by Paul Jordan
Like a dog with the mange, the national pundits can not keep poking and scratching at John Calipari on one thing: the “one and done” players. Seth Davis sat down with John Calipari recently for some kind of “coaches summit” for Sports Illustrated, and inevitably the subject of “one and dones” were broached. Apparently Seth made a suggestion that Calipari recruit more “three and four” year players and apparently Calipari did not think too much of the suggestion:
"“Still, don’t expect Calipari to alter his recruiting philosophy anytime soon. He scoffed at my suggestion that he should look to recruit a few players who won’t be one-and-done but can still contribute during a four-year career. “If you recruit guys who you know are going to be there for four years, you’ll probably be in the NIT, and that’s not a good thing at Kentucky,” he said. “You recruit the best players you can, and if someone is going to take them in the first round, I tell them to go.”"
And I have to admit that I don’t really get the “one and done” fascination. Calipari has admitted publicly that the NBA rule that the players must be a year out of HS before they can be drafted is a bad rule. A very bad rule. I personally think it is a stupid rule. Yet it stands.
So every year, there is a very large pool of players that are talented enough to go to the NBA out of high school, yet they are not able to. So they have a couple of options: go overseas as a 18 year old on your own thousands of miles from friends and family and play in a foreign pro league or enroll in college and get some education and play college ball.
And what should a coach do in this situation? Tell a top 10 recruit “Hey kid, I think you can really help my team, but I am not going to recruit you because you will only stay one season”?. And then the said coach sits by idly, satisfied that he is not going to deal with those “one and done players” and watches a conference or state rival snap the player up and the watch the said player hand his team two losses in the season … all while the fans howl “Why did you not recruit (said player)?”
Or should the coach do what he is paid to do: recruit the best players in the country to play for his team. If the player stays one season, so be it. Recruiting that player gave the coach the best chance to win this season …. and recruiting for next season is another matter.
Don’t get me wrong. I too have a soft spot in my heart for the Patrick Pattersons and the players that stay three and four years at a program … and Kentucky will have their share of players that stay a few years. I know that Most people speculate that Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, and Enes Kanter may be NBA bound after this season, but no one is making that same claim for Doron Lamb, Eloy Vargas, and Stacey Poole.
Yes, I know that five players went to the NBA from Calipari’s team this season, but that was an anomaly at best. Only three players, Patterson, Cousins, and Wall were expected to bolt o the NBA but a 35-3 record will open the doors for other players to leave. So the question is, do you recruit for a 28-10 season and maybe have one or two players be good enough to make the show? Or do you go for the national title every year, go for 35 wins, and then worry about an NBA exodus after the season?
Looking ahead to next years NBA draft (if it occurs), NBADraft.net projects a huge influx of “one and done” players. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes is projected at number one, followed by Duke’s Kyrie Irving, Kanter, Baylor’s Perry Jones, and Brandon Knight rounds out the top five. Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger and NC State’s C.J Leslie round out the top 10. So out of the top 10 picks next year, seven will be “one and dones” which means a couple of things: this stupid NBA age restriction needs to go and lots of other coaches are chasing these “one and dones” as well, yet no one is as castigated about it as much as Calipari.
Personally, I have no problem with Calipari chasing the top players in the country every year, as long as the program is not decimated by the players leaving. And as we saw this season, Calipari was able to effectively rebuild his team for this season and even has a lock on the top class in 2011 as well. The players love Calipari’s style and see Kentucky as a way to prepare for the league. A lot of these player are going to stay just one year at Kentucky. Some will not live up to their rankings and stay around two, or even three years. But if you don’t go after the top players, you end up in the NIT. And we all know what that is like.
I doubt that my little rant is going to have any impact on the people that bash Calipari for being the “master of the one and dones”. I don’t really see it as that way, however. I see it as Calipari being the best damn recruiter in the NCAA and landing the “one and dones” are the fruits of his labor. As long as he can continually reload every year, I have no problem with it.
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