What Do We Think About Kentucky's 1 and done "Business Model" now?

[Tugg Speedman]

Two years ago Kentucky won the national championship with a bunch of "1 and done" freshman.  The featured players were Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Last year with another group of "1 and done" freshman Kentucky failed to make the NCAA and lost in the first round of the NIT to Robert Morris.  Of course highly regarded freshman Nerlens Noel blew out his knee and missed the end of the season.  But Kentucky was struggling long before that happened.

Today the last rankings before the conference tourneys was released
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/week/19/seasontype/2

Kentucky is not ranked this week, they are other receiving votes with a 21-12 record.

So, What Do We Think About Kentucky's "1 and done" now?

The last two years have not been good.  This year's team has been awful.  Watch a Kentucky game and it's painfully obvious that the Harrison twins and Randall are looking to create highlights and not play as a team.  They know they will be lottery picks in June and seem not to care about winning (or only care if the winning means they get lots of highlights out or it).  Calipari has lost control of a bunch of egomaniac Freshman.

If we could wave a wand and Buzz could regularly bag 3 to 5 of the top 15 players each year, but they only stay one year, would you take that "business model" over the more traditional model we use.


Final thought, before you proclaim the idea correct but Calipari is doing it wrong, consider Kansas.  They arguably have the two players that will go 1 and 2 in the next draft, Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins.

If we took this team and added Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins, would we be happy to be #10 like Kansas?  Would we expect more from a team with these two on it?  Last year without any first round picks, let alone the first and second picks, we were #8 the week before the BE tourney

-------------------------

Doron Lamb, who played in Kentucky's National Championship team is not happy.  He blasted this team for getting humiliated by Florida this past weekend.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/former-kentucky-guard-doron-lamb-critical-of-wildcats-on-twitter-003303668.html

Lamb, a guard for the Orlando Magic these days, took to Twitter to share of few comments following the Wildcats’ 84-65 loss to the SEC champion Gators. Considering Lamb is living and working in Orlando these days, it's safe to assume he's getting his share of grief about the under-achieving Wildcats in Gator country.

@DLamb20 U can't lose by 19 on CBS

@DLamb20 UK should have prac 2nite

[ChicosBailBonds]

Some years it will work, more often it won't.  Youth, especially a lot of it, is tough to blend in and get it all to work right.  Fab 5, Kentucky, etc...there are times it does.  Even the Three Amigos at MU, but we also had Novak as a Senior.

[The Equalizer]

Two years ago Kentucky won the national championship with a bunch of "1 and done" freshman.  The featured players were Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Last year with another group of "1 and done" freshman Kentucky failed to make the NCAA and lost in the first round of the NIT to Robert Morris.  Of course highly regarded freshman Nerlens Noel blew out his knee and missed the end of the season.  But Kentucky was struggling long before that happened.

Today the last rankings before the conference tourneys was released
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/week/19/seasontype/2

Kentucky is not ranked this week, they are other receiving votes with a 21-12 record.

So, What Do We Think About Kentucky's "1 and done" now?

The last two years have not been good.  This year's team has been awful.  Watch a Kentucky game and it's painfully obvious that the Harrison twins and Randall are looking to create highlights and not play as a team.  They know they will be lottery picks in June and seem not to care about winning (or only care if the winning means they get lots of highlights out or it).  Calipari has lost control of a bunch of egomaniac Freshman.

If we could wave a wand and Buzz could regularly bag 3 to 5 of the top 15 players each year, but they only stay one year, would you take that "business model" over the more traditional model we use.


Final thought, before you proclaim the idea correct but Calipari is doing it wrong, consider Kansas.  They arguably have the two players that will go 1 and 2 in the next draft, Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins.

