Arizona's Stanley Johnson declares for NBA draft

Arizona freshman forward Stanley Johnson declared for the 2015 NBA Draft at a press conference Thursday night.

Johnson averaged 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Wildcats as a freshman.

He scored 22 points, hitting on four of five shots from beyond the arc in a Round of 64 victory over Texas Southern to open the NCAA tournament, but averaged only 7.3 points on 26.9 percent shooting in the Wildcats' next three tournament games.

The No. 3 overall prospect in the 2014 recruiting class according to 247Sports, Johnson is ranked as the No. 9 prospect by DraftExpress.

Had he elected to return to Arizona for his sophomore season, Sean Miller's squad would have instantly become a national title contender (if it wasn't already), and Johnson would have jumped to the top of the vast majority of player-of-the-year watch lists, bringing back memories of Mike Bibby's sophomore season in Tucson.

Instead, Arizona appears poised for a rebuilding year, losing four starters from a team that went 34-4.

The deadline for early entry players to declare for the 2015 NBA Draft is April 26.