<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ORLANDO - Since he decided to test the NBA draft waters, Kyle Lowry has known that everything is a risk. He could be injured; he could return to college only to watch his stock drop; or he could stay in the draft and watch picks pass him by on June 28. Yesterday, though, Lowry took perhaps his biggest roll of the dice. The Villanova sophomore worked out in a private session for NBA personnel in the midst of the league's predraft camp here. What made this workout different than the private workouts Lowry had with Houston, Cleveland and New York is that this one was arranged by Andy Miller, an agent who has been acting as a family adviser to Lowry. Should Lowry pull his name from the draft, returning to Villanova just got a lot more complicated. "Once he worked out, it affected his eligibility," said Gordon Finch, Villanova's assistant athletic director for compliance. "If he were to come back, he would be ineligible and then he'd have to seek reinstatement." As with most things with the NCAA, that's no simple matter. Under NCAA rules, a student-athlete is not permitted to participate in a workout arranged or paid for by an agent. Lowry basically would have to plead his case before an eligibility committee, laying down the paper trail of receipts that proves that Lowry and his family, not Miller, paid for all of his travels. Lowry said that wouldn't be a problem. "My mother got a credit card," he said. "Everything is legit. I have the paperwork." Even if he can prove that, though, proving that Miller did not arrange this particular workout will be difficult. Finch went through a similar ordeal when he worked at the University of Connecticut with freshman-to-be Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva ultimately missed 3 weeks of practice and six games while the NCAA sorted through the paperwork, but Lowry doesn't even have as much a case as Villaneuva. "The difference is, Charlie was in high school, so he could say he simply didn't know the rules and at the time, he really didn't," Finch said. "With Kyle, the NCAA has been very clear and made an emphasis this year on sending out a list of the do's and don'ts." Just how much time Lowry might miss would be up to the committee. Randolph Morris, who returned to Kentucky after going undrafted last year, was suspended for an entire season; he will be eligible again this year. Lowry said he completely understood the ramifications of his decision, but the opportunity to work out for everyone in the NBA without incurring the travel expenses of traveling to individual teams was impossible to pass up. "I felt like I had to do this," he said. The reality is that all of this angst could very well be for nothing. If Lowry keeps his name in the draft - and all indications are that he will - it's irrelevant. He's a pro. The point guard said yesterday he wouldn't make any decisions until June 18, the deadline for underclassmen to pull their names from the draft. He is waiting to collect all the information that has been presented to him and get the best feel he can for his place in the draft. He's directly on the bubble, between the late first round (and guaranteed money) and the beginning of the second round (not guaranteed). NBA people said yesterday that they have been more than impressed with his point-guard skills, but his 6-foot frame would always be a stumbling block. "People love his toughness," one scout said yesterday after watching Lowry's workout at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. "He's right on that line, but he's going to be fine. He's a pro." But since the day he threw his name into the draft ring, Lowry has said he'd be OK as a second-round pick and yesterday he reiterated that point, saying, "I've prepared myself for the worst situation and the worst is second round. I'm OK with that." If anything, this process has opened his eyes to the real world. Working out since last month at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., Lowry said he has been challenged by the training, stymied by the loneliness of being away from home, and exhausted from the travel that often finds him arriving in a hotel room at 1 a.m. and on a practice court at 8 a.m. He has relied on friendships forged out of the insane schedule, particularly with Patrick O'Bryant, the Bradley sophomore who also has been at IMG. Through it all, the one thing he hasn't been is discouraged. "I know I've given my best and as long as that's the case, I'm happy with that," he said. "It's exactly what I thought it would be - tough, difficult. But you have to be all man, you have to mature every single day by yourself. Right now my mind-set is that of a pro." Lowry, whose workout yesterday was basically a two-on-two session of shooting drills and the like, said he could change that mind-set overnight should he return to Villanova.</div> Source
