s still considering Kentucky.”

Lee and Randle are both power forwards, as is 2013 Kentucky pledge Derek Willis, yet Calipari has become a master at getting multiple great players to play together, even if they play the same position.

He was able to land a commitment from Michigan shooting guard James Young even after twins Aaron and Andrew Harrison committed. Aaron is also a wing player.

Randle also went out of his way in  his USA Today blog to point out that he’s cool with the Harrisons and could envision teaming up with them with great success.

“Potentially playing with two great guards would make it easier for me,” he wrote. “I think that we would have a legit shot to win a national championship in our first year because I don’t see any guards in the country that would be better than them.”

Kentucky also remains in the mix for 6-8 small forward Andrew Wiggins of Huntington (W.V.) Prep, who may or may not reclassify to 2013 from 2014,

Kentucky is also involved with 2013 power forward Aaron Gordon, who is visiting Arizona this weekend, is down to five schools and will commit in the spring.

The Wildcats remain involved with small forward Tyler Roberson of Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, who says he will still visit in November despite the recent Lee commitment.

The 6-9 Randle recently cut his list to six schools — Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, Oklahoma, N.C. State and Texas.

He is on an unofficial to Texas this weekend and will take an unofficial to Oklahoma Oct. 27 for the Notre Dame football game. He has already visited Kentucky and Florida.

Kyles said her son will visit N.C. State sometime in January.

As for rumors that he might sign in the fall, she said those were false and that he remained committed to signing in the spring.

“The spring,” she said. “He wants to take his remaining visits and see some games in person. Don’t know how the rumor about the fall/ in two weeks got started.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Thompson and Kabongo have been friends since their childhood days in Toronto and played together at St. Benedict’s Prep and Findlay Prep, as I covered in this story a few years back from Rivals.

“Did I pay for him? Well, yes and no,” Thompson said, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. “You know, I actually had to pay for it and then had his brother reimburse me, which is totally fine with the NCAA. We discussed that. Again, we want to respect the process. I think everything’s going to work out. I don’t see no eligibility issues, but that’s for the NCAA to work out.”

According to a report in Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA is investigating possible improper benefits provided to Kabongo by Thompson’s agent Rich Paul, who lives in the Cleveland area and also represents LeBron James.

Yahoo! reported that the NCAA is investigating who paid for Kabongo’s trip and expenses, and who provided his workout with New York-based trainer Jerry Powell. The report also said that Paul called NBA front offices on behalf of Kabongo before this year’s NBA draft.

A Texas spokesman confirmed to media outlets that Kabongo has spoken to the NCAA. The NCAA does not comment on current, pending or possible investigations.

Thompson said he already has spoken with the NCAA about the trip and his relationship with Kabongo.

“I told the truth to them,” he said. ”They also know me and Myck’s relationship. If you go back in history, me and him went to high school together. We’ve been through a lot. They’re not knocking the friendship, they understand that. They just want to make sure no outside sources are financing that trip. But no one else did and we have the proof to show them. That’s what I provided to them and they’re going to go from there.”

Kabongo started 34 games for Texas last season. He was third on the team in scoring with 9.6 points per game and led the Longhorns with 5.2 assists a game. He has been projected as a possible first-round 2013 draft pick.

He could be declared ineligible if the NCAA determines he received improper benefits from an agent.

Paul represents two former Longhorns, Thompson and San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph, Yahoo! reported.

Yahoo! reported that Kabongo could also violate NCAA legislation “even if the financing of the event comes from his or her former teammate under preferential treatment legislation.”

NCAA Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6 prohibits “preferential treatment, benefits or services because of the individual’s athletics reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a professional athlete, unless such treatment, benefits or services are specifically permitted under NCAA legislation.”

(The Associated Press contributed reporting)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook