No one-and-dones for Olson? Yeah, right
Posted: Saturday, July 12, 2008 6:11 PM
Filed Under:
Coaches, Pac-10
Lute Olson isn’t going to recruit one-and-done type players anymore?
Yeah, right.
It’s easy to understand Olson’s frustration. When your best player bolts after one season and an incoming recruit decides to play in Europe instead, that’d make anyone cranky. (Nevermind that Olson must be feeling a little more apprehension than normal about the upcoming season. A self-imposed one-year leave of absence can do that.)
But essentially announcing that you won’t recruit the country’s best players sounds farfetched, especially when Arizona’s always featured star guards and wings.
As coaches hit the recruiting road throughout July, they’re all on the lookout for a player that will make their team better. Some of those players are glue guys and role players. Some are reliable four-year players who may eventually be stars. And some are future NBA players who aren’t likely to stay in school very long.
Coaches want all of those players. And to say that a high-profile school like Arizona won’t go after the stars is just unbelievable. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim – who’s had his share of one-and-dones, including Carmelo Anthony – said as much.
"We don't know who's going to go," Boeheim told the L.A. Times. "You try to get the best 11 players you can. Guys will leave . . . it's a fact of life . . . but you still have 10 guys. When we recruit, we try to get the best one we can and hope he's good enough to win you a national championship, like Carmelo Anthony. But you have to be prepared for guys leaving, like Carmelo did."
Jerryd Bayless was just the latest guard to light it up for the ‘Cats. Brandon Jennings would have been the next. Olson may not have a freshman or sophomore on his roster like that next season, but he still has future NBA players on it.
Chase Budinger came to Arizona slated as a one-and-done player. (Brandon Rush was the same way at Kansas.) But he’s back for his junior season in Tucson and will be one of the country’s best players. Once he does head to the NBA, Olson will have to have someone of Budinger’s caliber to step in or the odds of Arizona isn’t likely to remain an elite program.
Of course, Olson could change his stance. He’ll turn 74 in September and wants to stay at Arizona through his contract, which runs through 2011. Olson’s always been a winner, but winning in today’s game without elite talent would be a remarkable coaching feat, even for him.
