The Mario Austin saga took another turn Monday. This time the Mississippi State staff is hopeful it's the last time they'll hear about the NBA draft until next season.

Austin informed Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury that he is returning to school, less than three weeks after he left the Starkville, Miss., campus with the intention of declaring for the NBA draft. That announcement came a week after he had said that he was declaring.

Austin was expected to discuss his flip-flopping at a news conference Monday. As an McDonald's All-American, Austin considered turning pro out of high school before honoring his committment to Mississippi State.

Stansbury said the 6-foot-9 sophomore power forward never sent in paperwork to officially entered the 2002 NBA draft. If that's the case, then he doesn't have to let the NBA know of his latest intentions.

Stansbury, however, said Austin missed two-plus weeks of school. But Austin should be able to "make up" the work and won't have a problem being eligible for next season.

Austin averaged 16 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who won the SEC tournament, earned a No. 3 seed but lost in the second round to No. 6 Texas in Dallas.

The reason for Austin's turnaround, according to Stansbury, was Austin discovered that he was not informed correctly about his real draft status. Austin was told by "agent-related people" that he would be drafted somewhere between 15 and 20 in the first round.

"But when he checked into it he found out that he was really late, late first or more likely second round because of how deep the draft was for power forwards," Stansbury said. "When he first made the decision, he hadn't had the opportunity to gather information. This time he did and got the facts. He sees the benefits of going to college for his junior season."

But Stansbury isn't naïve and understands nothing is safe until May 12 when the early entry deadline hits.

"Anything is possible," Stansbury said. "But this demonstrates that he has put in a lot of thought and demonstrates the commitment to come back to school. He's back in his apartment and now he's got the facts in front of him so the temptation to go hopefully won't be there again."

With Austin, the Bulldogs are once again a favorite to compete with Alabama for the SEC West title and defend their conference tournament title in 2003.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.