Thomas Bryant to return to Indiana for sophomore season

Indiana Hoosiers center Thomas Bryant has opted to return to school for his sophomore season, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

A former four-star talent and McDonald’s All-American from Rochester, New York, Bryant averaged 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per gae while shooting 68 percent from the field in 2015-16. He was instrumental in leading Indiana to the Big Ten regular season championship as well as the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament. To reach that game against North Carolina, Indiana defeated ever-dangerous Kentucky and Bryant led the Hoosiers that game with 19 points.

And the fact that he hasn’t even opted to test the NBA Draft waters this year speaks volumes about where his head is at. College players this year can declare for the draft and then go through the entire process of team workouts and the NBA Scouting Combine to get an idea of where their stock stands ahead of the draft, and this can all now be done without hiring an agent since prospects have until 10 days after the Combine to withdraw their names from the draft as opposed to the former April deadline.

Given how Bryant’s overall defense needs some work and he’s still just 18 years old despite having an NBA body at 6-foot-10, 245 pounds, he just did his overall draft stock a huge favor.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

NBA Draft rankings 2016: Top 5 Shooting Guards
NBA Draft rankings 2016: Top 5 Shooting Guards