UPDATED: 2:22 P.M. WITH COMMENTS FROM LESLIE.

RALEIGH -- C.J. Leslie knew what his return would mean to N.C. State. It’s exactly why he’s coming back.

The forward announced today he will return for his junior season, passing on the NBA Draft and setting up the Wolfpack as perhaps the team to beat in the ACC next season, after advancing to the Round of 16 in March.

“I just figured we started a good thing last year,” Leslie said. “We might as well finish it.”

The Monterey (Calif.) County Herald is reporting that Monterey Peninsula College center Andrew Young, who visited N.C. State this weekend, has chosen to attend Texas A&M.

The junior-college transfer would have filled the void left by DeShawn Painter, who is transferring to Old Dominion for family reasons.

Guard Lorenzo Brown and forward C.J. Leslie shared N.C. State's team MVP award on Monday at the team's awards banquet.

Brown also won the team award for most steals and assists and Leslie also won the team award for blocks and field goal percentage.

RALEIGH — N.C. State and the NBA will have to wait a little longer for a decision from C.J. Leslie.

The Wolfpack's star forward said Monday he hasn't made up his mind about where he will play basketball next season — in the ACC or the NBA.

Leslie, who led N.C. State in scoring as a sophomore, said he's leaning "one way" but he's not ready to make a decision.

"I'm not stressing about it, whatever I decide to do is going to be whatever I decide to do," Leslie said.

The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NBA draft is a week away, and N.C. State's C.J. Leslie is still weighing his options, his mother Lisa said Tuesday.

Lisa Leslie said C.J. requested a report from the NBA's draft advisory committee, a group of NBA executives who provide players considering turning pro with a non-binding assessment of their draft status. Those reports are due back to players on Friday, and the Leslies plan to sit down with N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried once that information is in hand.

"Once that's in, we will sit down with the coach," Lisa Leslie said. "We'll go over it and play things out, see what the best option is."

While North Carolina got a clearer picture of what its roster will look like in 2013, with the early exit of three underclassmen to the NBA on Thursday, Duke and N.C. State are still waiting.

The Blue Devils, on forward Mason Plumlee, and the Wolfpack, on forward C.J. Leslie, are both waiting for their respective pro prospects to make a decision about the NBA draft. The two Triangle teams are also waiting on Kentucky and the fate of a few key recruits. The Wildcats, the prohibitive favorite to win the 2012 NCAA title, are holding all the recruiting cards with the class of 2012.

ST. LOUIS — History was waiting for N.C. State. Kansas decided to make its own instead.

With a date with North Carolina in the Final Eight on the line, N.C. State bowed out of the NCAA tournament on Friday night in a 60-57 loss to second-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Instead of an historic fourth meeting between the Wolfpack and Tar Heels — what would have been the first in the NCAA tournament between the two rivals — the Jayhawks will get a rematch of the 2008 Final Four with their former coach, UNC's Roy Williams.

This was a good year for big men in the ACC, from North Carolina’s John Henson and Tyler Zeller to Virginia’s Mike Scott to Duke’s Mason Plumlee to Florida State’s Bernard James to N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell to Miami's Reggie Johnson.

But Leslie had a hard time finding anyone to compare to Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, who along with Kentucky’s Anthony Davis is part of a two-man national-player-of-the-year conversation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  After he made the free throws to clinch N.C. State's spot in the round of 16, sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown clenched both of fists, looked over to the Wolfpack fans behind press row and screamed:

"Yeah, baby!"

As the seconds melted off the clock, and Jason Clark's last-second shot fell short for Georgetown, 11th-seeded N.C. State had every reason to celebrate Sunday's 66-63 over the third-seeded Hoyas in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Updated 6:10 p.m.

ATLANTA — After Mark Gottfried was hired by N.C. State in April, and throughout the first half of the season, the coach repeatedly said that his team had a "long way to go."

But there was the Wolfpack on Saturday in Atlanta going back-and-forth with North Carolina, the best team in the conference, in a classic ACC game and just seconds away from a spot in the ACC championship game.

Kendall Marshall's bank shot, with 10.2 seconds left, provided the difference for the top-seeded Tar Heels, who advanced to the title game with a pulsating 69-67 win.