TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s Ronald Steele, once one of college basketball’s top point guards, wants to get an idea of where he stands with the NBA after missing last season following three knee operations.

Steele said Tuesday he will submit his name to the NBA draft but won’t hire an agent, leaving open the option of returning for his senior season.

“This decision may come as a surprise to some,” Steele said at a news conference, accompanied by coach Mark Gottfried. “While I did not participate in any games this year, I did practice fully with the team. Since January I have felt as good physically as at any time during my career.

“I also believe my basketball skill has never been better.”

Steele received a redshirt last season, sitting out to recuperate from arthroscopic surgery on both knees in April 2007 and a follow-up procedure on his left knee in August. The injuries had hobbled the preseason AP All-American as a junior. Steele rejoined the team for practice in late December.

Another Tide point guard, freshman Rico Pickett, said a day earlier that he planned to transfer.

Steele said he is hoping for an invitation to the NBA pre-draft camp to show NBA teams “that I am a healthier, better player than I have ever been.”

Steele, an Academic All-SEC player, graduated in December with a degree in financial planning.

He joins forward Richard Hendrix, who also is exploring his NBA draft status while keeping the door open to return for his senior season.

“I’m going to support him 100 percent. He knows that,” Gottfried of Steele’s decision. “I think what you have to remember in Ron’s situation, that he’s had a difficult year and a half. It’s been hard for him. And right now he feels great.”

A return would allow Steele to play in the backcourt with his brother, Andrew, a Tide signee.

Steele averaged 14.3 points a game as a sophomore. He set a school record with 18 assists in just the sixth game of his college career.

Fellow Tide point guard Pickett said he was leaving because he was unhappy with Gottfried and his staff over playing time and disciplinary actions.

“I’m unhappy here, and I have been unhappy here all year,” Pickett told The Decatur Daily in a story Tuesday. “I just don’t think this is the place for me because I don’t fit in the system.”

He said “the last straw” came March 30 when Pickett said he was five minutes late to two classes. The tardiness resulted in the coaches telling him to make two 6 a.m. runs, punishment normally designated for missed classes, Pickett said.

He ran once but refused to make the second run.

“I am a person who stands up for what I believe in, and I know when I am wrong,” Pickett said. “I didn’t miss two classes.”

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.