NBA Draft: What Trey Burke Staying in School Means for Point Guard Prospects

Early last week, USA Today broke a story that Trey Burke was expected to declare for the 2012 NBA draft. According to Michael Rothstein of ESPN's Wolverine Nation, the Big Ten co-Freshman of the Year has proven that report false and will head back to Ann Arbor for his sophomore season.

While Burke's status as a second-round draft pick was much more likely than his placement in the first round, there is a ripple effect that changes the draft stock of more than a handful of point guards. Amongst those players could be Kansas' Elijah Johnson, North Carolina State's Lorenzo Brown and Xavier's Tu Holloway.

While Johnson and Brown have yet to declare for the draft, Holloway is a senior point guard who many have overlooked due to the fact that he's undersized. With Burke, another undersized point guard, off the board, Holloway could see his stock see a major rise. His guidance of Xavier to the Sweet 16 is a promising start.

Furthermore, Burke's decision to stay in school could affect the players in front of him.

Iona's Scott Machado, Kansas' Tyshawn Taylor, Kentucky's Marquise Teague and Arkansas' B.J. Young are all projected to go anywhere from the late first round to the middle of the second round. The depth of the point guard class is now much thinner, though, with Texas' Myck Kabongo also staying in school. This opens up the opportunity for all point guard prospects to move up the board.

ESPN's Chad Ford confirmed this theory.

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The point guards could all end up going higher. Next year, ESPNU doesn't have one point guard ranked in its top 20 of the incoming recruiting class. The top point guard is Kris Dunn, who signed with Providence, and he's ranked at No. 23. That means waiting until next year for an elite point guard to emerge might prove fruitless. I had a number of GMs tell me Damian Lillard, Kendall Marshall, Tony Wroten Jr., B.J. Young, Marquis Teague and Myck Kabongo could all go higher than they are currently projected.

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With Kabongo's decision now known, that opens the door for at least one point guard to supplant him as a potential first-round draft choice. For a class filled with big men, it appears the little guys are stepping up in quite a big way.