Jordan Williams' testing-the-waters declaration was just the tip of the iceberg of the drama that's going to take place over the next few weeks. The will-he-or-won't-he obsession will dominate UMD sports for the next couple of weeks, and with good reason.
Gary Williams, for his part, definitely expects Jordan to return. Or at least that's what he's telling the media, the Washington Times' Patrick Stevens in particular:
"I fully expect Jordan to come back because of the lockout possibility," Gary Williams said. "No one knows anything about the draft right now except the NBA. They're the guys that are going to draft their players. With a lockout as a possibility, it'll be interesting to see how the process of the draft takes place. I know the NFL is going ahead with their draft, but the NBA, all sources I have are saying this could be a hockey-type situation [when the NHL wiped out the 2004-05 season with a lockout]."
Take this with a grain of salt, for a few reasons. First, it sounds like he's banking on there being no draft in addition to no season, but that seems unlikely; most leagues will have drafts despite lockouts. And that might actually work in Jordan's favor, because it could keep some more highly-regarded prospects out of the draft, opening an avenue for himself.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I don't think Jordan really knows for sure what he's doing yet. Given all the chatter we've heard about it, some public and some not, it seems unlikely he'll return, but that option is still there. He was "testing the waters," after all, and if he finds the waters to be agreeable - at this point, I'm guessing that means he gets a draftable grade - he'll go. Gary knows a lot, but he doesn't know what scouts are going to tell him, and that's the big variable.
Then again, this is good news, or at least is a little of it. If nothing else, it's better than Gary saying, "No, he's a goner." So we have that, at least.