Ralph Sampson III seemed pretty crazy when the Minnesota Golden Gophers big man decided to enter his name in the 2011 NBA Draft, but after awhile, everyone slowly accepted that the talented junior was probably not going to hurt the University if he decided to keep his name in as an early-entry candidate after it came out that he was training with Michael Jordan’s trainer, attending NBA workouts and leading people close to him to believing he would be a professional basketball player next season.
All of that has changed, however, as Myron P. Medcalf reported Monday that multiple sources — including Golden Gophers Athletic Directo Joel Maturi and former AAU coach DeWayne Jackson — have confirmed that Sampson will return to the Gophers next season.
With Sampson returning, he and all-Big Ten second-teamer Trevor Mbakwe should be one of the best frontcourts in the Big Ten, especially if he’s able to live up to the potential that he was probably counting on to get him drafted this season.