I think it’s time to be done with one-and-done.
The old saying is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But does that aphorism apply to UK basketball?
Naw. Big Blue Nation has been deceived by “One and Done”–even though the system continues to be praised and supported. I say it’s time for a change in Lexington.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
But change won’t happen as long as there’s resistance. An example happened just a few days ago.
The UK athletic department released a video after the K-State loss in the South Regional. The video was about Kentucky being the youngest team in the nation and how winning the conference title was a remarkable accomplishment.
But how remarkable was it? It’s not if you use NCAA Tournament performance as a yardstick. The conference entered March Madness with eight teams. Only two made it to the Sweet 16 and not a single team was in the Elite Eight.
A better approach would be to look at what UK has really become.
In most years Calipari’s teams are too inexperienced to make a deep run in the postseason. That happened again this year. Despite being the highest remaining South seed and playing in front of a decidedly supportive crowd in “Catlanta,” the young Wildcats never got in the flow of things against K-State. Incredibly, UK’s P.J. Washington shot an abysmal 8-of-20 from the charity stripe in the loss.
As I see it, the primary problem is Cal’s revolving door of top-tier talent that has a primary goal in mind–players migrating to the NBA after one season of collegiate play.
Jenkins’ shot wins national title (photo, Big East Coast Bias)
What’s the alternative?
Well, let’s look at 2016 national champ Villanova. Those Wildcats captured the national title with a 77-74 victory over North Carolina when senior Ryan Arcidiacono found junior Kris Jenkins for the buzzer-beater.
Villanova had five seniors, three juniors, and only three freshmen on the 2016 championship team.
And what about the game’s star, Kris Jenkins? Was he a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school? No. A four-star prospect, he ranked 76th nationally in the 2013 class (247 Sports).
What about today? Is Jenkins an NBA star? No. Going undrafted, he’s currently playing with the Yakima SunKings of the North American Premier Basketball League.
Let’s take another example from another team–UNC’s Luke Maye. Last year Maye hit the game-winning shot that lifted the Tar Heels to a 75-73 NCAA win over UK. It was the springboard to a Tar Heels national championship.
Luke Maye hits the winning shot against UK (photo, The Sporting News)
This season Maye averaged a double-double–20.8 points and 10.3 rebounds a game. And the truly remarkable thing about Maye is that he remained committed to Roy Williams’ program despite the fact that he didn’t know if he’d receive a scholarship after averaging 1.2 points in 5.6 minutes per game during his freshman year.
Those examples show how experience can pay off. Consider a stat from this year’s Final Four teams. Those teams had 27 juniors and seniors on their collective rosters.
One of those players–Michigan’s Charles Matthews–is well known to fans in the Bluegrass State. Matthews, a redshirt sophomore, transferred from UK for fear of having his playing time swiped by a talented group of incoming Wildcat freshmen. At Michigan, he averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 rebounds.
And here’s one last stat. The 2012 UK national title team had three upperclassmen–Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones, and most notably Darius Miller–who provided guidance for younger talent, like Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
That’s what Coach Cal needs: veterans and freshman COMPLEMENTING each other.
Until that happens–if it ever does–Kentucky fans will have to settle for a limited number of Sweet 16 and Elite Eight appearances. That’s why I think it’s time to be done with one-and-done.
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Cameron Brown is a former Webster County basketball player and an undergraduate student at Western Kentucky University, where he is a major in education with a minor in journalism. Contact him at Cameron.brown288@topper.wku.edu, or follow him on Twitter @Cameron_Brown_3
