When it comes to underclassmen in the world of college basketball, some player are forgone conclusions as far as the NBA draft is concerned … others not-so-much.

There was hardly a blink of an eye when Hasheem Thabeet, Ty Lawson and Blake Griffin — for example — announced that they were entering the 2009 NBA Draft.

UCONN Center Hasheem Thabeet hired an agent as is more than ready for the NBA.

But players like Eric Devendorf and Roderick Flemings (Hawaii … I know …) make us scratch our heads and say, “Huh?”

The NBA Draft is a tricky thing. It’s like Forrest Gump and his box o’ chocolates — “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

The following is a list of underclassmen who have decided to “test” out the NBA Draft. Some have hired an agent, others have not.

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It really isn’t a dramatic jump, considering the fact that Greg Paulus was a standout quarterback on his high school football team. While at Christian Brothers Academy, Paulus started for three seasons — passing for over 8,000 yds., breaking five state records and losing only three games throughout his career.

These stats were so impressive that Paulus was once considered the best quarterback in his age group, receiving 53 scholarship offers to play football at the Division I level in college.

Greg Paulus may be throwing a football instead of a basketball once again.

But Paulus’ first love had always been basketball. And when he was given the opportunity to play for one of the most storied and respected programs in college basketball history, he took it. Who can blame him? Some kids grow up dreaming of playing at Duke under the helm of Coach K. Sure, Paulus has gotten teased more than most over his four-year career. But I don’t think his football talent was wasted.

Apparently, the Green Bay Packers were intrigued enough to give Paulus a workout.

We all know that Paulus isn’t going to the NBA. But it looks as though the NFL could be a reasonable back-up plan.

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