One and done players: Pros and cons of the most common occurrence in college basketball

Ever since the new rule of NBA eligibility, stating that "All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft," was put into place in 2016, there has been a lot of talk about the one-and-done concept.

Whether it is fair or not, it messes with the culture of college basketball, risks players' chances of making the NBA, and many more debates have been brought up. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were first-round picks straight out of high school, along with many other NBA success stories, so why not let anyone go for it?

Some will argue that allowing this practice causes young players to see the NBA as a direct path to success. Others will also say that players are unable to mature and develop before entering the difficult sphere of the NBA if they skip the college part of the equation. The reality is: if players are good enough to consider going into the NBA straight from high school, they will just go to college for one year and then enter the NBA Draft. They will not get a degree

Why is this debate relevant right now?

We just saw Zion Williamson bust through his shoe in the Duke/UNC game last week.

Zion Williamson suffers a knee injury in the first minute of the Duke/UNC game.

Zion Williamson arguably would have been able to go straight from high school to the NBA draft. What if this injury hinders his NBA draft experience? His status is day-to-day, but it is still a concern.

We know that his caliber is way above any other draft prospect, so he'll probably be drafted either way, but this situation makes everyone question: should the rule be in place? What if another player were to suffer an injury during what was supposed to be their one-and-done college year and does not enter the draft or goes undrafted because of it?

Besides the possibility of injury in college prior to the NBA, one of my biggest arguments against this rule is what it does to the nature of college basketball.

Many people enjoy watching college basketball games more than NBA games. College basketball is much more of a team effort. Players on the team become like a family-- eating, traveling, studying, playing together for multiple years. Watching a team become a cohesive unit is part of the fun of it.

When players are simply in college because of the NBA eligibility rule, they are going to play for the team for a year before entering the NBA draft. College basketball is no longer that family and team-based atmosphere when players are just thinking about what they need to do to get drafted in a few months.

Duke has become a textbook example of a one-and-done team, featuring stars like Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett. This is great for Duke's current season, but these stars are thinking individually when it comes down to it.

Duke has big chances (with Zion, huge chances) of winning the tournament this year. The team probably has multiple one-and-done players, so they can easily dominate most teams in the country. Not to mention -- if Duke is known as a team to go to before entering the NBA -- high school players who are NBA prospects will choose to go to Duke and similar schools all the time. This makes for a repetitive tilt in the tournament.

We used to watch decent teams develop into great teams, young players develop into great players and different teams battle it out each year in the tournament, but these one-and-done teams are threatening the college basketball atmosphere.

You cannot blame the players who do it; they have no better choice than to go to college for one year. They could just play overseas or sit at home until they are 19, but who would pass up trying to win an NCAA championship in the meantime?

In their most recent draft proposal, the NBA has reportedly considered reducing the minimum age requirement to 18, so only time will tell how things pan out in the long run.