Once upon a time, basketball players wore short-shorts. That changed. Back in the day, rosters were all-white. Not any more. There didn’t used to be a shot-clock or a 3-point line, every game wasn’t always televised, only 8 teams used to make the NCAA Tournament…then 16…then 32…then 64…now 68.


Change is, as they say, inevitable. In sports and in life. What seperates the powerhouse programs like Kentucky from everyone else is the ability to adjust and adapt. Say what you will about our fearless leader, Sir John Calipari, but in my opinion, he’s proven a willingness and ability to change with the times that sets him apart from other college basketball coaches.


When he was building UMass into a national contender, no one had ever heard of one-and-done or dribble-drive. The man won a LOT of games without either. In the middle of a strong run at Memphis, he pulled a Tiger Woods(no, not like that) and completely changed his swing, so to speak. He saw great potential in the DDMO, and decided to take a chance. A BIG chance. Imagine if this crazy new offense didn’t work? For that matter, what if recruiting elite high-school seniors who would leave after a year had backfired? Turns out, both moves were the right ones, and Cal turned the smashing success into a gig as King of the Roman Empire that is UK Basketball.


His job, or at least a huge part of it, is to recruit the best basketball players he can find. Check. Then, take said stars and win lots of games. Check. Next goal, win the whole damn thing. That check, imo, is in the mail. Does it get kind of old starting over with a brand new squad every year? Yeah, it kinda does. Would I like to see players stick around for a while? Sure would. But you can’t be mad at John Calipari, it’s not his rule. If one of his players is projected to hit the jackpot in the NBA Lottery, Cal would be doing the kid a disservice to hold him back. David Stern is responsible for one-and-done, not Coach Cal.


Ah, but this too shall pass. The recent NBA labor negotiations over the summer lead us to believe that a two-and-done could be coming in the not-too-distant future. That would be better than the current format, but my dream is that before I’m dead and gone, the baseball rule where you can go straight out of high school(because why shouldn’t an 18 year old man be able to earn a living?) but must stay in college for THREE years if not, will one day be the rule in hoops as well.


When that day comes(and it will), we’ll look back on one-and done and say, “Remember when John Calipari was coach, and players would only stay for a year?” Yeah, we’ll remember it, as well as all the wins, championships, and banners he’ll leave behind. Lesson: Carpe diem, enjoy the here and now. One day, this era will be sitting on a shelf with the short shorts.


-Follow me on Twitter, @tonyradden