College Basketball: What if the One-and-Done Rule was the Four-and-Done Rule?

It’s September. Probably the most boring, slowest news month for the cyclical college basketball year. Starting next month, we get a first glimpse of teams as they all host their respective “Midnight Madness” events.

During the summer, we get to hear about certain teams and their summer tours. During April and May, people are still buzzing about the Final Four, and players are making their decisions regarding whether or not they will make the leap to the NBA.

But what if the NBA made those decisions for the players?

These are the types of questions I think about in September. And this was one that I thought was worth looking into.

More from Duke Blue Devils

• Duke Basketball: Could UConn and Kansas be better destinations for Cooper Flagg?
• Duke Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24 season
• Duke Basketball: Blue Devils hope for perfect scenario with 5-star Cooper Flagg
• Duke Basketball: Top 5 non-conference games to watch for 2023-24 season
• Duke Basketball: Should there be any concern about Kyle Filipowski’s health?

In 2006, the NBA implemented a rule now known as the “one and done” rule. It requires players who wish to play in the NBA to be at least one year removed from high school. This meant that every stand-out high school player had to go to college, except for rare cases when they elect to play overseas, like Brandon Jennings, or Emmanuel Mudiay.

So what if, instead of requiring the player to be one year removed, it was required that they were four years removed?

Just how good would some of the recent college basketball teams be?

So I dug into it, and created a list of the top five teams, including honorable mentions. Before I present you with these rankings, let’s hash out the rules of this first:

• Only teams/players after 2006 are eligible. So, for example, we’re assuming Lamarcus Aldridge was still able to go to the draft after the 2005-06 season. Everything starts in the 2006-07 season.
• Each school can only have one representative. I made this rule when I realized that Anthony Davis, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins probably would have been on the list about three times each. That would take a lot of the fun out of this.
• Players who transferred, still transferred. So, for example, Kyle Wiltjer would not be eligible for the 14-15 Kentucky team. But he would be eligible for the 12-13 team.
• Teams go ten deep. Most college basketball teams only play eight anyway.
• Coaches absolutely matter. Not much else to say about this. It’s common sense.
• I am assuming players take the same development path in college that they did in the NBA. Let’s take a player like Derrick Rose as an example. He would have been a senior in 2010-11, the year he won the NBA MVP. Theoretically, the MVP Derrick Rose is the one that Memphis would have had in 10-11. Players and teams are judged off of that.
• If a player was healthy at any point in the season, or played at all for his team, he is eligible to be on his school’s team.

Next: Honorable Mentions