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LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Jaycee Carroll's future in basketball will depend on how much an NBA team is interested in him.
If nothing else, the Utah State star is hoping somebody gives him a look this year to improve his draft stock for 2008.
The 6-foot-2 guard declared for the draft, but he has not hired an agent and can still return to the Aggies for his senior season. Carroll has until June 18 to withdraw from the draft.
He said a few teams have shown some interest, but nobody has scheduled an actual workout.
"I won't be devastated. A little disappointed. But life will go on and I'll get ready for my basketball season here at Utah State," Carroll said.
Carroll realizes that working out for a team before this year's draft will probably get him noticed for 2008. Unless somebody tells him he will be a first-round pick -- and get a guaranteed contract -- he knows he's probably headed back to Utah State.
"I need to go and I need to have a good workout somewhere," Carroll said. "That'd make the whole thing worth it. If I can get one workout, it'd make it worth it."
At 24, Carroll is a few years older than most underclassmen who declare early for the draft. He served a two-year Mormon mission in Chile after graduating from high school in Evanston, Wyo., where he was a small-town star and didn't get much attention from recruiters.
Utah State wanted him before and after his church assignment, so Carroll joined the Aggies in 2004.
Last season as a junior, Carroll led the Western Athletic Conference in scoring at 21.3 points per game and was named an Associated Press honorable mention All American. But by playing in the WAC, he didn't get the same exposure as other scoring leaders around the country.
Carroll said he feels like an unheralded recruit all over again and hopes a workout can get him on somebody's radar.
"I think it provides opportunities for guys at smaller schools that had pretty good junior seasons but don't get quite the national exposure because they're not in the Big Ten or the Big 12," Carroll said. "It helps them make a name." ------ Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-06-11-07 1547MDT
