One-and-done stars are now part of college basketball

OMAHA, Neb. | College basketball has never made peace with the league above. It is the only major-college sport, I think, that has not. You will see that up close in this year’s NCAA Tournament, where freshman stars are the focus in every bracket.

You will see that up close tonight, first-round game, when Kansas State, led by freshman star Michael Beasley, plays Southern California, led by freshman star O.J. Mayo. In three months, both of those guys will be top-10 picks in the NBA draft. They will have left their mark, though. Beasley led Kansas State to its first home victory over Kansas in a quarter century and first NCAA Tournament appearance in a dozen years. Mayo scored the third-most points in school history and carried a USC team with zero seniors to the tournament.

They are two of college basketball’s hottest commodities: The One-and-Done Stars. Last year, for the first time, the NBA instituted an age-limit rule — you had to be 19 years old to get drafted. This compelled talented high school seniors who might have wanted to jump right into the NBA to, instead, play one year of college ball.

The impact was immediate. Last year, Ohio State had two of the most dazzling freshman players in recent memory — Greg Oden and Mike Conley — and they carried the Buckeyes to their first NCAA championship-game appearance since 1962. Both were taken in the top five of the NBA draft. This year, Ohio State is playing in the NIT. This is the game now. You don’t have to build college teams anymore; you can borrow them. Everyone grabs for one year of glory.

There are mixed feelings about the whole thing.

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College basketball has struggled with its identity for a long time, going back to the early 1980s when it became common for good players to leave early for the NBA. There was much hand-wringing, even though in those days almost every player stuck around until at least three years. Then the Fab Five came along at Michigan in 1992, a bunch of freshmen who went all the way to the NCAA final game and then, after the 1993 season, Chris Webber was gone, followed the next year by Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose. Then Kevin Garnett was drafted right out of high school, followed the next year by Kobe Bryant.

Then, in the 2001 NBA draft, three of the top four picks were right out of high school.

And that’s about when the hand-wringing turned to panic.

Basketball is just different. There’s a harmony between college football and the NFL, an understanding, because both sides appreciate that 18-year-old kids just out of high school, almost without exception, are not ready for the bruising and battering of pro football. They need years to grow, mature, toughen up, deal with the pressures of enormous crowds. College football happily offers those years and those crowds.

At the same time, there’s a natural split between college baseball and the major leagues. When a talented baseball player graduates from high school, he has a clear choice. He can chase his baseball dream by riding minor-league buses and living the game. Or he can go to college, play ball, go to class, live a different life. College baseball plays its own game — with aluminum bats and extended pitch counts — and lives with the limited interest in most places across the country.

College basketball is really stuck in the middle. On the one hand, college basketball cannot have that same fellowship with the pros because the NBA, unlike the NFL, really wants those supertalented 18- and 19-year-old kids right now. The league is driven by the infusion of exciting young talent — they need as many LeBrons and Durants as they can get — and so NBA teams would rather have those young players on their bench than at North Carolina or Michigan or Missouri.

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To reach Joe Posnanski, call 816-234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.