Keegan Murray Declares for NBA Draft, Toussaint Enters Portal

Between four and five PM on Tuesday, March 29, it was a hell of a whirlwind being an Iowa Hawkeye basketball fan.

Keegan Murray, one of the finalists for the Naismith Player of the Year trophy, First-Team All-American, and Big Ten Tournament MVP, declared for the NBA Draft, as shared on his Twitter profile.

Part of the statement read as follows:

I'm excited to announce I will be entering my name into the 2022 NBA Draft. Iowa will always be my home and I'm forever grateful to be a part of Hawkeye Nation!

While farewell messages like Murray shared aren't the easiest to swallow, it shouldn't serve as a surprise considering he's widely considered one of the top prospects in this year's draft.

As David Eickholt, Hawkeye Insider for 247Sports.com told me earlier this month on Cornstalks and Sports Talk (which you should check out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or live on Saturday mornings on AM950 or KOEL.com):

If I'm Fran McCaffrey, I'm not letting Keegan stay. I'm telling him to go to the NBA and taking away his scholarship if he tries to return. It's the smart thing to do.

The news that poured salt into the collective wound that Iowa fans everywhere had was that Joe Toussaint shared he'd be entering the transfer portal.

Toussant was a highly-touted, four-star recruit that came to Iowa City from Bronx, New York, and received significant playing time right away. He played in 30+ games each season he's played for the Hawkeyes and started 20 his freshman season along with 20 this year.

In what was largely a successful 2021-2022 season for the Iowa basketball program, Toussaint averaged 4.3 points over 17.3 minutes per game. He stole the ball a career-high 51 times.

Though he's entering his fourth year of school, Toussaint will be a junior eligibility-wise due to the extra COVID year.

In the statement the point guard shared on Twitter, he said his choice to leave came in order "to pursue an expanded role at another institution."