
I’m a big fan of college basketball, but over the last few years, especially this year, the NCAA Tournament and March Madness has lost a bit of its luster for me. I think the biggest reason is that the whole one-and-done concept is killing the college game.
I think the idea of forcing players to go to college (by way of the NBA age restriction) is one of the dumbest rules in sports for many reasons. It’s just a bad idea all around in my opinion.
First of course is that it ruins the quality of the college game. By forcing the top talent into the college game instead of allowing them direct entry into to NBA has caused a huge dilemma for college coaches looking to build a program. It’s hard to build a program without the top players, and to get the top players a coach has to deal with the fact that many of these players won’t stay more than a season, or maybe two. This makes it impossible to maintain any continuity. Look at teams like Kentucky and North Carolina. These teams will have almost complete turnover of their rosters after this season.
This not only makes it hard on the coaches, but on the fans. It’s almost impossible to follow the game from year to year. It’s impossible to develop any familiarity with the teams from year to year. It’s almost as if a college basketball fan has to start over each season, learning who the players are, what teams may or may not be good etc. And by time that can be done, the season is over. Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Austin Rivers etc. We as fans never even had a chance to get to know these guys. By time we start to really see then develop and appreciates their games, they are gone. There are no star players in college anymore.
Another byproduct of recruiting the one-and-dones and other top talent is that the experience level of the players on the court goes down. Even though the top programs have the best recruits and talent, there is an element of inexperience that often can’t be overcome. It has made these teams vulnerable and makes for sloppy basketball. While some may disagree, I think that this parody is bad for the game overall. Many will argue that the tournament is more exciting with all the ‘upsets’, and the success of teams like VCU and Butler. But I see the opposite. I think these ‘upsets’ are watered down. The more we see it, the less exciting it is to see the mid major knock off Duke or Kansas or North Carolina. I think the game is better when there are a number of consistently strong, dominant teams.
It also dangerous to force players to college when they have no interest in being there. These players have zero incentive to respect the college game and its rules. By the time things come to light, the player is usually long gone. Look at Derrick Rose who got Memphis in trouble because he had someone else take his SAT’s for him. By the time sanctions were handed down he was already and NBA star. He’s now the MVP who just signed a $200M shoe deal and no one cares that he cheated. Another example is OJ Mayo, who left a wake of carnage behind him at USC after it was revealed that he was taking money from an agent the whole time he was in college. He was long gone before anything was discovered and his career has seen no ill effects.
To me there is a simple solution. Apply a rule like baseball has. If a player wants enter the draft right out of HS, let them do so. But if they choose college make them stay for at least three season’s before they are draft eligible again. The system in place now, which essentially lets the NBA use college basketball as it’s farm system, at no cost, is just not working and its killing the college game.








