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

[Joneslab]

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.

Too, I think Cal gets a lot of criticism based on expectations rather than reality.

You have the #1 recruiting class? Well, you should win. If you do win, then that's expected. If you don't, then why not?

There's also this thing where people will place expectations on what they think elite players should be. I know a guy who is constantly saying of UK's players that they're not fundamental and that all they can do is basically run and jump.

That couldn't be further from the truth. But it fits in with this idea that Cal just rolls out the ball.

You'll see the same kinds of expectations on the next coach. UK fans do this: they expect something to be perfect, and when it's not they start to chip at it. It's very much the way superhero fanboys do when they see something that's slightly off about a movie or something.

We have an ideal in our mind and if the team doesn't reach it, we start making assumptions about why. Sometimes these assumptions are nonsensical.

[catfaninin]

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.

I share in a lot of these feelings. Being a Reds fan these days is tough. But I do love the baseball playoffs.

I used to watch a lot of football as well but that has declined over the past few years. The circus that is the NFL is of no interest anymore. I do watch college football other than UK. But usually only the "better" matchups, whereas in basketball I could watch Evansville play Northern KY.

[J.Jennings]

I think Dwight has hit the nail on the head, "Sports Fatigue" has worn on me and i realize there are other things i like to do more important for me. Don't get me wrong, i love UK basketball, it will always come first and foremost but it's a good possibility i may not even watch the game tonight, it's not like we are playing Louisville, Duke, Kansas, NC, etc.. Since i was young i have religously followed UK basketball, Celtics basketball, Dodger baseball, and 49ER football. Last year i boycotted pro football all together and even in the World Series this year (1st time since 88 for LA) , i would only tune in for late inning or pivotal games. Shameful to admit, i have watched as much Celtic basketball this year as possible, i am more excited watching Danny Aine and Brad Stevens build something special in Boston with Kyrie, the phenomTatum and the breakout of Jayln Brown. The NBA game has changed and it's more exciting to me now than ever, maybe the whole one and done era at Kentucky has just gradually changed the way i feel about UK basketball as well especiall if i have to watch "JUNK" basketball the first 25 games of the season....

[Joneslab]

^ JWORLD, buddy, I've seen you saying you don't watch the games on these boards for way longer than Cal has been here.

The first 25 games being "junk" is not true, either. I watch UK go out and smash good teams early in the season most every year Cal has been here. To hear some tell it we're totally hapless or something. That certainly sounds good, but it's not the truth. It's true about this team, but this team is rebuilding. But everybody has to rebuild at some point.

Cal's won a ton of huge games in November and December since he's been at UK.

[Dwight Schrute]

I'm not at the JWorld level - I still watch the games, even the crappy ones like tonight. I just don't live and die with them anymore.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think I could distill my biggest problem with the one and done philosophy by this: when Cal recruits a complete team or has some pieces returning to add to an amazing recruiting class, I think it's pretty exciting. See: 2010, '12, and '15. 2014 was a huge disappointment up until right at the end when they caught fire, and 2011 was a weird year that ended frustratingly well.

The problem is a year when the team is stacked with 1 and done talent but is wildly incomplete and stands no real shot at competing, it feels like a throwaway year. The past two seasons kinda feel like that, as did 2013. I don't know what this year is yet. It could either be the building block for next year or another throwaway year.

[Joneslab]

"The past two seasons kinda feel like that..."

I completely disagree about the past two seasons. Last year was nothing like 2013. That team could have easily won a title and was built to win a title.

Last year we were a last-second shot away from the Final Four.

Two years ago we had one of Cal's better offensive teams and could have made a run if the draw would have been right. Got a bad draw and lost a close game, but that was a pretty fun team to watch.

[Dwight Schrute]

I never once felt like last year's team was anywhere close to winning a title, and I don't believe it was built to win. Believe we talked all year on this board how it was a flawed and incomplete team. The 2016 team played no defense and don't believe it stood a shot, though I will agree a bad draw cut it short. Skal's inconsistencies doomed that team.

[J.Jennings]

Will Lavender, i think you got me messed up for someone else, prior to Calipari and even the first 7 years of Cal, i never missed a game come hell or high water. Over the past two years i don't watch as closely as i used too but i have always watched UK games and i still do, just not as closely unless it's a big game worth watching. For instance, i will more than likely watch the game tonight but being it is who it is, 9 times out of 10 i will be playing around on my damn phone and listening....

BY THE WAY, why can't i post on a quote? Is something going on with the server??

[Joneslab]

I'm sure there were UK fans talking about how '96 was flawed and incomplete.

Last year's team won 32 games.

They hit one little rough patch. Otherwise that team was very, very good.

If we're labelling 32-win teams as "throwaways" then I have to question the standards we've set a little bit. That's a bit too high, lol.

[Joneslab]

"Prior to Calipari and even the first 7 year of Cal, i never missed a game come hell or high water."

Really? Because I would've sworn you and I talked about you not watching games years ago, like back in the Tubby era.

I could be wrong but I'm almost positive this is something that's been discussed over the years.

There are definitely fans who have stopped watching because of one-and-dones. Or who don't watch as much. That's absolutely the case. I know some of them.

My only argument is that this current team is a little different. It's not that fun to watch this team. Lumping all one-and-done, Cal-coached teams in together simply because this one is raw is a little unfair. These guys are rough and you really have to have patience to watch them.

They're not the same as some of these other teams we've seen just because those other teams happened to have freshmen.

[J.Jennings]

I will say this, nothing better than watching UK go on the road in a Sec game, none of those games are easy for our Cats...

[Dwight Schrute]

Last year's team was also a fluke 3 pointer away from losing all of its marquee non-conference games. I don't believe that team ever had the ability to compete for it all.

[J.Jennings]

Again Will, wasn't me, i always watched the games even in the Gillispie and the Tubby era, still watching in the Cal era. Besides the one and done, the flip side is that with Cal regardless of bad it may look early on he always seems to get it figured out which goes back to this, " i don't have to go through the regular season worrying" like i did back in the day. Maybe we are spoiled to Cal, i don't know, it's possible.

[J.Jennings]

I actually thought last years team should have won it all, hard to find pg's with the speed of Fox and a scoring guard like Monk. I still wonder what type of impact Bam would have had at the 4 and Isaac at the 5 more of last season? Hell, i wonder what this team would look like right now if Isaac was our starting center??