NBA Sources: One-and-Done Rule May be Coming to an End

[Joneslab]

So true! This season, I see us winning the SEC, and making the Sweet 16. NEXT YEAR, WE WILL TAKE NO PRISONERS! (I can wait)

Would be really surprised if they won the SEC.

More likely that this team will have to fight to go .500 in the SEC.

The SEC is pretty stacked. We may not win on the road.

If you believe that a tough schedule toughens a team up, then this team is going to be tough. I'm not sure a super-tough schedule is good for teams all the time though. Sometimes tough schedules can demoralize teams and by March they're just spent.

[Joneslab]

I think we are going to be alright and play the underdog role this year which is fine by me. Alot of us that follow it closely (whole state lol)are still let down we missed our top targets, enthusiasm may have been different otherwise...

The rule of fan enthusiasm is generally if the team is really good and fun to watch, fans are excited.

If the team struggles and they've got a lot of flaws, then fans aren't as excited and will find other things to do.

The one-and-done thing is only a symptom. Fans would be pretty apathetic about mediocre basketball if every player were a fifth-year senior.

It is true that this team is kind of the epitome of one-and-done. It's Peak One-and-done, simply because it's what can happen when you lose everybody but you don't recruit at a super high level to replace what you lost.

Ironically though some of these players are going to return and be main players on a team that could be truly special next season. I really believe that.

[40bill]

The game has changed so much over the years I think a lot of us that came on board with teams like Givens, Robey, Lee, Phillips and Macy are kind of left in the dust. Watching how a team developed over the years was one of the fun parts for me. Turning into smarter players, growing talents.
thats gone though. This new rule would be what Rick Pitino called a reverse JUCO. Same deal. Just two years now.
Personally I would like to see three and through if the rules change.
BUT if the kid is good enough to step in out of high school, there ya go.
Like a couple guys have said, at one time I could name just about every starter and first two subs before the season started. Not any more. Just the way things have developed.

[George]

Simple question: what if you get stuck with a four-year starting lineup that can’t win it all?

We saw plenty of that before Cal, and stretches like that can lead even the best programs down the path of mediocrity. Whether we care to admit it or not, we were right on the verge of irrelevancy before Cal got here.

It’s nice to romanticize those four-year players, but more often than not they’re in college for four years for one simple reason: they aren’t good enough to go pro. And like it or not, you need future pros to win today’s championships.

[justford]

If he wins the title in his first year he'll be fine.

I think when Cal leaves the cupboard will be left bare for the new man. More than likely any player that is considering leaving for the NBA will make the jump unless the rules change. Don't see a Pitino/Tubby scenario concerning remaining players. Hope I am wrong.

[KevinHall]

You've captured my feelings exactly except for the fact that this is my lowest interest level in 50+, not 30 years. I guess all that means is that I've been watching longer than you. Life continues to show me that there are many, many things more important than a college basketball (or football) game. I felt differently when I was younger...... .

To take things one step further, I'm beginning to doubt that we'll ever win another championship with the OAD model since we couldn't win with the 38-1 team. The tournament format is tough enough as it is and, let's face it, we never seem to get the 'Duke Draw'. GBB.

I agree with your first paragraph. As you get older things that were once important don't seem to be nearly as important now. I used set my time up around UK basketball games. I don't do that anymore. I nearly forgot all about the game this past Friday evening. I watch most games off the DVR now and not live. I think part of it is a non attachment to these guys that are here only one year. I get tired of seeing practically a brand new team every year. There is a lot to be said for following a kids progress over a four year period. For me there's more satisfaction in seeing a group of seniors top off a career with at least a Final Four and sometimes a championship. But saying all of that you can't deny Cal's success in the last 8 years. His system has been wildly successful and we probably won't ever see a run like this again. So it is really a conundrum for an old fan like me. At least for me it comes down to getting older and wanting to do other things in life than set a clock to ball game a couple of night a week. I guess you could say I am moving on in life.

[Joneslab]

I think when Cal leaves the cupboard will be left bare for the new man.

Not if he's recruiting like he has been for the past two recruiting seasons.

If he were recruiting like he was in 2011 then yes. But recently he's started to pull in players who aren't your prototypical one-and-done.

Whether that's intentional or unintentional I don't know, but things have definitely changed.

[George]

Not if he's recruiting like he has been for the past two recruiting seasons.

If he were recruiting like he was in 2011 then yes. But recently he's started to pull in players who aren't your prototypical one-and-done.

Whether that's intentional or unintentional I don't know, but things have definitely changed.

If those players came to play for Cal, what would keep them from transferring? Can a player transfer without losing a year any time his coach leaves, or does that only apply to LOIs?

[Joneslab]

If those players came to play for Cal, what would keep them from transferring? Can a player transfer without losing a year any time his coach leaves, or does that only apply to LOIs?

