Isaac Copeland has withdrawn from the 2018 NBA Draft and will return to Nebraska for his final season of eligibility, following in the footsteps of teammate James Palmer Jr. who announced his return on Friday.
Nebraska’s Isaac Copeland told ESPN he will withdraw from the NBA draft.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 27, 2018
Like Palmer, Copeland chose to test the NBA Draft waters without signing an agent after a strong junior season with the Huskers.
The NCAA deadline for players to withdraw their names from the draft and still maintain eligibility is May 30. Nebraska submitted Copeland’s name to the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee along with Palmer’s and Isaiah Roby’s. Copeland worked out for the Boston Celtics in order to seek feedback before ultimately choosing to finish out his college career in Lincoln.
The 6-foot-9 forward was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention pick by both the coaches and media after averaging 12.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.0 block as a junior for the Huskers. Copeland was a mid-year transfer from Georgetown in 2016-17 but received a waiver from the NCAA for full eligibility for the 2017-18 season and started all 33 games.
Copeland scored double digits 23 times as a junior with five games of 20 or more and a high of 30. He notched three double-doubles. After shooting just 14-of-48 (29.2 percent) from 3 during the nonconference slate, he found the range in the Big Ten and shot 27-of-63 (42.9 percent).
Copeland averaged 8.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 73 career games at Georgetown before he transferred to Nebraska. He was a 5-star recruit coming out of high school.
Copeland received his degree from Nebraska on May 5.
The Huskers went 22-11 last season and qualified for the NIT. With Palmer’s and Copeland’s decisions to withdraw from the draft, the Huskers return their top four scorers from that squad while Thomas Allen, Nana Akenten and Thorir Thorbjarnarson will head into their sophomore season with a full year of college basketball under their belts. Tim Miles signed three players in his 2018 recruiting class — point guard Amir Harris, wing Karrington Davis and big man Brady Heiman — to replace the departed Evan Taylor, Anton Gill and Jack McVeigh.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
