Wake Forest coach Dino Guadio went to Indianapolis Sunday night to deliver a recruiting pitch to Jeff Teague, just like he had three years ago. It didn't work this time.
Teague informed Gaudio around 3 p.m. ET that he was staying in the NBA draft, where he will likely be a first-round pick.
"I'm happy for the young man since this is his dream," Gaudio said.
Gaudio had tried to sell Wake Forest.
"I talked to him about education, his teammates and what we could do next season," Gaudio said Monday afternoon. "I thanked his family for trusting me with him for the last two seasons and told him to call me Monday with his decision."
Teague led the Demon Deacons with 18.8 points a game, breaking out as a sophomore with a 30-point game at BYU, a 34-point game in a win over North Carolina, 29 in a win at Boston College and then 24 in a win at Clemson in his most impressive four-game stretch of the season.
Teague worked out Monday for his hometown team, the Indiana Pacers, along with fellow Atlantic Coast Conference guard Ty Lawson of North Carolina.
The draft is June 25.
Teague's departure comes a month after the Demon Deacons knew that fellow sophomore James Johnson, the team's second-leading scorer, would stay in the draft. The third-leading scorer, freshman forward Al-Farouq Aminu, surprised many NBA personnel by deciding to stay at Wake Forest. Aminu, who turned down an invitation to try out for the FIBA USA U-19 team this week in Colorado Springs, will lead a veteran team next season.
The Deacons do return four seniors who have logged a slew of minutes: guards Ishmael Smith and L.D. Williams and forwards Chas McFarland and David Weaver. The Deacons also return highly touted big men Ty Walker and Tony Woods, who were apart of the Aminu recruiting class.
Gaudio said perimeter shooting will be an issue without Teague but Aminu has spent considerable time working on his range throughout the spring.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.