If we took this team and added Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins, would we be happy to be #10 like Kansas?  Would we expect more from a team with these two on it?  Last year without any first round picks, let alone the first and second picks, we were #8 the week before the BE tourney

-------------------------

Doron Lamb, who played in Kentucky's National Championship team is not happy.  He blasted this team for getting humiliated by Florida this past weekend.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/former-kentucky-guard-doron-lamb-critical-of-wildcats-on-twitter-003303668.html

Lamb, a guard for the Orlando Magic these days, took to Twitter to share of few comments following the Wildcats’ 84-65 loss to the SEC champion Gators. Considering Lamb is living and working in Orlando these days, it's safe to assume he's getting his share of grief about the under-achieving Wildcats in Gator country.

@DLamb20 U can't lose by 19 on CBS

@DLamb20 UK should have prac 2nite

So out of five most recent years UK gets:
1 Sweet 16
1 Final Four
1 National Championship
1 NIT year
and whatever they do this year.

I'd take that every five years.

[Coleman]

No thanks.

[Benny B]

At some point, Mark Cuban's premonition is going to bear fruit and the D-League will be the alternative path for most one-and-done'ers... at which point, Calipari will be looking for another coaching job somewhere... probably in Women's Bowling.

[Benny B]

So out of five most recent years UK gets:
1 Sweet 16
1 Final Four
1 National Championship
1 NIT year
and whatever they do this year.

MU's last five:
Second (Third) Round
Sweet 16
Sweet 16
Elite 8
NIT Champion

If not for the Natty, I think I may take the latter.

[swoopem]

I hate that people think they won the national championship with nothing but freshman. Sure their 2 best players (maybe 3 because of Teague) were frosh but they also relied on Terrance Jones and Doron Lamb who were sophomore and didn't declare the year before due to the lockout. I'm going off memory here but I think they also had a couple seniors that were key players as well.

The freshman were a huge part of that team but they weren't the only impact players.

[chapman]

Not sure how you can have much pride in your college basketball program watching a bunch of one and dones who would rather not have to do the "one", don't bother to go to class the second semester, and drop out of school the day their season ends.  Don't mind the Duke model where one each year sees the appeal of your program and wants to be part of it, but not the UK model where one and dones are all that defines your program.

[Atticus]

So out of five most recent years UK gets:
1 Sweet 16
1 Final Four
1 National Championship
1 NIT year
and whatever they do this year.

I'd take that every five years.

I'm having a really hard time coming up with a list of schools that have fared better than that. Louisville, Duke....?

[Tugg Speedman]

So out of five most recent years UK gets:
1 Sweet 16
1 Final Four
1 National Championship
1 NIT year
and whatever they do this year.

I'd take that every five years.

The first two were not under the "1 and done" model.  That was the last three.

[Texas Western]

The one and done is a mindset that a coach can choose to indulge.This was tried years ago with the Fab 5 and they never won anything. My rule of thumb is that a player needs to prove he can play at each level, whether it is middle school, high school, college or pro. That has to be earned and not pre ordained.

[The Equalizer]

The first two were not under the "1 and done" model.  That was the last three.

No.  Calipari only had one year without the one-and-done model, and it was six years back.

2010 was the first of the one-and-done teams, and included Bledsoe, Cousins, Orton and Wall
2011 was Knight,
2012 was Davis, Kidd-Gilcrhist, Teague
2013 was Noel, Goodwin
2014 #2 RSCI Randile, #5 Harrison, #6 Harrions, #9 Johnson, #9 Young, #18 Lee

I guess if you want to quibble that Lamb and Jones were actually 2-year players, and Kanter never played for UK, the 2011 team wasn't technically a "one-and-done" team--but you sure can't say that Calipari didn't build it with that intention.   

[77ncaachamps]

MU's last five:
Second (Third) Round
Sweet 16
Sweet 16
Elite 8
NIT Champion

If not for the Natty, I think I may take the latter.

When did WE win an NIT championship?!


The One-and-done can work if the players are outstanding, healthy, and have great chemistry with others.

I want to see Wichita State take on Kentucky: a more veteran, seasoned team that plays well together versus a talented, 4-5 star team still learning how to be consistent. I'd give the edge to Wichita, but it's still the crazy talent UK has that makes you think that it may be closer than you think.

