This incessant and quite convenient griping about the one-and-dones in college basketball is really quite comical.
Coaches crave control. They want to control the local media, the national media, the fans of his team, the fans of the opposing team, the internet, the message boards, the talk-show hosts, the talk-show callers, the officials, the director of officials, the workers at the scorer’s table, the athletics director, the media relations director, the boosters, the alumni association, and, of course, players.
What they can’t control is a player with options. And a player talented enough to be in position to jump to the NBA after just one year of college has options. That player can stay, but he’ll probably go. That is a player who is going to do what is in his best interest, not what is in the best interest of the coach. And a coach has very little control over that.
Are there problems with such a system? Of course. (Poster boy: O.J. Mayo.) Does the system fly in the face of what college athletics is supposed to be about? Of course. But so does $30 million practice facilties, 9:30 p.m. tipoff times for television and multi-million dollar coaches contracts.
Is Kansas State basketball worse for having Michael Beasley for a single season?
Was Texas basketball worse for having Kevin Durant for one brilliant year?
The best system would be the baseball system. A high school grad can either go straight to the pros, or spend three years in college before being eligible for the draft again. But we’re not there yet.
That’s why, to me, Arizona coach Lute Olson sounded darn near ancient last week when he grumped about the selfish one-and-dones, and claimed he would never ever recruit another one-and-done after Brandon Jennings decided he’d rather get paid of his pre-NBA year in Europe rather than play for free, and Lute, in Tucson.
It’s also why I liked Billy Gillispie’s attitude at yesterday’s press conference when he said of the one-and-dones, “I’d like to have 13 guys every year that are good enough to be lottery picks.”
That’s a coach who understands that the game is about the players. That’s a coach who understands that it takes good players to win, and great players to win championships. Even players with options.
Well let’s not act like one and done’s are all sunshine and lollipops either. lol
Were Texas and K-state hurt by those players? No, but they sure didn’t win anything either. And while these teams take steps back after losing a temporary piece of their [i]Teams[/i], they would no doubt be in a better position this year and in the years to come if they had someone in their system for four years instead of a guy who flew in and took 30 shots a game to the detriment of the other players’ development.
There really needs to be more of an importance on team and continuity, I think. The number of one-and-dones who actually make a difference is incredibly rare and from year to year the teams without them are better.
Of course Lute had no trouble walking out on his team in the middle of the year last year. What a hypocrite.
He’s destroying that program, IMO.