Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

College Basketball Talk’s Top Ten One-and-Done Players

NCAA Men's Championship Game - Kansas v Kentucky

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Anthony Davis #23 of the Kentucky Wildcats goes up for a shot against Jeff Withey #5 of the Kansas Jayhawks in the National Championship Game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on April 2, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Steppig/Pool/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Since 2006 the phrase “one-and-done” has been a vital phrase off the tongues of college basketball fans as the NBA’s rule change forced players out of high school to wait at least one season -- and likely play in college -- before entering the NBA.

Since then college basketball has seen numerous one-and-done players and they’ve had a varying degrees of success in college basketball. Some received bad advice and went early into the draft and others were clearly ready to play professionally.

We’re officially in the midst of the one-and-done era and 2013-14 will see another strong class of likely candidates to join this group. This list is based on college success. A staggering five members of this list played for John Calipari with four of them playing at Kentucky:

1. Anthony Davis - The Unibrow shot 62.3 percent from the field and averaged 14.2 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game, and 4.7 blocks per game for the national champion Kentucky Wildcats in 2011-12. Davis also won the Naismith award and won many other national awards as well.

2. Kevin Durant - Durant averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game at Texas and was the first freshman ever to win Naismith Player of the Year honors. The Longhorns retired his jersey after his one year in Austin.

3. Derrick Rose - The Chicago native was a missed free throw away from a title at Memphis as the third team All-American averaged 14.9 points per game to go along with 4.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds. Rose really ramped up his play in the tournament, averaging 20 points, 6.5 assists and six rebounds.

4. Greg Oden - Oden averaged 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds and was the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year to go along with All-American honors in 32 games of action while leading Ohio State to the title game.

5. Michael Beasley - People forget how good Beasley was at Kansas State as he put up 26.2 points and a nation-leading 12.4 rebounds per game and set a freshman record with 28 double-doubles. Beasley and Kansas State, however, only made the second round of the NCAA Tournament and lost to Wisconsin.

6. Kevin Love - Love averaged 17.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game and recorded 17 double-doubles during his one season at UCLA. Love, along with a talented group that included sophomore Russell Westbrook, made it to the Final Four in the 2007-08 season.

7. Mike Conley - Conley averaged 11.3 points and 6.1 assists and led the Big Ten in assists while leading the Buckeyes to a championship game loss against Florida. Although Greg Oden was the star attraction in the package duo, Conley’s value playing the full season was nearly as important.

8. John Wall - Because of his tremendous game and charisma, Lexington grew to love John Wall during his one year playing at Kentucky, where he averaged 16.6 points, 6.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals in leading the Wildcats to the Elite Eight.

9. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist - MKG won a title along at Kentucky with Anthony Davis and as a member of one of the greatest recruiting classes ever, he averaged 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and shot 49 percent from the field and was an All-SEC Defensive selection as well.

10. Demarcus Cousins - In one season at Kentucky, Cousins averaged 15.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in helping the Wildcats to the Elite Eight with John Wall. The 6-foot-11 Cousins was one of the more talented post players in recent years and a second team All-American.