Helping College Hoops

I just read a fascinating blog by Gabriel Levine-Drizen entitled One and Done.  In the blog he talked about how bright basketball prospects are effectively required to play one year of college hoops before they are allowed to play in the NBA.  Gabe talked about this rule mostly from the players' perspective, and came to the conclusion that players should be able to skip college completely.

I think the conversation changes drastically when you begin thinking about the rule from the perceptive of the NCAA and the success of college basketball.  I think it would be a massive loss to college ball if players were allowed to go straight to the NBA.

In 2012, five of the top ten players drafted out of college were freshman who had only played in college because of the requirement.  Imagine if half of the top players in the country completely bypassed playing in college.  The overall skill level in NCAA play would be severely diminished.

There are also entire programs built on taking one year players.  Take the Kentucky team for example.  They won the 2012 NCAA championship with a starting lineup of only one year players who were all drafted into the NBA shortly afterwards.  If the one year rule was not in place every one of these players would have gone straight to the NBA and this historic team would not have existed.

I personally think it would be sad if the quality of college basketball went down, it is something that many Americans love to follow, and would be hurt if players were allowed to go straight to college.