BASEBALL: Kyle Russell, drafted in the third round by the Los Angeles Dodgers, signed this week. Other Longhorn draftees that have signed are: Kenn Kasparek (Seattle Mariners), Kyle Walker (Colorado Rockies) and Casey Whitmer (Washington Nationals).  Kasparek threw a no-hitter in Texas’ win over Texas State on April 29.

Whitmer has already joined the Nationals’ rookie league affiliate, the Vermont Lake Monsters in Burlington, Vt. Whitmer said he is enjoying his time up there and is glad that all his hard work has paid off and is now playing professionally.

TRACK: After winning the pole vault in the NCAA Outdoor Championship, Texas freshman Matson Wallace took the silver medal at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Matson had a vault of 17-05.75 feet. He advances to the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

 SWIMMING: Texas diver Jessica Livingston and Texas-Ex Laura Wilkinson have advanced to the finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials diving competition. Wilkinson won the Olympic gold before and has a shot again tomorrow at the finals.

In the men’s trials, Texas-Ex Troy Dumais advances to the finals along with Texas senior Jonathan Wilcox.

BASKETBALL: A.J. Abrams will return for a senior season. NBA draft is June 26. D.J. Augustin, who entered the draft and hired an agent, is expected to be a lottery pick.

By David R. Henry

Daily Texan Staff

            Hailing from Round Rock, the Austin area has always been home to Texas sharpshooter A.J. Abrams. And that’s not changing for at least another year.

            Abrams, who declared for the draft but did not hire an agent, withdrew his name from the draft on Monday and will return for his senior season at Texas.

“I’d like to announce my intentions to remove my name from the 2008 Draft and return for my senior year at The University of Texas,” Abrams said. “I entered the draft to receive feedback and take advantage of the opportunity to that was presented to me by the NBA to pursue my dream of playing professional basketball.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Abrams had a workout on Monday June 9 with the Sacramento Kings, who had two picks in the second round. Playing the shooting guard position, Abrams is considered too short to play that position in the NBA.
            “I received some positive feedback and constructive criticisms from the NBA teams that I worked out for, all of which should help me next year when I go through the process again,” Abrams continued. “When I sat down with my family and looked at my options, I knew I wanted to come back, finish what I have started and continue to represent The University of Texas to the best of my ability, both on and off the court.”

The 5-foot-11-inch guard was the team’s second leading scorer this season, averaging 16.5 points per game for the 31-7 Longhorns. During the NCAA tournament, in which the team went all the way to the Elite Eight, Abrams shot .500 from three-point land. He led the team in scoring with 20.3 points per game in the NCAA tournament.

The son of a college basketball official and former bodyguard to George Bush and Ann Richards led the team last season in steals (59) and free throw percentage (.809).  He was named to the All-Big 12 second team.

            Abrams is the school’s all-time career leader in three-point field goals made (284) and is 15^th on the school’s career scoring list (1,389). He’s second in free-throw percentage and sixth in three-point field goal percentage on the UT all-time list.

“We are obviously very pleased with A.J.’s decision to return for his senior year,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “He did exactly what the system allows to get all the information he could. We’re proud of him for how he represented himself and our program along the way. He has been a huge part of our success over the last three years, and we know that he’ll again be a leader for our team this coming year.”

By returning for his senior season, Abrams has the chance to break the school’s record for most games played. So far he’s played in 109, and the record set by Brian Boddicker and James Thomas from 2001-2004 is 134.

One Texas player who won’t be coming back is point guard D.J. Augustin. The team’s leading scorer hired agent Thaddeus Foucher at the beginning of the month.

Abrams return means the team will return four of five starters from last season.

The team signed two combo guards for the upcoming season in J’Covan Brown and Varez Ward. Neither are five-star recruits according to Rivals.com

Texas guard A.J. Abrams withdrew from the NBA draft today and will return for his senior season.

He was the team’s second leading scorer, adding 16.5 points per game for the 31-7 Longhorns.

Texas freshman Matson Wallace has claimed the NCAA championship in the pole vault at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, IA.

Wallace cleared 17 -6.50 and is the third Longhorn to win an outdoor pole vault title along with Brian Hunter in 2002 and Jacob Davis in 1999.

Darren Brown is now in the finals of the 1500-meter run at the NCAA Championships. Brown was knocked down in the prelims Thursday evening and did not qualify for the finals.

Texas coaches filed a protest that Brown was impeded and not given a fair opportunity to qualify for the finals. The meet referee reviewed the protest and ruled that Brown will be added into the finals of the race.

 As a senior, this is Brown’s last chance to claim a championship.

“We were able to protest to the referee that Darren did not get a fair
chance to participate in this championship,” Texas coach Bubba Thornton said. “ The meet referee agreed with our protest and added Darren to the final.”

Brown and his father Barry are the only American father/son duo to both run a mile under four minutes.