Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin believes Lance Stephenson made the right choice in declaring early for the draft.

“I thought it was right for both of us,” Cronin said. “I thought he would develop better there because he would feel less pressure because he would already have a paycheck and he would already be in the NBA.

“We had Sean Kilpatrick redshirting and everybody back. There’s no question it was best for us. Less drama. You’ve got to have a team at this level.”

Cronin said he does not regret signing Stephenson, noting that Stephenson’s departure added to the perception he could help other players make it to the NBA.

“Don’t think that that didn’t help us sign Jermaine Sanders and Shaquille Thomas,” Cronin said. “The fallacy of recruiting is that I got a guy to the NBA, like Mick Cronin had anything to do with Lance Stephenson getting to the NBA.”