Florida junior Alex Tyus told the media on Saturday that he has taken his name out of the NBA draft and will return for his senior year at the University of Florida.

Tyus wanted to try out and see what the NBA was like without an agent and worked out with the Portland Trailblazers for a little bit before he decided that he wanted to come back for his last year. Tyus had a word with the Sentinel;

“When I began this process it was with the intent of gathering information to see what I needed to work on to one day compete at the next level, and I believe I have been successful in doing just that,” Tyus said in a statement issued through Florida.

“I have withdrawn my name from the NBA Draft and look forward to completing my senior year at the University of Florida. We made tremendous strides as a team a year ago that I look forward to continuing to build upon.”

This is a very smart move on Tyus’s part. He will be returning along with the four other starters from this past years 21-win NCAA tournament run which nobody really had expected early in the year.

Tyus, who is a two year starter, averaged 11.8 points and 6.9 boards this past season. I knew from the start when the word on the streets about Alex leaving wasn’t true. I remember when we had a chat through text messaging back in his sophomore season, he said something about he wants to stay until his senior year and how happy he was being able to play under Donovan and as a Florida Gator.

Tyus’s father (Thomas) thought otherwise about his decision to stay for his final year. He thought his son wasn’t going to get anything out of returning for his senior year.

Alli Cecchini, who is Alex’s fiancee, told Fowler that Tyus really enjoys playing ball for Florida and how he understands how the team needs him to play out of position.

Here is a picture from Alex’s freshman or sophomore year. Speaking of his fiancee, she is the one who took this picture of me and my brothers a couple years ago.

(The Orlando Sentinel -Jeremy Fowler contributed to this article.)