Kentucky would probably have to make a great hire to keep them in the fold. You probably wouldn't keep a guy like Zion Williamson (for instance) but you might be able to hang on to everybody else; those kinds of players need UK as much as we need them.

But really this is the same situation that a lot of elite schools will be in when they lose their current coaches. Kentucky is not alone as far as this goes.

[CatfaninTN]

Interesting thread, and one a die-hard UK fan friend and I discussed just a few days ago. I grew up huddled around the radio with my dad listening to Rupp's last teams, with the '75 team being my all-time favorite - as they were the last Freshman team to play before the rule changed. Cawood made me feel like I knew these guys personally. I was on top of the world when they won - depressed when they lost. After graduating UK in 1980, I moved to Tennessee, and have lived here longer than my time in Kentucky. I still have over the years followed every UK team as closely as I could, though I cannot receive UK radio broadcasts where I live and rarely get to come to Rupp anymore. Living outside the Bluegrass with the current system, though, makes it even harder to get to know the guys - to keep fully interested. With cable I can see most every game and I'll be watching us play Troy tonight - but it's just not as exciting. Maybe what Will or someone above said - age and so many other priorities have taken away my zeal and this current system of not really knowing the players just cannot keep me excited. Not sure there is an answer.

[Dwight Schrute]

I also wonder to what extent message boards and fan sites like KSR play in people getting sports fatigue. We just had a baby back in August so I may not be a good data point, but the last two or three seasons the start of UK sports has sneaked up on me. It used to be the case that I kept up with it all off season.

[Joneslab]

I think it helps if your whole family watches and cheers.

If it was just me then I probably wouldn't be that involved with it.

But my wife is a huge fan. My son. Even my ten-year-old daughter gets into it on occasion. My brother-in-law comes over for most games. My nephews. My other in-laws are all fans and they'll come over occasionally. Sometimes, like during the NCAA Tournament, there'll be almost 20 people in my house.

If it's a family thing like that it means more. Just me in a room staring at the TV wouldn't have nearly the mystique (though I love the sport of basketball deeply just in a general way).

My friends are totally the opposite. When I go down there I notice they don't really seem to care that much (and it was this way well before John Calipari ever came to UK), whereas I am completely invested in every play. But their spouses and kids don't really get into it that much, so that may be the difference.

[40bill]

Simple question: what if you get stuck with a four-year starting lineup that can’t win it all?

We saw plenty of that before Cal, and stretches like that can lead even the best programs down the path of mediocrity. Whether we care to admit it or not, we were right on the verge of irrelevancy before Cal got here.

It’s nice to romanticize those four-year players, but more often than not they’re in college for four years for one simple reason: they aren’t good enough to go pro. And like it or not, you need future pros to win today’s championships.

Those are great points. Everybody has different reasons for enjoying a team or program. And yes, you are correct, the program following OTS last years and Gillespie were in that disappearing dynasty mode.
i am not denying that Calipari showed brilliance in not only using the one and done model but also in an amazingly high number of times formed those kids into a team.
What I was saying is that the one and done system has caused part of the game I really looked forward to to disappear from UK basketball. (I know, I could turn into a Belmont fan instead).
That isn't Caliparis fault. He didn't make the rule.
Its just the game today.
Then again, its part of being sixty. You find a lot of things kind of fade to the background that used to come before talking to your parents, sleeping or eating while Cawood was calling a game.

[Joneslab]

I also wonder to what extent message boards and fan sites like KSR play in people getting sports fatigue. We just had a baby back in August so I may not be a good data point, but the last two or three seasons the start of UK sports has sneaked up on me. It used to be the case that I kept up with it all off season.

I'm probably a little different as far as this goes because when October rolls around I'm fired up for basketball.

I don't care for football and if UK didn't have a team I wouldn't watch. Not an interesting sport to me at all.

I do love baseball but my team has stunk for the past few seasons. So by the time the Cats start and the air starts getting cold, I'm ready for hoops.

I used to love when the Blue Ribbon Yearbook and Athlon's came out for this same reason. I just never paid a whole lot of attention to football and there was usually this big void from the end of the Reds season to when the Cats started playing.

[40bill]

Lol...
good Old days.....
Freshmen were ineligible.
No dunking.
No shot clock.
Huge basketball arenas were 12,000 seats.
The NIT meant a little.

What I realize is that today's game will be the good old days ten, twenty years from now. There is absolutely nothing WRONG with today's game...it just isn't everybody's cup of tea.

I'm kind of the reverse from Will....I've got to where football drives the sports wagon. Basketball starts at SEC tourney time and ends pretty much when UKs last game does.
Lololol....and my granddaughter loves SOCCER for heavens sake. Talk about me being lost!!

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