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

[Joneslab]

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.

Of course they did. They had the national champs beat with three minutes to go.

You don't back into something like that.

I can't remember what you felt about Tubby Smith, but I liked Tubby until the very end. I always felt like he was building toward something...and then, suddenly, he wasn't.

My favorite team of his I mentioned above. Loved that team with Fitch, Daniels, and Hawkins as seniors. Great team that picked a lot of teams apart. That team could have made a run, I thought.

They went 27-5. Lost in the second round. That team last year won five more games (anytime you enter the 30-win mark you have accomplished something in the college game) and played the national champion to the wire.

I still don't understand why that's an issue, or how in God's name that could be labeled "throwaway." That they're being lumped in with an NIT team is crazy to me.

[Dwight Schrute]

"Of course they did. They had the national champs beat with three minutes to go."

I think this is being a little generous - they held a lead but UNC was able to assert control. I do give them credit for fighting and clawing their way back and having a chance to win. But judging based on chances isn't what we do.

I don't lump them in with the NIT team because of quality - I lump them in because it was another incomplete team that lost in the tournament and dissolved. That's also the reason I don't consider that 27-5 team a throwaway - it was the result of a 3 year build. Those guys were seniors.

[Joneslab]

I don't think losing on a last-second shot in the Elite Eight is "dissolving," but whatever.

I don't disagree that they were incomplete. But my argument is that most UK teams are incomplete and need a little luck. That was true before Cal.

I think what you're actually saying is this: that you give senior-laden teams breaks because you got used to those players, you watched them grow and had more of an emotiional attachment to them, and thus you're willing to cut them more slack.

I don't disagree with that on its face. I think it's natural. But I also think that we rip young teams for stuff that older teams do, and then we come to message boards and say things like, "If we only had seniors this wouldn't have happened!"

It happened when we had seniors. I saw a lot of dissolving going on with some of those older teams--and I loved some of those teams.

[J.Jennings]

^^^^^^ You make a good point Will, can't argue, yes Seniors make bad plays too, i agree with the emotional attachment part as well.


With that being said, can Diallo and Knox step up and take over this years team and play like th pro's they will both be sometimes in the near future?? If they can hold up on there end of the deal, we will have a chance at the end, that is the most important part of it all for us this year. If Vanderbilt is better than advertised, i expect my passion and enthusiasm for Kentucky basketball will kick right back in and pick up where i left off.

[Dwight Schrute]

"I don't disagree that they were incomplete. But my argument is that most UK teams are incomplete and need a little luck. That was true before Cal."

Yes, but that really wasn't my point. My point was more that the teams that are a collection of players that show up one year, leave 6 months later, and we have to restart the whole thing the next year with a new group feel sort of like throwaway years. Maybe throwaway isn't the right term - a better may be unsatisfying. Fox, Monk, Adebayo show up, play and lose in the elite 8, and then go on and leave us to do it again. The year before that it was Jamal Murray and Skal (and Ulis).

My comment wasn't so much a critique of the teams themselves but of the system. I don't like this thing where it's just year to year and it relies on feeding the machine and if the machine doesn't get fed, the wheels can fall off.

[Dwight Schrute]

Ultimately I think the one and done system is like a diet of bread and sugar. It's fun but it doesn't satisfy you. Part of it is Cal's schtick in pushing guys out the door. How other major programs get guys to return is beyond me, but it happens. I know Cal's 'system' doesn't allow him to do it, but I wish he would.

[surveyor]

Players at other programs who return were likely not "one and done" caliber players.

[Dwight Schrute]

"Players at other programs who return were likely not "one and done" caliber players."

Of course not - they returned.

[Joneslab]

There are occasionally one-and-done caliber players who return. Miles Bridges is one this year.

Cal's whole experiment is about selling the NBA quick. It appears that he may be changing that a little, or at least modifying it recently.

I think the way to play this game is to get one, maybe two complete studs and then some other guys who are high-level players but something--size, lack of athleticism, whatever--keeps them in school for three or four years. This is how North Carolina has gone to two straight title games.

But it's rife with risk. There was a period of three to four seasons there where Carolina was wandering in the wilderness.

[Lighthouse]

I'm still catching up with some threads like this one. First, I don't believe Cal will leave Kentucky bare. He loves the University to much, and I believe his recruits will know he's leaving before we do. His integrity is to high.

Second, I still get excited about Kentucky games, If a team has Kentucky on their chest, it makes no difference to me what the sport is. Sure like most, BB and FB get most of my attention. My only difference is I don't want to go to any games because of health issues. My son has tickets to Wednesday's game 5 rows up, and I turned him down when he asked me to go. Also, I don't get crazy watching like I used to. But ask anybody who I'm for and they will quickly tell you Big Blue!

[justford]

I'm still catching up with some threads like this one. First, I don't believe Cal will leave Kentucky bare. He loves the University to much, and I believe his recruits will know he's leaving before we do. His integrity is to high.

Second, I still get excited about Kentucky games, If a team has Kentucky on their chest, it makes no difference to me what the sport is. Sure like most, BB and FB get most of my attention. My only difference is I don't want to go to any games because of health issues. My son has tickets to Wednesday's game 5 rows up, and I turned him down when he asked me to go. Also, I don't get crazy watching like I used to. But ask anybody who I'm for and they will quickly tell you Big Blue!

Cal's integrity will not stop recruits from leaving when he does. If we are lucky some may stay but I feel the players are here because of Cal and not the University of Kentucky. Hope I am wrong.

[Joneslab]

...but I feel the players are here because of Cal and not the University of Kentucky.

This has been the case for most players since the Joe B. era, I would imagine.

Pitino's a good example. Think about how many former UK players who have been much more loyal to him than the program.

And all this is understandable. Unless you're from Kentucky or a UK fan, you aren't going to have a connection to the program. Your connection's going to be with the coach.

Now, it does have to be said that many former Cal players have had loyalty to the program after UK. I actually think that's one of the most pleasing things about the Cal era. A lot of these guys seem to truly love UK after they leave. That hasn't always been the case.

[Lighthouse]

Cal's integrity will not stop recruits from leaving when he does. If we are lucky some may stay but I feel the players are here because of Cal and not the University of Kentucky. Hope I am wrong.

True, but my point is I believe when Cal decides it's time to leave, he will have a season left and those he recruits will know he's leaving before the next season. If they come anyway, they would be prepared to stay. I don't think Cal will leave quickly. His decision will be made way before we know about it.

[KevinHall]

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.

They were also a lasts second shot from going to the Final Four. By the end of the season that was a darn good team. With just another break or two and maybe one less bad call or two and they could have won it all. You sure can't please many fans can you?

[Joneslab]

They were also a lasts second shot from going to the Final Four. By the end of the season that was a darn good team. With just another break or two and maybe one less bad call or two and they could have won it all. You sure can't please many fans can you?

If we start arguing that 32-win teams are throwaways on par with NIT teams then I don't really know what we're all doing here.