Thompson Staying at UCLA

The UCLA basketball program received its first good news in weeks Wednesday when senior Dijon Thompson withdrew his name from the NBA draft.

Thompson was the Bruins’ leading scorer last season at 14.4 points a game, splitting time between shooting guard and small forward. However, he was not projected to be taken in the June 24 NBA draft despite attending the Chicago pre-draft camp last week.

“Going to Chicago was a good experience for me,” Thompson said. “I was able to get evaluated. That was the main purpose of the camp, to get evaluated.

“I was advised that one year back in school, to develop my body and touch up on some skills, will put me in a better position next year to hopefully get into the first round.”

After losing out on two high-profile recruits and transfer David Padgett in the last few weeks and having starting forward Trevor Ariza leave UCLA for the professional ranks, Bruin Coach Ben Howland was glad to get Thompson back.

“Our staff is very pleased that Dijon has decided to stay in school and complete his degree, which he can do at the end of the upcoming winter quarter,” Howland said. “I think he’s going to have a great senior year.

“He has made overall improvement since our season ended. He’s been lifting consistently and has worked very hard at improving his game.”

-- Steve Henson