NBA Draft: NU's Harris Was Only "Kidding" <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Will Harris, off the radar screen of most major colleges when he signed to play basketball at Nebraska, created a blip earlier this week when stories in the New York Post and Newsday quoted him as saying he's considering a jump to the NBA. Despite his brashness, Harris' coach at Maine Central Institute said Wednesday the athletic 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward from New York City fully intends to play for the Huskers. "It was just a kid talking out loud," Ed Jones said. "He said, ?Coach, I didn't think they were taking me seriously.' He said he was having a conversation with everyone and said ?If everyone else is throwing their name in (for the NBA Draft), why not me?' I don't think he was talking directly to the person who wrote it." Harris was at tryouts for the Queens Wheelchair Classic team when he made his comments. At Maine Central this season, he averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds, and was named second-team all-prep school. But while he played against some of nation's top talent, including New York's Andray Blatche, who's declared for the NBA Draft, Jones said no NBA scouts came to see Harris. Jones compared the recent publicity Harris received to when University of Illlinois senior Roger Powell Jr., declared he was coming out of college early. "No one knew who the kid was," Jones said. "Now people are looking for Roger Powell Jr." Harris' confidence about being ready for the NBA drew a stern warning from recruiting specialist Tom Konchalski, who told Newsday, "He's a very, very good player who can shoot the deep three-pointer, but he probably should go to Nebraska and work on putting the ball on the floor and creating."</div> Source
