<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jibril Hodges sees it as a proposition in the "nothing to lose' category. The 6-foot-2 junior, who took his last final of the spring semester (in a mathematics course) Friday morning at Long Beach State, explained his decision to enter his name into the early entry pool for the June 28 NBA draft pretty much in those terms. Hodges said he got input from coach Larry Reynolds (who was vacationing in Europe Friday) before sending his paperwork into the league's New York City office. He sounded convincing when he said he expects to play for the 49ers as a senior. "Oh, yeah no doubt about it," he said. "I want to come back and play with all of these recruits we have coming in. "I just want the workouts and feedback (from NBA-types) I'll get from doing this." Hodges was one of 61 college underclassmen (along with 12 high school or prep players, and 35 international prospects) on the 108-name list released by the NBA Thursday afternoon. Those players have until 5 p.m., Eastern Time, on June 21 to withdraw from draft consideration to maintain their collegiate eligibility and have the opportunity to be under consideration for the 2006 draft, which figures to be considerably thinner in talent than next month's will be. Hodges, who averaged 12.9 points per game while shooting .408 overall and .376 from behind the 3-point arc for the 10-20 49ers this past season, hopes to be invited to the NBA's pre-draft camp (June 7-10, at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago). But only 65 or so collegians, preps and international players will be invited, and he figures to be a bit down on the pecking order right now.</div> Source
