The country's likely No. 1 preseason team will get even better if Charlie Villanueva pulls out of the NBA draft.

Villanueva committed to Connecticut for next season, his summer league coach, Gary Charles, confirmed to ESPN.com on Sunday. The commitment only matters if Villanueva withdraws from the draft by the June 19 deadline.

The addition of the McDonald's all-American forward out of Blair Academy (N.J.) would make the Huskies' frontline even deeper in 2003-04. The hope in Storrs is that Villanueva could deliver like Carmelo Anthony did in Syracuse for one season: an NCAA title and national freshman of the year award.

The Huskies return potential first-team all-American center Emeka Okafor and likely all-Big East guard Ben Gordon, not to mention a solid rising sophomore class that could have even more of an impact next season.

"He wanted to stay close to the family," said Charles, coach of the Long Island (N.Y.) Panthers. "UConn speaks for itself. They've got a chance to be ranked No. 1 and win a championship without him. But he can help. (Jim) Calhoun has a track record of producing pros and all of that meant it was hard to say no."

Villanueva chose Connecticut over Kansas. He committed to Illinois in the fall, but didn't sign a national letter of intent. Bill Self, then the coach at Illinois, left to take over Kansas, where he continued to recruit Villanueva. Kansas and Connecticut each had a scholarship available.

Villanueva's commitment to Connecticut is non-binding since the spring signing period is over. He can sign a scholarship paper, but it doesn't have the same restrictions as a national letter of intent. A player who signs an NLI has to go to the school where he signs or appeal to get out of the letter to avoid a penalty. Technically, Villanueva is still a recruitable athlete since he isn't signing an NLI.

The next step is the draft on June 26.

Villanueva declared but isn't going to the Chicago pre-draft camp, which begins Tuesday. Under NCAA rules, he could have attended the camp for the first 48 hours on the NBA's dime. He would have had to pay the last two days if he returned to college. The NBA pays money upfront but the player is responsible to reimburse the league if they want to be eligible upon attending college. Charles said Villanueva's brother is paying for his time in Florida, but the family can't fly him around the country to do workouts.

Instead, Villanueva is at the IMG Basketball training facility in Bradenton, Fla. Charles said Villanueva flew there last Sunday after his high school graduation, Charles is trying to get teams to watch Villanueva in Florida after Chicago to get an assessment of his position in the draft. If Villanueva can be guaranteed a first-round spot then he would stay in the draft. He is projected to be a borderline first-round pick. If a number of international early-entry candidates withdraw from the draft, then he has a legitimate shot to go in the first round.

"We're very cognizant of the next step (to maintain his eligibility)," Charles said.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.