DeVon Hardin came away from the past two weeks convinced he would be a first-round pick in the June 28 NBA draft.

Then he opted to return to Cal to play his senior season.

"It'd probably be in the early to late 20s, in that range," the 6-foot-11 junior said of his projected 2007 draft status. "The kind of thing I was hearing was that I was in the mix with a couple guys. That means there's no gaurantees.

"I feel like I can make that even better if I go back to school."

Hardin and his father said published reports that he signed with an agent over the weekend were incorrect. Hardin made the decision to withdraw from the draft Sunday evening, and Michael Hardin was filing the paperwork with the NBA office on Monday.

Hardin's return gives a huge boost to Cal, which will feature one of the nation's top 1-2 frontcourt tandems with Hardin and 6-9 sophomore forward Ryan Anderson, who averaged 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds last season.

"Obviously, I'm happy for us, but I'm happy for DeVon," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "It's not an easy decision for a young man to make. I think it takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of foresight."