Can You Win The Title With One-And-Doners?

John Clay’s Sidelines
Kentucky sports and beyond.

Can you win it all with one-and-dones?

Published March 30, 2010

Promised yesterday we’d get into this week, so here goes. Can you win a national championship with one-and-done players? Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News thinks not. Kevin knows his hoops. He wrote this morning that he’s given up on John Calipari every winning a title, saying:

This marks the third straight year and fourth time in the last five years that Cal has given me a reason to believe during the regular season, only to leave me with a broken bracket.

OK. Finally, I get it. He’s probably not going to win it all. He just may be Guy Lewis with nicer suits and better hair.

I’m not willing to go that far. The game has changed since the Guy Lewis days. History shows it takes great players to win championships. To get great players, you have to take chances on players who may end up being one-and-done players. If you’re John Calipari, do you really not go after John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe? Who knew that all three would have seasons in which they would position themselves to be high picks. Wall, yes. Cousins, probably. Bledsoe, not so much. Some thought Patrick Patterson might be a one-and-done player. He just finished his third year in a Kentucky uniform. So, you never know. It’s easy to take the approach that you want guys who will develop for four years. But you never know if that will work out. Circumstances change. That’s life. I say give me the talent first, ask questions later.

By the way, guess how many one-and-doners Calipari had in his nine years at Memphis? Answer: Four. DeJaun Wagner in 2002, Shawne Williams in 2006, Derrick Rose in 2008 and Tyreke Evans in 2009.

Funny Cal had "4" one and doners in NINE YEARs. There is a 90% chance he will have that many (4) to go in just one year at UK.