Not so awfully long ago it was an exceptional situation when a player transferred to another school. You came, you signed up, and you stayed. Rosters tended to change only incrementally as players graduated, or occasionally dropped out. There was loyalty to the brand. Fans knew the players because the players had been there for several years. Fans felt much more of a vested interest in the roster because of the continuity. Players were playing for the old Alma Mater. Now we are into the Rent-a-player Era. One and Done. Or maybe Two and Transfer.
There already is a sound of weeping and gnashing of teeth among the basketball elite because the ending of One and Done will diminish the quality of the play in college basketball. Perhaps so. But I still think that Four-star Senior is likely to be better than a Five-star Freshman. And anyway, what basketball may lose in talent it will more than make up in the values inherent in continuity and school loyalty.
College athletics is theoretically about student-athletes, that is, students who are paying their way through school by playing ball. Does anybody really pretend that One-and-doners are students, in any real sense? Oh, sure, they have to go to classes for a little while, but that is totally irrelevant to them, because they have no intention of staying in school nor of making their living from what they are being forced to study for a brief period.
We have a system for non-student athletes. It is called the minor leagues. Most professional sports have some sort of such system for players who want to play, but have no interest in getting an education. Those players belong in the pros. Students belong in college.
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