[brandx]

Anthony Davis!!

Not many freshmen will defer parts of their game for the betterment of the team when everyone knows they are head-and-shoulders above the rest of the team talent-wise.

Watch Kentucky this year and it looks like 5 guys trying to impress the scouts. Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist did whatever it took to win.

[Benny B]

When did WE win an NIT championship?!

With all the negative nannies around here, I figured I'd inject a dose of optimism for something.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Not sure how you can have much pride in your college basketball program watching a bunch of one and dones who would rather not have to do the "one", don't bother to go to class the second semester, and drop out of school the day their season ends.  Don't mind the Duke model where one each year sees the appeal of your program and wants to be part of it, but not the UK model where one and dones are all that defines your program.

+1

[Tugg Speedman]

Anthony Davis!!

Not many freshmen will defer parts of their game for the betterment of the team when everyone knows they are head-and-shoulders above the rest of the team talent-wise.

Watch Kentucky this year and it looks like 5 guys trying to impress the scouts. Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist did whatever it took to win.

+1

This is the problem ... The 1 and dones the last two years were not interested in winning.  They were/are interested in making sportscenter highlights.  You almost get the impression they want to lose next weekend so they can declare, hire agents and move on ASAP.

Remember Kentucky was preseason #1 and now they are not even ranked.  A terribly disappointing season, even worse than last season when they were preseason #3 only to go to the NIT.

[Class71]

If players do not play as a team coaches normally sit them to get the point across quickly. If that does not work they may be the most talented but not the best players for a team. Certainly not an Al or Buzz team that demands work effort and team play. Even in the NBA it is not always the best talent that wins. It is the best team.

[MU82]

I would certainly would love one 1-and-done every year. That probably means you're bringing in a top-10 recruit annually. And I'd gladly take a second one -- kind of Ohio State with Oden and Conley making it to the title game.

Beyond that, as much as I'd want as much talent as I could get, I think I'd like some classic "glue guys," and other role players who will be leaders when the next couple of 1-and-dones come in.

Easy for me to say sitting here, though. It's hard to imagine any of us landing the No. 1 and No. 4 player and then, when Nos. 6, 8 and 11 say they want to play for us, responding, "No thank you. We'd rather have a 4-star and a couple of 3-stars."

[GurneeHitchkr]

If I want to watch a bunch of one-on-one basketball, a look-at-what-I-can-do (by myself), selfish basketball, I'll watch the NBA.  I enjoy college basketball for the team concept, a group of athletes that play together as one, making great passes, hustle plays, supporting each other, etc.  Kentucky bores me.

[77ncaachamps]

With all the negative nannies around here, I figured I'd inject a dose of optimism for something.

Sorry. That flew over my head!

[Sunbelt15]

MU's last five:
Second (Third) Round
Sweet 16
Sweet 16
Elite 8
NIT Champion

If not for the Natty, I think I may take the latter.

This is crazy. You would take this over a national championship. Stop lying.

You don't have to talk crazy to prove your a loyal fan.

[Coleman]

This is crazy. You would take this over a national championship. Stop lying.

You don't have to talk crazy to prove your a loyal fan.

In fairness, he said if not for the Natty ( National Championship)

[keefe]

In fairness, he said if not for the Natty ( National Championship)

I thought he was talking about Natty Boh

[Spotcheck Billy]

Remember Kentucky was preseason #1 and now they are not even ranked.  A terribly disappointing season, even worse than last season when they were preseason #3 only to go to the NIT.

how was this year (NCAA) worse than last year (NIT)?

[Sunbelt15]

In fairness, he said if not for the Natty ( National Championship)

Sorry. I read so many ridiculous statements, I jumped to conclusion. Sorry again.

[Tugg Speedman]

how was this year (NCAA) worse than last year (NIT)?

Fair enough ... I will revise after we see what Kentucky does this year.

[Benny B]

Sorry. I read so many ridiculous statement, I jumped to conclusion. Sorry again.

