Coach K is an all-time great, without question. Just think it's interesting the way that people say Cal is a coach b/c he doesn't develop his one and done guys and we scoff at the UK alumni train. But at the same time, no one here will say that Drummond shouldn't be counted as one of our alumni. I know Irving's case was a little bit different, but it's not the first time I've heard someone say that he was just a one and done and Coach K shouldn't get any credit. Hell, people used to list Bynum as one of ours.
I think its fine to call 1-and-done guys 'alumni' but I have a hard time giving or taking any credit for the program or university "developing" those players.
Andre bleeds blue, he was there at the most recent championship, mainly because he was a CT kid for a time so I think he had that UConn allegiance built in. For a kid who grew up in like Texas and went to UK for a year and then pro, I doubt he has the same connection that Andre has to UConn.
Regardless, I think that if a guy stays for 1 year, you can't give much credit for their skill or greatness to the college because really not that much development happened. I would be interested to see how successful Duke 3-4 year players are vs kids from other schools (like ours). Obviously we look at our own history with rose tinted glasses, but I feel that our program has made more NBA players out of unheralded recruits than the other big name programs have. I think those schools have gotten better players, and when they make it, its like 'good, you got the player to where he was expected to be' rather than 'Wow! This guy came to ______ University as a backup/project, now he's getting drafted in the lottery, what!?'
