8:47pm: Barber has informed coach Mark Gottfried that he intends to remain in the draft and will not be returning to school, Aaron Beard of The Associated Press reports.
3:16pm: North Carolina State junior point guard Cat Barber will test the waters for the NBA draft, a source told Evan Daniels of Scout.com. That means he’ll enter the draft but won’t immediately hire an agent, retaining his college eligibility in case he decides to withdraw before the May 25th deadline for him to pull out. The 6’2″ 21-year-old, who’s sometimes known under his given name of Anthony Barber, is the 39th-best prospect in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings but just No. 64 with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
Barber had a breakout season for the Wolfpack, averaging 23.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.6 turnovers per game. He shot 36.1% from 3-point range, a few ticks lower than the 38.0% shooting he displayed his sophomore year. He had eight games of 30 or more points, three of which came against NCAA Tournament teams. N.C. State finished just 16-17.
This season was the manifestation of the promise he showed coming out of high school in 2013, when he was a McDonald’s All-American and the 24th-best prospect in the RSCI listings. That put him right behind Tyler Ennis, who’s already in his second NBA season after spending just one year at Syracuse. Barber’s quickness helps set him apart, according to Ford.
I imagine this article must’ve been a bit of a challenge to write with a straight face everytime the author had to name the player.
Why? It’s not that funny.