Aporogy accepted.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Has the Sporting News turned into the Onion?

Kentucky's academic performance puts lie to criticism
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2014-05-14/kentuckys-academic-performance-makes-liars-out-of-critics-ncaa-basketball-apr-release

There are some lies in sports that are kept rather busy, but the one that seems to hang around college basketball most persistently is this: that Kentucky is employing a band of athletes who only need to pass a few fall credits and then don’t even have to go to class in the spring.

False.

It’s been false since John Calipari’s first season on the job in 2009-10, and it’s remained false every year since. How do we know? UK basketball’s score under the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate measurement is a perfect 1,000 for the 2012-13 academic year and 989 on a multiyear basis.

The APR has a lot of flaws, but one of its values is in punishing any program that has an overabundance of one-semester players — guys who show up, pass a few fall credits and then not even go to class in the spring. The APR mandates than any player departing for the NBA Draft must do so while in good academic standing or be damaging to the program’s cumulative score — and that means completing a semester once the player is enrolled.

Programs that are sufficiently damaged can lose scholarships, practice time or postseason eligibility, which happened to the Connecticut program in 2012-13.

In fact, eight Division I basketball programs will be banned from postseason play in 2015 because of deficient APR scores: Alabama State, Appalachian State, Florida A&M, Houston Baptist, Lamar, Milwaukee, San Jose State and Central Arkansas. Milwaukee made the field last season as champion of the Horizon League.

Kentucky will have no such concerns, even though it lost five players to early NBA Draft entry in 2012 and two in 2013, including five “one-and-done” players. The Wildcats have managed to get it done academically with those prospects while they’ve been on campus.

It’d be nice if these numbers at least put to rest the notion that Kentucky players are taking shortcuts during the time they spend on campus, whether that time lasts one year (Anthony Davis), two (the Harrison twins), three (Willie Cauley-Stein) or four (Darius Miller).

“Ten years ago, the membership designed the APR to encourage student-athletes to stay in school and earn good grades. We are pleased to see that more and more student-athletes are doing that every year,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said.

You think he knew he was talking about Kentucky when he said it?

[GGGG]

Why are we under the assumption that "one and dones" are poor students?  From what I understand, a lot of UK's freshmen this year (Randle, Harrison twins) were actually very good high school students.

[g0lden3agle]

Why are we under the assumption that "one and dones" are poor students?  From what I understand, a lot of UK's freshmen this year (Randle, Harrison twins) were actually very good high school students.

I think the tendency for an 18 year old kid who is planning on only staying in college for one year would be to not take any of his classes seriously.  Even those kids that were good high school students would have a very hard time finding the inspiration to study hard when in all reality the grades mean very little to them.

[GGGG]

I think the tendency for an 18 year old kid who is planning on only staying in college for one year would be to not take any of his classes seriously.  Even those kids that were good high school students would have a very hard time finding the inspiration to study hard when in all reality the grades mean very little to them.

Perhaps.  That is quite the blanket statement to make.  I'm sure the freshman year of a UK basketball player isn't like the freshman year at Harvard, so I think a good high school student wouldn't find it all that difficult to retain eligibility. 

[Tugg Speedman]

This for bumping this and reminding me about it.

I will say this, post NCAA tourney the biggest proponent of getting rid of "one and done" seems to be John Calipari. 

Actually, in reading about his book and watching his book tour interviews, my opinion of Calipari ha gone way up.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Why are we under the assumption that "one and dones" are poor students?  From what I understand, a lot of UK's freshmen this year (Randle, Harrison twins) were actually very good high school students.

none of those you name would have any impact on the Kentucky APR in the 2012-13 season

[GGGG]

OK, but the point still stands, do you really know anything about the academic competency of the one-and-dones that came before?

[MU82]

The Harrisons must have taken academics at least seriously enough to keep as an option returning for their sophomore seasons at Kentucky ... because that's exactly what they've decided to do.

I also have a hard time believing that Jabari Parker simply stopped going to class at Duke.