Sophomore guard Nick Calathes has decided to enter the NBA Draft, but will not hire an agent so he can keep his options to return open, Florida officials confirmed Monday afternoon

Calathes, a first-team All-SEC selection from Casselberry, had a phone meeting with UF coach Billy Donovan Sunday night and Donovan gave Calathes "his full support'', UF assistant communications director Fred Demarest said Monday afternoon. The deadline to declare for the NBA Draft is April 26. The dealine to pull a player's name out of the draft is June 15.

Calathes was the Gators' leading scorer with 17.2 ppg, and also averaged 5.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game. Following the Gators' NIT quarterfinals loss to Penn State last week, Calathes said he planned to sit down with his family to decide whether to return. Asked if being part of two teams that never made it to the NCAA Tournament might cause him to think more about returning, Calathes said he considers himself a winner, but wasn't sure if never winning an NCAA tourney game would lead him to seek another college season.

In his first season with the Gators, Calathes was the SEC Newcomer of the Year and co-Freshman of the Year with Kentucky's Patrick Patterson. He led UF in scoring as a freshman with 15.3 points per game, the highest total ever by freshman playing for Donovan. He set UF freshman records for points (552), assists (221), assists per game (6.1), free throws made (144) and free throws attempted (199)…Led the SEC in assists and assists per game, breaking the 20-year-old UF record for assists and the 25-year-old UF record for assists per game.

After the Penn State loss, Donovan said he had no idea what decision Calathes would make, but seemed prepared for the possibility Calathes might not return.

"This is a day and age and time, that's kind of part of the deal,'' Donovan said.