Title Or Money? The Give-and-take Of One-and-done In Hoops

(AP) — The teenager who plays hoops for a year in college and then leaves for the NBA used to be part novelty, part nuisance. The run on freshmen in the 2017 NBA draft has the potential to go a dozen deep before an upperclassmen's name is called. Only one of the dozen-plus freshmen — Gonzaga's 7-footer Zach Collins, if he goes — will be able to say he played for the NCAA title, but that doesn't really stop anybody. "There's lots of different ways to build a program and build an elite program," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, whose team plays North Carolina in Monday night's title game. To me, when those guys sit down and they have to make a decision on a guy, they're asking, 'Does the talent and what it brings balance with running a program, or running a team?' Sometimes with one-and-dones you say, 'OK, I got this guy. Krzyzewski coaxed Okafor and Winslow to the title in 2015 after Calipari's freshmen-laden team saw its hopes for an undefeated season vanquished in the national semifinals at the hands of Wisconsin, which goes about winning in a very different way. In reality, it's a product of the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players. If NBA commissioner Adam Silver had his way, the minimum age would be raised to 20, which would essentially require two years in college. For now, though, nothing is changing, and though the NCAA frets about the rule in public, it's happy with the product it delivers when the lights are brightest.

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