Many believe that The One and Done Rule, which is when a college basketball player only stays for a year and then leaves for the NBA, should be thrown out. They believe that the players should have to stay at least two years in college and get a degree. The One and Done Rule is ultimately harmful to student athletes and the university because it forces college teams to completely rebuild their roster on an annual basis, playing only one year of college basketball does not prepare the players for the NBA, and the players won’t have a college degree on which to rely if their dreams of playing professional basketball don’t come true or if their professional basketball career is cut short for whatever reason.
The history …show more content…
Derrick Rose, for example, was a late round NBA pick out of high school, but improved to being a first round pick in the draft in just one year of college. Imagine the improvement he could have made through all four years of college basketball. Tim Duncan is another example. Duncan is known as one of the best power forwards in the game. He spent all four years of his basketball eligibility at Wake Forest. In his freshman year, he started out averaging 13 points, five blocks, 12 rebounds. He improved to 22 points, three blocks, and 16 rebounds later in his college career. His points and rebounds improved while his blocks went down primarily because he was playing more minutes than when he was a freshman. These improved statistics no doubt made him a more desirable player when the NBA draft came about. If it weren’t for The One and Done Rule, many players might have simply disregarded college. Anthony Davis might have been one of those players. Instead, he went to college and helped lead the Kentucky Wildcats to a national title along with his receiving the most outstanding player award in the Final Four. This outstanding award led to him being drafted as the New Orleans Pelicans first pick. If he had not gone to college, he wouldn’t have experienced all of these great moments. There are …show more content…
College players only have to maintain a D average to remain eligible, so players who are in college only to go to the NBA usually do not try in the classroom because they don’t think they will be in college the next year. “It tarnishes what we are trying to do as coaches; it tarnishes the idea that kids are here to get an education,” Colorado Coach Tad Boyle said to USA Today. “It just does. People know it. That’s why there are so many people it upsets, and people don’t like it. I don’t know of any person I’ve ever talked to who says, ‘I like the one-and-done’” (Schultz). Brandon Jennings is the perfect example of this downfall of the One and Done Rule. Jennings was a top recruit and planned on attending the University of Arizona but his grades were not good enough to get into the school, so he ended up signing a contract to play basketball in Europe. This prevented Jennings from shining in college where he would have played against younger players, but since he was playing in Europe he was forced to go up against adults