Rumor: NBA Considering “Two and Through”

There have been multiple reports that the NBA is considering switching the eligibility to enter the NBA draft to 2 years post-high school instead of the current structure which is 1 year removed.

I am not going to act like I know all the details of how this proposal would work. Would it switch over this year? Would it take effect in a couple years? How does it affect recruits in Europe?

However, regardless of all the details- this would drastically change the makeup of college basketball in almost all aspects from recruiting to power house universities.

Here are my thoughts on how it would influence college basketball and then specifically the Huskies:

Recruiting 

• Talented high school recruits are constantly thinking of “making it to the league.” Many of them have this as their only goal and college just stands in the way. This is a reality from basically the top recruits to the bottom. Many use college as a gateway to the NBA. This will change. Recruits will still be thinking of the NBA but they now will need to think more about their college choice than ever before because the idea of “one and done” is gone.
• The same colleges won’t be able to land all of the top talent year after year. Schools like Kentucky that are known for promoting “we can get you to the NBA, and quick” can now only do this every other year. Because if they have a HUGE 2012 recruiting class, their 2013 class can’t also be huge because those 2012 recruits won’t immediately leave for the NBA. The top recruiting colleges will change about every other year or so.
• Similar to above, scholarship limits for each university will be a bigger focus. There will be no more “assuming” that guys will leave for the NBA unless it is their second year. Thus, many schools will have to stay closer to reality in terms of recruiting classes.

Current Landscape of College Basketball

• Recruiting spills over to the landscape of basketball. If recruiting is changed as mentioned above, this could drastically affect which schools are power houses. The same 5-star players won’t go to the same schools every year. Many may even stay local, we will see.
• If the change happens this year (immediately) it would honestly be a little dramatic. Things would have to change immediately, some classes are already too big. For example, Arizona. This could cause de-commitments or tons of transfers . Players like Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers will be stuck for an extra year whether they would like to remain or not.

Huskies

• This shouldn’t affect the Huskies right away, Tony Wroten Jr. was the only one with the potential of being a “one and done” player this year and he has talked about sticking around a year or two anyways.
• UW also doesn’t have any 2012 recruits yet, so there is no concern there.
• The big impact will be for the 2013 recruiting class, where UW has the potential to land a handful of “one and done” type players; Aaron Gordon, Jabari Bird, Jabari Parker, Stephen Domingo, etc. Could this make it easier for the Huskies to land these players if a school like Kentucky is not really able to recruit them because of a big class in 2012? Maybe.

Keep an eye out to see if the NBA moves to this or not but if they do, it would dramatically affect college basketball.