NCAA Basketball: Pros and Cons of ‘one-and-done’ programs

Now 12 years in, the one -and-dones have shaped the face of college basketball. What are the pros and cons of being a one-and-done program?

The one-and-done era started back in 2006 when the NBA passed a new rule stating that draft eligible players had to be at least one year removed from high school in order to participate in the NBA draft.

This rule was enacted to slow down the mass flow of high school basketball players that had been flowing into the NBA over the past few seasons.

Some of those were great like LeBron James and Dwight Howard. More were not.

So since it was obvious that NBA GMs couldn’t pass on potential talent, to help the NBA, and to a much smaller degree help the player, they created the one-and-done rule.

What has culminated since is a new culture in college basketball.

One-and-done teams are all the craze. It has created two types of schools in college basketball: Those who rebuild year after year and those who build the more traditional way.

Both views dislike the other and both views try to exploit the weaknesses within one another.

This is why you hear things like Roy Williams doesn’t pursue one-and-done players and good college programs don’t need elite talent, just cohesive talent.

Both those thoughts are flawed and wrong.

Roy Williams has said multiple times that he goes after the same players Duke and Kentucky do. In fact, he was just in the running for Kevin Knox, a probable one-and-done, who picked the Wildcats over the Tar Heels.

The fact that he has had only two such players in the past 12 seasons doesn’t mean he doesn’t pursue such players, just that he has struck out on several.

Additionally, he has had several guys who could’ve been one-and-done but chose to stay an additional season.

Harrison Barnes, Ed Davis, and James Michael McAdoo could’ve all gone pro after their freshmen years.

The lack of one-and-done players also doesn’t mean Roy doesn’t pursue elite talent. He has had plenty of it.

In addition to the guys mentioned above, he has had 26 ESPN top 100 players sign with UNC since 2008. This is the first season he didn’t get at least two such players in one class.

The 2009 and 2017 title teams were built with elite talent, as were the 2012 and 2016 teams that fell short.

What I am saying is that this is not knocking the way Williams does things nor even how he does things. This is instead looking at the pros and cons of the one-and-done philosophy.

In other words, how is it working?

So I have looked over the past 12 seasons and identified 21 teams that would be considered one-and-done programs. These programs brought in multiple freshmen and saw at least two of them leave after one season of eligibility.

So with all that said, here are the Pros and Cons of being a one-and-done program.