As a high school recruit who became a YouTube sensation for his basketball highlights, Corey Sanders was known for 180-degree dunks.

Who knew Rutgers' star point guard would pull a 180 when it came time to deciding whether to keep his name in the NBA Draft or return to college for another year?

One day after saying he was "leaning towards coming out'' for the NBA Draft, Sanders reversed course by electing to return to Rutgers. The Rutgers men's basketball program announced the return of its best player on its Twitter account late Tuesday night.

On the eve of when underclassmen who did not sign with an agent were forced to decide whether to withdraw from NBA Draft consideration, Sanders decided he has unfinished business at Rutgers.

Sanders was not among the 67 players invited to the NBA Draft combine earlier this month. But the 6-2 guard from Lakeland, Fla., had a workout with the Sacramento Kings on Monday, the first publicly known interest in his stock.

It was a reversal in the last 24 hours by Sanders, who said after his workout that he had to talk to his advisers and pray on the decision.

"I think it'll help me develop more playing in the NBA than going back to school because you don't get as much one-on-one time with basketball as you would want to," Sanders told ABC-10 of Sacramaento. "So I'm just all about developing and getting better.''

Although he wasn't projected to be picked in any mock drafts, there were questions of whether Sanders would pursue a European professional career or try to catch on with an NBA Development League team.

Now, he will return to a roster that includes three returning starters and four other letterwinners from a team that finished 15-18 overall and 3-15 in Big Ten play in coach Steve Pikiell's first campaign last winter.

Losing Sanders would've been a critical blow to Rutgers' plans of taking another step forward -- perhaps to a winning record for the first time since 2005-06.

Following Nigel Johnson's graduate transfer to Virginia, Sanders is the only player on the team with a proven ability to break down defenders off the dribble and get to the rim. He also shot 30.1 percent from 3-point range on a roster where that qualifies as lethal.

Recruited by former Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan who once coached his favorite player Allen Iverson with the Philadelphia 76ers, Sanders averaged 14.2 points, 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds over 59 games in his career.

The Florida native's scoring and assists went down as a sophomore under first-year coach Steve Pikiell, but his overall game looked better and less selfish to both the naked and trained eye as Rutgers became a much-improved team.

Sanders' return also allows Pikiell to ease the pressure on incoming guard Geo Baker, the team's prized recruit.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.