SYRACUSE, N.Y.– Freshman point guard Eric Bledsoe said it best when asked to look at how different next year’s Kentucky men’s basketball team will look.”This is the last time we will all be together,” Bledsoe said.The graduation of three seniors will make that much true. How much different the team will look next year now hangs in the hands of four underclassmen as the offseason looms. Junior forward Patrick Patterson, freshman guards John Wall and Bledsoe, and freshman center DeMarcus Cousins must now face a decision on their immediate futures. All four are being touted as potential first-round picks, but none wanted to speculate as to what they would do just minutes after Kentucky’s loss to West Virginia in the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament.”I’m not thinking about that right now,” Cousins said. The deadline to declare for the NBA Draft is April 25. A new rule approved by the NCAA’s Board of Directors last year requires early entrants who have not signed with an agent to withdraw from the draft by May 8. The former rules gave players until June 15. Players are unable to test the NBA waters twice, making Patterson ineligible to return to school if he were to place his name in the draft for the second year in a row.The likelihood that all four players return is slim to none. Wall is the overwhelming favorite to go No. 1 in June’s NBA Draft, and Cousins and Patterson have been tabbed as potential top-10 picks.  “I don’t know,” Wall said of his immediate future. “I’m not thinking about nothing right now. I’m just disappointed about the loss and (want) to get back home.”Asked where home was, Wall said Lexington. “I’m finishing school out,” Wall said.Patterson and Wall seem the most likely to leave school. Patterson is scheduled to graduate in three years in June.”I still have time to decide if I want to leave or if I want to stay,” Patterson said. “The deadline isn’t coming for a month or so. I still have time to think about if I want to stay or I want to leave. Right now, I’m just going to hang with my teammates and do whatever I need to do to lift their spirits.”The X-factor for next year’s team looks to be Bledsoe. It was a foregone conclusion at the beginning of the season that Bledsoe would be at least a two-year player at UK, but his stock has skyrocketed as the season has progressed.Last week, ESPN Insider Chad Ford projected Bledsoe as the final NBA lottery pick. First-round picks are guaranteed contracts in the NBA.”We’re just in the moment right now,” Bledsoe said. “I’m not worried about all that.”Bledsoe told the Kentucky Kernel in January that he would consider the jump if he were to go in the top 10, but the absence of a Final Four will weigh heavily on his decision, Bledsoe said Saturday after UK’s loss. “I really want to win me a national championship,” Bledsoe said. “I don’t know whether I might come back or I might stay but as of right now I’m just focused on this moment.”UK head coach John Calipari has encouraged his players to turn pro early in the right situations. Calipari has a proven track record of replacing his lost stars.The NBA Draft is June 24 in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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