April 22, 2005

By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina players Sean May, Raymond Felton and Marvin Williams are entering the NBA draft, leaving the NCAA champion Tar Heels without their top seven scorers for next season.

The announcement Friday means North Carolina has only one player on its roster who started a game last season - point guard Quentin Thomas, who replaced the suspended Felton in the opener.

Junior guard Rashad McCants already decided to leave school early and Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel and Melvin Scott completed their eligibility.

May had said immediately after the season that he would be back, but the burly, 6-foot-9 center backed off in recent days. He was magnificent during the NCAA tournament, averaging 22.3 points and 10.7 rebounds while shooting 67 percent.

Felton, a 6-1 point guard, scored 13 points per game and shot 44 percent on 3-pointers, up from 34 percent the previous two years. Marvin Williams averaged 11 points while never starting a game in his only season in Chapel Hill, but the 6-9 forward likely would have been a lottery pick had he entered the NBA right out of high school.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams has one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming to campus, and he'll need them all. Forward David Noel, mostly a reserve during his career, is the leading returning scorer with an average of 3.9 points. Noel and Thomas are the only players from the regular rotation coming back.