Saint Louis’ Hughes Chooses NBA

Guard Larry Hughes will leave Saint Louis and make himself eligible for the NBA draft, KMOV-TV in St. Louis reported Wednesday.

A university spokeswoman said Hughes has scheduled a press conference today in New York.

Hughes, the Conference USA freshman of the year and first-team all-conference selection, led the Billikens to a 22-11 record. The 6-foot-5 Hughes averaged 20.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists last season.

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Corey Benjamin, a 6-6 guard who averaged 19.8 points and five rebounds as a sophomore at Oregon State last season, announced in Fontana that is he passing up his final two collegiate seasons to make himself available for the NBA draft.

“It has always been a dream to play in the NBA, and I can’t keep passing this option up,” Benjamin said.

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Korleone Young, a 6-7 forward considered one of the nation’s top high school players, announced that he is skipping college to join the NBA draft.

Young, who averaged 29.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists at Virginia’s Hargrave Military Academy, emphasized that he didn’t make the decision for scholastic reasons--he had narrowed his choices to UCLA and Georgetown--and still expects to get a degree in business management.

“They see a kid jumping from high school to the NBA and the first thing they say is, ‘This kid is dumb,”’ said Young, 19, in Chatham, Va. “But it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what I want to do in life and what I can do in life.”

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Bob Bender, who coached Washington into the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 last month, said that he hasn’t been offered the job at Texas and he doesn’t know if he’d take it if it was offered.

“I would hope this is decided as quickly as possible,” he said in Seattle. “But I don’t think this is something that’s going to happen in 24 hours.”

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James Green, considered by many the front-runner for the Mississippi coaching vacancy created by Rob Evans’ departure for Arizona State, said that he doesn’t want the job because he hasn’t completed a promised rebuilding at Southern Mississippi.

Green, who played on Mississippi’s first NCAA tournament team in 1981, told WDAM-TV of Hattiesburg that he had not interviewed for the job and “it is not my intention to interview right now for the position at Ole Miss.”

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Joe Mihalich, an assistant at La Salle for 17 seasons, was hired as coach at Niagara. He replaces Jack Armstrong, fired last month.