April 22, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina players Sean May, Raymond Felton and Marvin Williams are entering the NBA draft, leaving the NCAA champion Tar Heels without their top seven scorers for next season.

"I've coached a lot of great players and these three here are at the top of the list," coach Roy Williams said during a news conference Friday on the floor at Dean Smith Center.

The announcement Friday means North Carolina has only one player on its roster who started a game last season -- point guard Quentin Thomas, who replaced the suspended Felton in the opener.

Junior guard Rashad McCants already decided to leave school early and Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott completed their eligibility.

Felton, May and McCants were part of a heralded class recruited by former coach Matt Doherty. But the team sputtered during their freshman year and Doherty resigned under pressure.

In their second season under Roy Williams, who left Kansas to coach his alma mater, the Tar Heels won the NCAA crown, beating Illinois 75-72.

"It's been a lot of tough times, and it's been a lot of great times, especially winning the national championship this year,"

Felton said.

May addressed the coach, who joined his players for their group announcement.

"I really didn't know the talent I had and when you came here, you brought that out," May said.

May had said immediately after the season that he would be back, but the burly, 6-foot-9 center backed off in recent days. He was magnificent during the NCAA tournament, averaging 22.3 points and 10.7 rebounds while shooting 67 percent.

Felton, a 6-1 point guard, scored 13 points per game and shot 44 percent on 3-pointers, up from 34 percent the previous two years. Marvin Williams averaged 11 points while never starting a game in his only season in Chapel Hill, but the 6-9 forward likely would have been a lottery pick had he entered the NBA right out of high school.

Roy Williams has one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming to campus, and he'll need them all. Forward David Noel, mostly a reserve during his career, is the leading returning scorer with an average of 3.9 points. Noel and Thomas are the only players from the regular rotation coming back.