Smith, Fair to Return for Senior Seasons, Kansas City Chiefs Still Holding Top Draft Pick

In not one but two stories on Wednesday, two NCAA basketball players announced they will remain at school for their senior seasons and receive their degrees.

Meet Louisville’s Russ Smith and Syracuse’s C.J. Fair.

Cardinals Russ Smith

As for Smith, he averaged 18.7 points per game and was selected by the AP as a third-team All-American. He will again play with Cardinals guard Petyon Siva for the upcoming season.

Can you say top defensive backcourt?

Smith will likely be a candidate for the National Player of the Year award and said of his decision to return via WDRB, “I love to win. With the group we have coming back, I want to go out as a winner, and to graduate. The pros of staying were so much better than the pros of leaving. What was crazy, the pros for me leaving were all immature.”

With Smith’s return, it boosts a potential repeat for Louisville as National Champions. In addition to Siva, he’ll join new JUCO player Chris Jones, Terry Rozier, possibly recovered Kevin Ware, freshman Anton Gill and Luke Hancock for the 2013-2014 team.

That’s a loaded group and for now, Louisville is 12 to 1 win again while Kentucky, looking for a big rebound, sits at the top with 4 to 1 odds thanks to a top recruiting class.

Meanwhile, while they were a Final Four team and sit with 20 to 1 odds for a 2014 Championship, Syracuse may have seen their odds improve with the announcement that C.J. Fair will return for his senior year.

The player was the team’s leading scorer with a 14.5 point average and 6.9 rebounds last season.

Fair’s decision came based on his desire to improve his play in the upcoming season and to also graduate. He will be playing without sophomore Michael Carter-Williams, who declared last week that he’ll go to the NBA, but he has DaJuan Coleman, Jerami Grant and Rakeem Christmas which should make this a pretty good Syracuse team as it enters its first year in the ACC.

Round 1 of the NFL Draft

It’s draft day and the Kansas City Chiefs still hold the first pick. But things can change.

The team has already been receiving calls to trade up for the top pick, according to the Chiefs general manager John Dorsey, but he declined to name them.

The Chiefs have been busy themselves as they are supposedly working on a deal with the Miami Dolphins to trade their offensive tackle Branden Albert.

NFL.com wrote that the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers could be potential Albert suitors and may have inquired about his price.

Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher

But should the Chiefs not give up their top pick, they’ll likely take an offensive tackle in the draft. Top picks include Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel or Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher, who Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer believes will be their pick with the tweet, “Although most believe Chiefs take Luke Joeckel, I do not, I believe Chiefs will take Eric Fisher w #1 pick. Big, nasty, fits city.”

There’s also two additional players the Chiefs reportedly have in mind for their first pick.

The odds for the number of offensive players to go in the first round is 13 with -120 o/u.

Meanwhile, there’s also been a lot of conversation about the top quarterback pick in this weak draft. Will it be West Virginia’s Geno Smith or USC’s Matt Barkley?

On Wednesday, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said Smith could go to the Cleveland Browns at the No. 6 pick, if not he could drop to the bottom third for the first round. The New York Jets have also been part of the conversation to take Smith.

He is 8 1/2 (-140 under) for his draft position while Barkley sits at 37 1/2 (-120 o/u).