Not all one and done players are alike

After reading an article on Bleacher Report about "one and done" players, I came to the conclusion that all "one and done" players are judged by the action of a few. In the article the author goes into why HE thinks "one and done's" are bad for the college game. The main reason given was not being held to the same standard as the "four year" players academically.
Here is an example he used in the article.


"So far no team dominated by one-and-done players has won the tournament. Kentucky did make it to the Final Four this past season. They had Brandon Knight playing the leading role before going pro after his freshman year.

"Does having a team of one-and-done players help make a deep run hurt the tournament? That could be debatable. One may argue that the Kentucky's of the world are like a team of ringers. It's like your company hiring some former minor league ball players just to put on the company softball team."

"They don't have to actually do any work, just show up and be eligible to play. It's a dirty way to win. It's not fair to the actual employees or to the other teams who play by the rules. College basketball players are supposed to be college students as well. When a guy only has to take six hours of classes to be eligible to play for one year, that hardly qualifies."

"If they were required to take at least 24 credit hours, I would feel a lot better about it. But since grades don't come out for the second semester until the season is already over, these guys don't even have to go to class in that semester. That is just wrong."


There are a few things in this article that I actually agree with with. For one, the one and done rule needs to be done away with. If a player is good enough and wants to go pro after his senior year of high school, then he should have that choice. However as it stands now, they have to be one year removed from their graduating class to enter the draft. So any school who recruits one and done players IS PLAYING BY THE RULES. No matter what the author of this article thinks of the rule, any school that recruits one and done players isn't winning in a DIRTY way, they are just playing the game.


It's obvious why he picked Kentucky for the example in this article as Kentucky has had a vast number of one and done players the last 2 years. But does that make Calipari or Kentucky "dirty"? Of course not, Calipari is just the best recruiter that college basketball has ever seen, and a lot of people think he is shady just because he can pick and choose who he signs for Kentucky. If Calipari didn't land the top players in every class, someone else would. He wouldn't be doing his job if he was letting the top players go just because some people think he is "dirty" because of his skills as a recruiter.


The next thing I had a problem with was the fact the author talked about one and done players not having to do the amount of school work as the 4 year players. Yes it's true, some guys don't take the academic side of school seriously, but that goes for both one and done players, and the guys that ride the bench. But to elude to the fact that Brandon Knight was one of the few players who didn't have to attend class to play is beyond absurd. I guess the author doesn't know that Knight could have graduated in 2 1/2 years and has carried a 4.0 gpa since grade school up until he left for the NBA. I guess he also doesn't know that Brandon plans on returning and getting his degree during the off season, and durning the lockout. Not to mention John Wall and Eric Bledsoe are enrolling in summer school and during the lockout to work toward getting their degree. Was it their fault that they had the skill set to be drafted in the first round of the draft and make enough money to support them and their families?


I bet if the author was offered that amount of money, he would have left school after one year as well. My point during that small rant was, yes it's true some guys use college just as stepping stone to the NBA, but some that are good enough to go to the next level and have no choice but to go to college for year actually do the work in classroom and take pride in it (Brandon Knight).


Does the rule need to be changed? Absolutely, and Calipari has said so many times. But as long as the rule is here Cal will continue to recruit the best guys he can get. But we must remember not to be like a very uninformed Bobby Knight, and judge all by the action of a few.