The One-and-Done Needs to be Over-and-Done

Another successful season for John Calipari, right? Depends on who you talk to and what the expectation is. Under any other circumstance, an Elite Eight appearance for a team with three freshmen starters would be a huge success. Why? Because we could look at the team and see four returning starters with over 150 games under their belt at the college level. To see this team as a huge favorite next year to win the championship would be an understatement. Unfortunately, we are living in the era of the one-and-done so our four starters have all declared for the NBA Draft. For this reason, I see the need to change what UK is doing and act more like a traditional team. John Calipari needs to take his circus act out of town if he can't see we won't have another championship team anytime soon.

Calipari handles his team like it's all or nothing every year. He is a master recruiter and sells these McDonald's All-Americans on the dream of playing college basketball with the most visible team in the nation for a year and going on to be a NBA lottery pick. Any team with this level of talent can win most games on it's natural ability alone. Coach Cal can look at the Big Blue Nation and show them a winning percentage of over 80 percent. There are few teams that can boast success like that. But, when you are promising titles in exchange for the support of your system, you better produce.

What is even more sad about this system is Calipari's apparent need to accumulate McDonald's All-Americans at all costs. When you look over his rosters for the last nine years, you see that very few of his players last the full four years with Kentucky. He looks at these freshman as if they are only good to him for a year and then they're either put on the bench or they transfer. The Harrison twins were not ready for the NBA as sophomores. Neither were lottery picks and one of them isn't even in the NBA anymore. Question...what does a starting junior have that a freshman doesn't? About 60 more college games under his belt.

Under the current system, Calipari has no room for returning starters. That forces the freshmen to make a hard decision when the season ends. Do I enter the draft and take my chances or do I stay with Kentucky and hope Calipari has a rough recruiting year. This year, there are two players that are making the jump to the NBA too soon. Issiah Briscoe and Bam Adebayo have declared for the draft (Adebayo has not hired an agent yet so he could return to UK if he wants). Calipari has these young men believing that their only option is to make the jump because there won't be room for them next season due to the next one-and-done class.

When you create this type of environment, your team's Achilles Heel will always be lack of experience. Look at this year's Final Four and all of the teams had a lot of tournament experience. When a team has "been there before," they know how to win under different scenarios. There was a stretch during the middle of the season when UK couldn't hold a lead. That was all inexperience and a lack of team cohesion. Imagine if we had Adebayo and Briscoe come back next year. Those two would have experience that could turn an Elite Eight team into a champion.

Another reason to hate the one-and-done system is the joke it makes of the college experience. There are no other students on a Division I campus that have no intention of getting an education. The motivation to go to class is solely based on staying eligible to play basketball for a year. What no one wants to discuss is the potential for academic fraud due to the school, the team and the player knowing the student/athlete will likely not be there next year.

We need to be honest with ourselves. The school uses these kids for their athletic prowess and could care less if they graduate or not. Coach Cal doesn't care because he has made it plenty clear they aren't supposed to be there more than a year. Most importantly, the player is only there because they can't go straight into the NBA. These one-and-done programs are promoting nothing more than a farm system. The schools are making millions off the kids so they don't mind and the kids are looking for the big payday so some coaches are willing to put up with the instability this style of playing causes.

No one plays the one-and-done like John Calipari. He shows little desire to keep these young men on the team in a vital role if they don't have the goal of going to the NBA after their freshman year. This is bad for the school, the team and the player. Everyone involved has sold their soul to the devil in order to get what they want. If the player doesn't make it to the NBA in the first year, he loses. If the team doesn't win the championship, the school and the team loses because there is no next year. We have to rebuild and start over every year. The constant rebuilding is getting old and will, ultimately, do Calipari in if he doesn't hang another banner soon.