Dan Komyati

With the conclusion of last night's NCAA basketball championship game, get ready for the endless proclamations over the next few weeks of college kids leaving school early to chase their NBA dreams.

I mean, could anyone seriously forget what went on here in Tucson last year?

While the wheels were still spinning on the last of the overturned cars on Fourth Avenue after the championship-game loss to Duke, four Wildcat underclassmen - of course, later reduced to three - had already decided they were ready for the ranks of the pros and said peace out to UA.

Yet, as many critics will continue to shake their heads in amazement at seemingly premature decisions by impatient college stars, one has to look no further than the core of last season's NCAA runner-up Wildcats to see that some of these kids are ready to make the jump.

Despite Michael Wright's troublesome size that prevented him from making an NBA roster just yet, Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas have both taken flight this season toward long and successful careers in the NBA. While each has experienced his ups and downs from dissimilar perspectives - one atop the Eastern Conference and the other at the bottom of the West - both former UA standouts have shown the rest of the nation just how talented the core of last year's national-runner-up team was.

Jefferson was the first to turn some heads as a member of the New Jersey Nets early this season with his superior athleticism and leaping ability - often displayed on the receiving end of an alley-oop from MVP-candidate point guard Jason Kidd.

But Jefferson quickly became the sixth man on the Eastern Conference's top team through his hard work on the defensive end and his understanding of head coach Byron Scott's system - both largely due to his three-year education under Lute Olson.

He has become a favorite of Scott and recently enjoyed his season's brightest moments as a starter. With Kenyon Martin suspended for two games after throwing enough 'bows to fill a Ludacris video, RJ took to the starting lineup and followed a 21-point, seven-rebound performance with another game of 20 points - including 18 in the second half - to carry the Nets to a come-from-behind road win. This is from the same kid who only scored 20-plus points two times all of last season.

The performances did not go unnoticed either, as Jefferson showed off several of his highlight-reel dunks when he co-hosted Plays of the Week on Sunday's "ESPN SportsCenter." All this from the Phoenix-area native who was left off of the Rookie Challenge roster during the NBA All-Star Weekend.

Pau Gasol of Memphis will undoubtedly take home rookie-of-the-year honors, but Jefferson has averaged 9.6 points and just under four rebounds this season on a much better team and has looked as mature as any that left school early for the NBA - which probably no one thought they'd be saying about Gilbert Arenas, at least not for several years.

Yet this star from North Hollywood, Calif., has finally proven that there is a reason his Escalade is more pimped out than Trick Daddy's bedroom - he can flat-out ball.

Though, it did look for a while like the only attention Arenas would receive this season would be in reference to his SUV. An early season Sports Illustrated article let everyone know about the infrared cameras in his bumper and the DVD screens that filled out his ride - along with rumors of the rookie forward's inability to make payments on his whip.

Yet after a silent first half to his rookie campaign, the 20-year-old guard is now receiving attention for his explosive game that everyone at UA became so familiar with.

About a month ago, Golden State head coach Brian Winters decided to hand Arenas the starting point-guard position to see what he could do with it, and the notorious funny man has taken the role very seriously.

Arenas has started 21 games, averaging 9.5 points to go along with three assists. But it was two weeks ago that he showed the rest of the NBA that he's on his way to becoming good. Arenas followed a 25-point, six-rebound, six-assist night with a career-high 32 points and five assists two games later.

And all he had to tell the media after the game was that he was only playing basketball to become an "international pimp." You have to love that. Apparently he has not changed that much from the kid he was a year ago, when he was making calls on his cell phone during class and clowning around on the UA campus.

While everyone here on this campus sits with their fingers crossed that Jason Gardner will be getting his degree - not cashing a fat paycheck - next May, two of his buddies have already shown him a rather impressive path into the professional ranks.

Let's hope he can do what dozens undoubtedly will not over the next few weeks, and wait just one more year to become an international pimp.