Duke Basketball: The One and Done Rule Must Change

Duke Basketball has been one of the best schools at recruiting One and Done players, but that has to stop because the rule needs to be modified.

The Division I Council met Wednesday to recommend legislative and policy changes to the Division I Board. Many of the recommendations will come from Condoleezza’s Rice Report – a seven month investigation into the issues believed to be corrupting college basketball. One of the central issues in the Rice Report is One-And-Done.

The report characterizes One-And-Done as having, “a significant role in corrupting and destabilizing college basketball, restricting the freedom of choice of players, and undermining the relationship of college basketball to the mission of higher education.”

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The Rice Report was released following an FBI Investigation into the “underbelly” of college basketball in which bank records and balance sheets of the sports agency ASM implicating several high profile college basketball players and coaches in NCAA rules violations.

These NCAA rules violations of players receiving gifts in the form of loans, lunches, and cash payments are a direct result of the One-And-Done rule according to the Rice Report. Interestingly, several upperclassmen have been linked to the sports agency ASM in the FBI investigation – players who are not required to be in college.

Curiously and most likely intentionally left out of the Rice Report was the recommendation to compensate student-athletes, making the Rice Report more like your company’s HR Department than a CIA interrogation. The NCAA knows what the real issue is, but instead of overhauling their entire league and compensating their student-athletes therein solving the issues that plague college basketball.

One-And-Done will eventually come to an end and with it, the most exciting era of college basketball. These One-And-Dones are not like you or I. They are snow leopards, only glimpsed through brief Instagram videos of ferocious dunks and blinding agility. They ride into campus on hype-trains driven by the prospect of future NBA success. They disembark on their college sojourn whispering to the conductor to keep the engine running.

These freshmen flash across the sky and just as quickly as they came they leave us with only a romantic memory of their very existence. It seems odd that these freshmen could cause so much damage to college basketball – enough damage to warrant a seven-month investigation led by a former U.S. Secretary of State.

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Nonetheless the One-And-Done has changed the landscape of college basketball and specifically the landscape of Duke. The One-And-Done era officially began in 2006 with the NBA requiring draft eligible players to be at least one year removed from high school. Luckily, many of the most talented high school seniors opt to spend their obligatory year of college at Duke, and bring with them corruption and deceit, at least according to the Commission on College Basketball.

Yes, the beginning of the end officially began in 2006 when the NBA required draft eligible players to be at least one year removed from high school. The One-And-Done however, did not make his way to Duke until 2011. Coming off a decade in which Duke captured eight ACC Championships and two National Championships from 2000-2010, things couldn’t get any better for Duke, and they didn’t.

In the coming years, Duke’s transformation into a One-And-Done powerhouse was indeed painful in spots. Overshadowed by the giddiness of landing these mythical beings, is the reduced success of the program. Twice the Blue Devils fell in the Round of 64 – a feat so unthinkable even Corey Maggette would feel shame towards his alma mater.

It was bad enough that these freshmen had corrupted these schools by making them millions of dollars, but now Duke can’t get out of the first round?

This madness had to be stopped, and stopped it was. Instead of recruiting just one One-And-Done player, i.e. Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Brandon Ingram, Mike Krzyzewski’s greatest coaching accomplishment has been landing three – four of these players.

Duke players used to be judged by their college careers. In the One-And-Done era they are judged now by their professional ones. The 2015 Duke team, composed of Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Jahlil Okafor is remembered by a lesser standard.

This Duke was the best team in the country in 2015, but because the three One-And-Dones have turned out less than stellar NBA careers thus far. Vice versa, Quinn Cook stayed four years at Duke and was also a member of the 2015 National Championship and is remembered fondly by Duke fans.

Gone are the Redick’s, the Scheyer’s, the Duhon’s, and the Battier’s; replaced by the Ingram’s, the Tatum’s, and the Bagley’s.

Yes, Duke in the eyes of the NCAA, is part of the problem. Never mind Duke’s contribution to the BILLION-dollar industry of college basketball, when an agent picks up the check on a $20 lunch.

These One-And-Dones are no good. We don’t want them anymore. So instead of incentivizing them to stay and get something of a valuable college experience, the NCAA is encouraging them to never come in the first place.

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