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North Carolina basketball's best-case scenario has come to fruition.

Sophomores Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington and junior Danny Green withdrew from the NBA draft and will play for the Tar Heels next season, the school announced Monday.

"I'm very pleased with their decisions because I get to coach them for another year," coach Roy Williams said in a release. "It was reassuring that the feedback they got from the NBA teams is the same type of feedback our coaching staff has been giving them."

The announcement came a day after N.C. State forward J.J. Hickson said he would stay in the draft. Hickson said Monday that he would sign with agent Andy Miller today.

The UNC players' announcement ended weeks of speculation that began in late April, when all three announced they were entering the draft but not hiring agents. After Lawson played well early in the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., it was thought he had solidified his position as a first-round pick, and that would be enough to keep him in the draft. There also were rumblings that Ellington and Green might stay in the draft even if they were projected only as second-round selections.

It all turned out to be mere conjecture.

"The process of 'testing the waters' has given me valuable information about my draft status, and I have decided it would be better to return to school," Lawson said in the school's release. "I look forward to playing next season and trying to win a national championship."

The Tar Heels will be the favorite for the 2009 national title. The other three 2008 Final Four teams had significant personnel losses, but Carolina welcomes back all five starters. The loss of backup point guard Quentin Thomas and backup forward Alex Stepheson, who is transferring, was offset by a well-regarded four-man recruiting class. In all, UNC has 91.7 percent of its scoring and 86.5 percent of its rebounding back from last season.

Assuming a healthy roster, Williams now has a wealth of options at each position.

Lawson, Ellington, Bobby Frasor and incoming freshman Larry Drew Jr. are available at guard. Green, Marcus Ginyard and former Dudley standout William Graves will play the wings. At the two post positions, Williams can turn to reigning national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough, Deon Thompson and incoming freshmen Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller.

The fourth member of the 2008 recruiting class, Durham Jordan guard Justin Watts, will have to fight for scraps of playing time. He might be a redshirt candidate, following the route Graves took in 2006-07.

The strengths of the 2008-09 team -- depth, speed, scoring, rebounding, etc. -- are obvious. Finding any weaknesses requires considerably more digging.

Certainly the pressure will be immense. Given how close UNC came last season, how much talent the Tar Heels have and how weakened many of their top rivals will be, the expectations will be huge. Two of the most recent teams to face such pressure, Florida in 2007 and Duke in 1992, went on to claim the title everyone expected them to win.

Chemistry might be a more delicate matter. Carolina's frenetic up-tempo style does make it easier for Williams to go deeper on his bench than almost any other coach in America. But after testing the waters in 2008, Lawson and Ellington will almost certainly become NBA-ready in 2009. How will their goals fit into an offense that prefers to go inside as its initial scoring option?

Also, Green's decision to enter the draft against Williams' advice was an indication that the coach's authority over the program is not quite absolute.

Still, those are issues the Heels would much rather face than trying to figure out how to replace Lawson, Ellington and Green.

"I feel strongly that all of these young men will eventually be NBA players," Williams said. "The timing was just not exactly right at this point."

Not right for the NBA, but perhaps perfect for UNC.

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jim.young@news-record.com