by Jeff Goodman

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Instead of waiting out his test score to see if he was eligible to play at Arizona, the talented point guard from California decided to play in Italy this season. While he hasn't been putting up eye-popping numbers, Jennings will pull in more than $1 million in salary and marketing dollars this year.

Renardo Sidney will be going to college, not Europe, his father says. (Jim Hawkins / Scout.com)

"I've spoken to the parents of five kids in the senior class," said former shoe company czar Sonny Vaccaro, who helped orchestrate the Jennings-to-Europe move in the 11th-hour. "I've also talked to the parents of freshmen and sophomores in high school."

Two players who won't be putting their names on letters of intent in the early signing period, which begins Wednesday, are Lance Stephenson and Renardo Sidney Jr.

In the past several months, since Jennings initially starting floating the idea of taking his game overseas, both have mentioned the possibility of following suit.

"For me and my wife, we just get the information and talk to Lance and let him make the decision on that," Lance Stephenson Sr. told The New York Times in July. "We're looking at it and we're interested just like anyone else."

Sidney's father was also interested at first, but he told FOXSports.com that option is no longer being considered.

"He's going to college. He wants to go to college," the elder Sidney said. "I've been struggling all my life. Another year isn't going to make a difference."

Sidney said his son, who will take an unofficial visit this weekend to Virginia, doesn't want to play overseas.

"It's ridiculous for me to take that (college basketball) away from him if he wants to go to school," Sidney added. "It's not right."

Those who think Jennings' decision will result in a rash of kids running overseas are unrealistic. It's just not going to happen. There are only about a handful each year that could command any legitimate financial compensation from pro teams overseas and the majority of those kids want to play in college.

I still maintain that if Jennings had been an early academic qualifier, he'd be a part of the ongoing mess down in Tucson.

Instead, he's working on his third month in Rome.

"No one thought he'd last this long," Vaccaro said.

Vaccaro said that one of the key reasons why Jennings has been successful thus far in lasting this long is because of his mother, Alice Knox.

"If anyone's going to attempt it again, they need to have someone with them," Vaccaro said. "Because it's tougher to make it off the court than it is on the court. If you don't have someone with you, you aren't going to make it. This isn't AAU, either. You're not going over with your buddy."

"I'm always the one who tells the kids to take the money," he added. "But you can't just be a great player and succeed in Europe. Brandon is only playing 17 to 20 minutes a game and that can be deflating to your ego. You have to be able to handle it."

As long as the NBA's 19-year-old age limit is in place, there will certainly be elite players that explore the opportunity to follow in Jennings' footsteps — especially if they don't qualify academically to play as freshmen — and consider heading overseas.

Who knows, a talented player such as Stephenson may elect to take the money even if he is cleared to play as a freshman.

"I think there will be one, two or maybe even four guys who go overseas after this year," Vaccaro said. "Somebody will go — and if they don't change the rule, we're going to eventually have a kid who gives up his senior year of high school to play in Europe."

That's fine. High school and college basketball will be fine — whether guys like Stephenson show up or not.