The One and Done dismay

[40bill]

This is a furor right now, and not just at Kentucky.

JMO.....if you are a fan of watching teams grow and develop, it just won't satisfy.
If you like seeing amazing young athletes do what they can in a short time, it's up your alley.
To say it can't be just as effective as it was just isn't correct. It takes the correct mix of that great ability.

We just got in a situation this year where we don't have that mix. A Booker and or Ullis in this team and I almost guarantee these discussions would be much less frequent.

Winning fixes a lot of things.

[Lighthouse]

This is a furor right now, and not just at Kentucky.

JMO.....if you are a fan of watching teams grow and develop, it just won't satisfy.
If you like seeing amazing young athletes do what they can in a short time, it's up your alley.
To say it can't be just as effective as it was just isn't correct. It takes the correct mix of that great ability.

We just got in a situation this year where we don't have that mix. A Booker and or Ullis in this team and I almost guarantee these discussions would be much less frequent.

Winning fixes a lot of things.

You're so right. We Kentucky fans are two things to deal with. Being knowledegable and spoiled.

[Joneslab]

Most fans would rather watch college basketball as it was meant to be played. Players who come in, stay in the program, grow and develop, and graduate.

Cal came in with this new thing that was pretty exciting. I mean, I certainly wouldn't want to trade Wall and Davis and any of those guys just to have four-year players. I've seen a lot of four-year players that didn't seem to want to be here.

But still the one-and-done thing was a perversion of college sports. It's college sports that mimics the professional game. Nobody really, in their heart of hearts, wants that.

It can be very exciting though. We've seen a lot of great things with Cal. I used to have season tickets and some of the most exciting games I've ever seen at Rupp Arena were with teams with one-and-done players.

It is not, however, ideal. I would prefer the other way. The best of both worlds would be a situation where we manage to keep some borderline players while letting those who really "succeed" proceed. Last year's team kind of hit the reverse lottery though and everybody bailed. So here we are.

[Jload]

Worst thing to ever happen to college basketball. I despise the pro game and most of the agents and players that run it, they are the real villains here. They are determined to make the college game as mediocre and lifeless as there game.

[Joneslab]

I despise the pro game and most of the agents and players that run it, they are the real villains here.

Why? Because they're playing a sport and getting paid for it?

What's the difference between a professional basketball player and the conductor of an orchestra? Both do their jobs for entertainment. Both are capitalizing on their marketable skills.

This is America. If you've got a talent and there are people out there willing to pay to see you utilize that talent, what's the problem with trying to make money?

[Dwight Schrute]

I'm not an NBA fan, but they're not the villain. They pay a market salary for people with the necessary talent. If you wouldn't go play professional basketball at the drop of a hat for a few million bucks, you're crazy.

I understand the argument that they don't really care for the school, but we've seen that's not especially true, at least not with Cal's players for the most part. Why would anyone begrudge a kid who in most cases grew up poor for doing better for him and his family? If you've ever left a job for a better job, you're making the exact same choice as these kids, and it's hypocritical to criticize them for it.

[Lighthouse]

Wow, the two posts above really are great and should dispel a lot of criticism as to why kids move on. My opinion on Pro sports and the main reasons I don't watch them very much is this. The salaries are way out of line for the product on display, and has created an idea in most players minds that they deserve the attention they get. During my brief stint as an official in the Pto game, I saw many players who were happy to have the opportunity to play for pay, like Lil Louie, Artis Gilmore, Dr J. But there were so many that expected special treatment by officials, teammates and probably their boss's. Like, Maurice Lucas, Jan Van Breda Koff, and others I can't remember. It looks like it's probably worse today, and I keep remembering players from the past who played the game because they loved to play and didn't worry about who made the most money. I'm sure all of us have the same attitude about the cost of taking our families to watch a pro game. It takes the fun out of supporting a local team.

[Joneslab]

Seems to me the cost of virtually everything has gone up. From movie tickets to hardback books to kale at the grocery store.

Which would be fine if my wages had gone up, but they haven't.

So I can see being bitter about that. But if we're going to be bitter about that then let's be fair and be bitter about all these rich guys whose salaries are out of line for their product.

In truth the portion of Americans who hate pro sports will often champion these CEOs as titans of business.

Professional athletes have been trying to maximize their marketability since Curt Flood in the 1960s. On the NBA side, there have been horror stories about missing pensions back in the day and the greats of the game going broke after they retired. In football you have these catastrophic head injuries. And all the while you have a product that millions of people do enjoy.

So I always think the bitterness toward pro athletes is misplaced.

But that's a different discussion than the one we're talking about, which is one-and-dones. I get the bitterness fans have toward one-and-dones--and maybe Cal--because it is kind of a perversion of college sports. When it goes wrong and when we start having players bail out who never made it to the NBA is when you have to wonder if there is absolutely no emphasis on sticking in the program for anyone--even for guys who have no business leaving.

[justford]

The OAD dilemma is do you want them playing for us or against us? As long as the current system remains they are going to college somewhere so if we don't get them, someone else will.

[KCKUKFan]

I don't mind OAD, as long as the OADs in question are actually OADs (John Wall, Anthony Davis, etc.)

There is literally not one OAD on this Kentucky team, but we'll have a couple leave anyway. That's where the frustration arises.

[Blue Heaven]

^^^Will, see Spreewell, LaTrell. The attitudes towards some of these athletes are warranted.

[Joneslab]

^^^Will, see Spreewell, LaTrell. The attitudes towards some of these athletes are warranted.

Well sure, if you're going to pick the worst of the worst.

You could do the same with cops and teachers and really any profession.

Not all those guys are Spreewell types.

Again: there's nothing wrong with trying to maximize your earning potential, even if it has to do with something as mindless as playing a sport. There are all kinds of professions where people make a lot of money while impacting the world a lot less than a pro athlete.

[George]

^^^Will, see Spreewell, LaTrell. The attitudes towards some of these athletes are warranted.

See Dunn, Warrick.

[Dwight Schrute]

But the attitudes toward Latrell Spreewell or Ron Artest or whoever aren't that they're spoiled and wealthy - it's that they're terrible people.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think one criticism of Cal is that he sells a vision of going pro very shortly, and if you stick around, something's wrong. You get a lot of guys who make bad choices, or guys who are highly rated but aren't pro material and have no interest in school (Isaiah Briscoe).

I don't mind a guy going pro after a year. Karl Towns is one of my favorite players in UK history. It just becomes problematic in a year like this year where you have a kid who thought he'd be a pro, doesn't get it and has a bad attitude about it (Diallo) and still probably winds up leaving to go. I think the animosity towards those players is understandable.