CARY - North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Sunday he was not surprised by junior Danny Green's decision to enter his name into the NBA Draft but not hire an agent.

"We'd been talking about it for three weeks, so I'd say no," Williams said during UNC's baseball game against Florida State at the USA Baseball Training Complex.

When asked Wednesday whether Green, the Tar Heels' sixth man last season, had been part of Williams' process of contacting NBA teams to see where underclassmen Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington might be drafted, the coach said no. A UNC team spokesman confirmed that Saturday.

But evidently, Williams did do some research on behalf of the reserve forward.

Asked Sunday why Green hadn't gone through the process, Williams said: "Just because it sounds like something doesn't mean it's true. Danny and I have been talking about it for three weeks; everything doesn't need to be shared. He and I have been talking about it for three weeks, his dad and I have been talking, and I had been talking to the other teams about it."

Hansbrough opted to return for his senior season, but Lawson and Ellington will also apply for the draft but not hire agents, leaving the door open for their returns. They, along with Green, are the first players under Williams to "test the NBA waters." Under a new NBA rule, pro teams can pay for private, 48-hour workouts with underclassmen without affecting their eligibility.

Williams said he has mixed emotions about the process.

"I think there's some good things about it," he said. "I think possibly some youngsters could do that when it wasn't a realistic approach. I don't think that's any of our guys, because I think they do have some possibilities, so I have mixed emotions about it. And also, I think the rule is so new ... we'll just have to wait and find out and see what it looks like after this."

Williams said the trio's decisions would not have any effect on recruiting players to possibly replace them because "there's nobody out there." He also said he had "some feelings" about what Lawson, Ellington and Green would do if they found out they wouldn't be first-round picks, but he declined to share them.

Underclassmen have until June 16 to pull out of the draft. Lawson and Ellington are not considered lottery (top 14) picks; one analyst said Green was a second-round prospect "at best."

In the meantime, Williams will continue to have a role in the threesome's futures.

"We're the only people who can set up the workouts, so we'll do everything,'' he said. "We'll first of all try to see about getting them in the predraft camp in Lake Buena Vista [Fla.] ... and then after that, there's a window of about two weeks [where they can set up individual workouts]."

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