When I heard UCLA guards Jordan Farmar and Aaron Afflalo declared for the NBA draft, I thought, “Someone needs a reality check in Westwood.”
This is the time of year when college basketball players – with egos inflated by NCAA success – try to make NBA dreams come true. Farmar and Afflalo have the dream like every other college basketball player with a pulse. But if the duo leaves UCLA, Farmar and Afflalo will renege on their promise to restore UCLA’s basketball elite.
Without them, UCLA becomes an average team. Everything the two accomplished in two years would only be a footnote in UCLA’s illustrious history.
Most of the stories leading up to the NCAA title game spoke of Farmar and Afflalo’s desire to win an NCAA championship. Nothing less, they said, would satisfy the success-driven UCLA program.
UCLA didn’t win, and now its two stars are leaving the Los Angeles school in limbo. Return, and UCLA has a team capable of going to the 2007 championship game in Atlanta. Leave, and who knows?
Prior to the duo’s decision, draft analysts rated Farmar a late first-round pick and Afflalo a second-round selection. If they haven’t proved they’re NBA ready on college basketball’s greatest stage, what is going to change in individual workouts? Consider that underclassman can only declare for the draft and return to school once, and it makes this decision all the more puzzling.
Look at Florida in comparison. It’s hard to imagine that Joakim Noah and Al Horford don’t have dreams of playing in the NBA. Say they had chosen to go in this NBA draft, they would both likely be lottery picks based on early NBA mock drafts. Instead, they chose to return and face the challenge of repeating.
Farmar spoke at the press conference of his desire for a college degree, which means the logical decision would be to come back, have another successful season and earn his way into lottery consideration.
Should Farmar and Afflalo leave, it will go down as the ultimate cop-out. They must have looked at Florida, seen all the returning talent and thought, “We have no chance against them next year.”
It is surprising, considering Farmer’s apparent championship dreams. After UCLA beat Memphis to earn its trip to Indianapolis, Farmar wanted no part of the regional championship trophy.
“I’m going to leave it down there,” Farmar said. “At UCLA, no other banner but national championships go up. I’m going to leave it down here till we take care of business.”
Farmer and Afflalo haven’t met the ultimate challenge – an NCAA title – and unless they return, it will be one of the greatest letdowns in college basketball history.

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