Jawun Evans had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists in Oklahoma State’s 92-91 loss to Michigan on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and all the talk afterwards was on whether he would return for his junior year.

Evans was a first team All-Big 12 player and could enter the NBA Draft after the season. However, he apparently told Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman that he is leaning towards returning.

FWIW, in the locker room, Jawun Evans said "most likely, I'll be back." Per @BerryTramel — John Helsley (@jjhelsley) March 17, 2017

There is also this.

Some positive news on disappointing day for Pokes. Jawun Evans told me he's "more than likely" coming back for junior season at #okstate. pic.twitter.com/luDpLOvTq6 — Nathan Thompson (@NathanDThompson) March 17, 2017

This obviously means very little until the whole thing is set in stone, but it’s a good first step for those wanting Evans to return (which is all of us). Oklahoma State would likely be a preseason top 15 for 2017-18 with Evans returning.

Here is a timeline of how all of this will play out over the next few months.

April 23: NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET)

NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET) May 9-14: NBA Draft Combine 2017 (Chicago)

NBA Draft Combine 2017 (Chicago) May 16: NBA Draft Lottery 2017

NBA Draft Lottery 2017 June 12: NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5:00 p.m. ET)

Evans will likely enter the Draft, see what happens and go from there. He can always remove his name before June 12 so we won’t know definitively whether he will be a Poke in 2018 until the middle of the summer.

Jawun Evans is a borderline 1st-rounder if he goes. Several NBA scouts told me they'd take 5 or 6 PGs ahead of him: Fultz, Ball, Fox, etc — Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 17, 2017

This is a new rule the NBA put in place that the entire state of Kentucky took advantage of last season.

We should note that Evans was less forthright when Mark Cooper asked him.