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Provo • While announcing that he will put his name into the NBA Draft pool, sophomore Eric Mika said that he's serious about leaving and playing professionally the rest of his career.
"I expect to do well," Mika said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference in the school's new basketball practice facility. "I wouldn't be entering my name, I wouldn't be making a big deal about it if I wasn't expecting to do well and get drafted. I have confidence in myself and my abilities and am hopeful I will get some attention from teams and do really well."
The Cougars' 6-foot-10 star, a 22-year-old rising junior because he went on a two-year church mission to Italy after his freshman season, will preserve his college eligibility because he has not hired an agent. Wednesday's announcement means he can be invited to workouts by NBA teams beginning April 24.
The deadline to withdraw his name and retain his college eligibility is May 24.
"It has been a bit of a process," he said. "We really thought through it, considered a lot of different options, weighed a lot of different options, prayed a lot and just kinda came to the conclusion that this is the best thing for me right now and what I want to do with my life, and where I want to be, so here we are."
Mika is confident that he will be invited to the NBA Draft Combine, which will be held in Chicago May 9-14.
"I wouldn't call it a process of exploring, because then I wouldn't have entered, per se, my name in the draft," he said, when asked what has to happen for him to leave his name in the draft. "That's my intention, to be drafted by a team. So nothing really would need to change, I would just keep doing what I am doing, and have good workouts."
BYU coach Dave Rose said in a school news release that he supports Mika's decision and will help him through the process.
"He worked incredibly hard coming off his mission to be ready for this past season and I expect he will demonstrate that same work ethic throughout this process," Rose said.
Mika said he didn't expect to do as well as he did in the recently completed 2016-17 season, but after averaging 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game he started contemplating the jump to the NBA.
"I feel blessed to have been here, and placed in a spot I was placed in, and then I went out and it worked out for me," he said. "And then it was a gradual decision that came and felt right, so I stuck with it."
Mika, who posted 17 double-doubles and was named the USWBA District VIII Player of the Year, said his age was definitely a factor in his decision.
"I definitely thought about that," he said. "A lot of the guys are 18, 19, and I am 22. I would be a senior [if not for mission], and so that was definitely something I considered, I thought about, and realized that it would be the best time for me to go now."
An excellent student who made the CoSIDA Academic All-American team, Mika said Rose brought up the case of Jimmer Fredette, who placed and then withdrew his name from the draft after his junior season and then became the National Player of the Year in 2011, his senior season.
Rules are different now, and players have more time to decide whether to leave their names in the draft, or not.
"Something my dad has always talked to me about, is life is about options and keeping doors open, and so if you can do that, if you can enter the draft, if you can go to the NBA, while having that option in your back pocket, it is worth keeping it there," Mika said.
Mika played center this past season for BYU, but expects to play more of a power forward spot, a stretch-four spot, professionally.
"I think that my skills will be best utilized and developed if I am playing the four and can spread the floor a little bit," he said.
Mika said his wife, parents and siblings were in on the decision, as well as BYU's coaching staff. Having been reunited this past season with high school teammates TJ Haws and Nick Emery, Mika said it was difficult telling them he might leave early, but that they understood and were supportive.
"I know that [their support] was 100 percent genuine, but it is hard," he said. "It is hard to think that what we thought of and what we had envisioned so long ago wasn't going to be. I think it was tough for them. But those guys love me, I love them. We are like brothers and they want what is best for me, and I told them I think this is best for me. I think they are 100 percent behind me."
Twitter: @drewjay