Both Gach will have company going through the NBA draft process this spring.
The league released a list of 205 draft early-entrant candidates, and University of Utah wing Timmy Allen was on it. A source told the Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday evening that Allen decided to go through the draft process on Saturday, one day before the deadline to declare.
Allen and Gach, who announced he would enter the NBA draft on April 6, have until June 3 to withdraw their names and maintain their collegiate eligibility.
A Pac-12 All-Freshman team selection in 2019, Allen was named All-Pac-12 second team as a sophomore after averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for the 16-15 Utes, who fell to Oregon State in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
As recently as six weeks ago, there was significant conjecture that Allen, a Mesa, Ariz., native who played his AAU ball for one of the West Coast’s premier programs, Compton Magic, would go through the draft process, but intends to return for his junior season. That intention, multiple sources told The Tribune on Tuesday night, has not changed.
With Gach and Allen, Utah is at the NCAA maximum of 13 scholarships for the 2020-21 season. If one or both players leave, the Utes could become late players in recruiting, either by scooping up a late class of 2020 commitment, or hitting the transfer portal, potentially for immediate help in the form of a graduate transfer.
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