Throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, many commentators will reference the “one and done” nature of some of the country’s top basketball programs. Coaches, like Kentucky’s John Calipari will face the scrutiny of Americans for their players’ decisions to leave college after only one year to pursue a dream of playing in the NBA. While the “one and done” nature of some Division I programs is a hot-button topic for critics of the NCAA, how big of a role does it actually play in the grand scheme of college basketball?
In 2006, the NBA adopted a new rule requiring entrants to its draft to be at least 19 years old during the draft’s calendar year and one NBA season to have elapsed since the player graduated from high school. For some time prior to the adoption of this rule, players could enter the NBA draft immediately out of high school. After the adoption of this rule, however, the college programs saw a handful of young men join their teams for one season and leave them immediately afterward to enter the NBA draft.
Some NCAA critics have cried foul of this “one and done” practice. These critics assert that recruiting young men who coaches know will most likely only play one season takes away from the integrity of the NCAA’s student-athlete model. These individuals would prefer to see players finish their degrees before entering the NBA draft.
Believe it or not, though, those critics’ wishes are actually unlawful. Spencer Haywood played basketball collegiately at the University of Detroit. After his sophomore season, he decided to turn pro. He signed with the Denver Rockets of the ABA. The next season, he signed a contract with the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics. The issue, though, was at the time the NBA had a rule requiring that its players be four years out of high school before being drafted into the league. For most, this meant that they were drafted after completing college. Haywood challenged this rule in court and his challenge went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In Haywood v. NBA, the Supreme Court granted Haywood an injunction allowing him to continue playing for the SuperSonics and preventing the NBA from sanctioning the team. After Haywood’s case, a significant number of players joined the NBA before completing college.
With as loud of an outcry as there is against “one and done” players, the question should be, how big of a role do they actually play in college basketball? When looking at the numbers, it turns out that it’s a relatively minor one.
Since 2006, only 51 players have left college after their first year to be drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA draft. The chart below lists those players and their college teams:
PLAYER |
COLLEGE |
DRAFT YEAR |
Anthony Davis | Kentucky |
2012 |
M. Kidd-Gilchrist | Kentcky |
2012 |
Bradley Beal | Florida |
2012 |
Andre Drummond | Uconn |
2012 |
Austin Rivers | Duke |
2012 |
Maurice Harkless | St. John’s |
2012 |
Tony Wroten | Washington |
2012 |
Marquis Teague | Kentucky |
2012 |
Quincy Miller | Baylor |
2012 |
Kyrie Irving | Duke |
2011 |
Enes Kanter | Freshman |
2011 |
Tristan Thompson | Texas |
2011 |
Brandon Knight | Kentucky |
2011 |
Tobias Harris | Tennessee |
2011 |
Cory Joseph | Texas |
2011 |
Josh Selby | Kansas |
2011 |
John Wall | Kentucky |
2010 |
Derrick Favors | GA Tech |
2010 |
DeMarcus Cousins | Kentucky |
2010 |
Xavier Henry | Kansas |
2010 |
Eric Bledsoe | Kentucky |
2010 |
Avery Bradley | Texas |
2010 |
Daniel Orton | Kentucky |
2010 |
Hassan Whiteside | Marshall |
2010 |
Lance Stephenson | Cincinnati |
2010 |
Tyreke Evans | Memphis |
2009 |
DeMar DeRozan | USC |
2009 |
Jrue Holiday | UCLA |
2009 |
Byron Mullens | Ohio State |
2009 |
Derrick Rose | Memphis |
2008 |
Michael Beasley | K. State |
2008 |
O.J. Mayo | USC |
2008 |
Kevin Love | UCLA |
2008 |
Eric Gordon | Indiana |
2008 |
Jerryd Bayless | Arizona |
2008 |
Anthony Randolph | LSU |
2008 |
J.J. Hickson | NC State |
2008 |
Kosta Koufos | Ohio State |
2008 |
Donte Greene | Syracuse |
2008 |
DeAndre Jordan | Texas A&M |
2008 |
Bill Walker | K. State |
2008 |
Greg Oden | Ohio State |
2007 |
Kevin Durant | Texas |
2007 |
Mike Conley Jr | Ohio State |
2007 |
Brandan Wright | UNC |
2007 |
Spencer Hawes | Washington |
2007 |
Thaddeus Young | GA Tech |
2007 |
Javaris Crittenton | GA Tech |
2007 |
Daequan Cook | Ohio State |
2007 |
Tyrus Thomas | LSU |
2006 |
Shawne Williams | Memphis |
2006 |
There are several things to take away from this list. The first is that many of these players have gone on to have successful and lucrative careers. Many have participated in NBA All-Star Games and a fair number have played on Olympic teams. At the same time, though, several fizzled out after entering the NBA. At least eight were subsequently assigned to NBA Development League teams after being drafted. Perhaps the most notorious cases of this were Josh Selby and Daniel Orton, two players who were both highly touted in their collegiate playing days and have found it tough to break out of the NBA D-League. Critics of the “one and done” rule would point to these instances as examples that these young men left college before being properly conditioned to play in the NBA. However, as the number of “one and done” players who have even been assigned to the NBA D-League is less than 20 percent, this may not be the fairest argument.
The next, and perhaps more interesting point, is that the presence of “one and done” players on a college team doesn’t necessarily guarantee the winning of a championship. Coaches like Calipari, who has coached a number of “one and done” players at both Kentucky and Memphis, are often scrutinized for bringing these players onto their teams for the perceived disadvantage it creates. Arguably, a player who is ready to be drafted and compete at the NBA level within months after the NCAA season is complete creates an unfair advantage on the court. However, teams featuring “one and done” players have not largely experienced advantages when it comes to winning national championships.
Since 2006, six NCAA teams have won the national championship, with Florida claiming its stake of the title twice. However, only one of those teams has had “one and done” players on its championship roster that were drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA draft.
Year | Champion | One and Done’s |
2012 |
Kentucky |
3 |
2011 |
Connecticut |
0 |
2010 |
Duke |
0 |
2009 |
North Carolina |
0 |
2008 |
Kansas |
0 |
2007 |
Florida |
0 |
2006 |
Florida |
0 |
Given that it does not appear that there is a strong correlation between the number of one and done’s a team has that is drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA draft and its ability to win an NCAA championship, what then does the number of one and done’s correlate to? If anything, it is a testament to two things. First, the number of one and done’s a team recruits that are successfully drafted demonstrates a coach’s ability to recruit prized talent. However, and perhaps more importantly, the number represents a program’s ability to develop players for the NBA level. It could be argued that since 2006, the list below represents the teams with the greatest development programs in the country.
School | # of 1 & Done’s Drafted in First 2 Rounds |
Kentucky |
9 |
Ohio State |
5 |
Texas |
4 |
Georgia Tech |
3 |
Memphis |
3 |
Duke |
2 |
Kansas |
2 |
Kansas State |
2 |
LSU |
2 |
UCLA |
2 |
USC |
2 |
Washington |
2 |
Arizona |
1 |
Baylor |
1 |
Cincinnati |
1 |
Connecticut |
1 |
Florida |
1 |
Indiana |
1 |
Marshall |
1 |
NC State |
1 |
St. John’s |
1 |
Syracuse |
1 |
Tennessee |
1 |
Texas A&M |
1 |
UNC |
1 |
It is to be seen how many “one and done” players are playing in this year’s NCAA tournament. However, one thing is certain, fans and NCAA critics alike will continue believing that “one and done’s” play a greater role in college basketball than statistics show they do.