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Mason's draft decision his and his alone

There's a lot we don't know about Roger Mason Jr.'s decision to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft June 26.

Has he signed with an agent, thus making him ineligible to play for Virginia next season? Probably not, but we can't know for sure until somebody asks him.

How high in the draft does he want to go and at what point would he exercise his option to return to school, rather than going through with the draft? Again, we don't know, but the answer to that question will help explain whether you'll see Mason next year in a Virginia uniform.

There is one thing we know for sure, though. Mason is making the best decision for his future right now. Anybody who says otherwise is either selfish or uninformed.

Mason isn't dumb. He's not entering the draft because he's burned bridges at his school - like Joe Forte did last year at UNC. He's not doing this because Mom can't survive without his paycheck or because his only reason for going to college was to play basketball.

I say this because, in the three years that I've known Mason, he's given me every indication that he's one of the most level-headed and smartest student-athletes in the Virginia program, and he wouldn't be swayed to make this choice out of haste. I've been in classes with Mason, interviewed him after games and sat on the bus next to him. He is well-spoken and reasonable, nothing like the money-obsessed, self-absorbed kids you see at other programs.

I can tell you right now that this is not a case of an athlete following the advice of all of the basketball vultures out there: the sneaky agents or the distant relatives thirsting for the bling bling.

This is Mason's choice. And it's the best one he's got.

It's time to leave

In the time Mason has been at Virginia, he's done wonders for the basketball program. When he arrived, the team was at rock bottom. It hadn't been ranked for three years. The last time that happened, I was 5-years-old.

Now, largely thanks to Mason's 30-point, why-isn't-he-an-All-American performance against Gonzaga in last year's NCAA tournament, Virginia's back on the national college basketball map. Sure, Chris Williams might have put up good numbers and Travis Watson might do the dirty work most of the time, but it was Mason who got Virginia where it is today.

So it's perfectly natural for Virginia fans to think he should stay in school: "One more year, Mase. With you and Watson, what would have been the best inside-outside combo in the conference next year, we coulda been a contender."

But you know what can happen in a year?

Mason could get hurt, like Chris Owens did this year at Texas.

He could be discovered as a fraud, a "system" player like Terrence Morris was at Maryland last season.

If he doesn't exercise his right to make the choice this year, he might not have the same choice next April.

Mason says he's going to finish school and get his degree. Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal and Juwan Howard did the same thing, and each got the best of both worlds from college, a great apprenticeship in their chosen profession and an education. That's the whole point of playing college ball anyway, right?

There's no telling where Mason might be picked in the draft right now. Your guess is as good as mine, and I've heard everything from a mid-first-round pick - which definitely would make Mason happy - to mid-second round.

Either way, it's not the job of fans to decide whether that should be good enough for Mason. It may be your team, but it's Roger Mason's life.

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