We ranked each Kansas basketball one-and-done in program history. Find out where each of these ten players finished on our list.
Ever since the one-and-done rule was implemented by the NBA in 2005, there have been criticisms about it from both college and professional fans. Some argue that players should be able to gamble on themselves and enter the draft out of high school, while others believe that the lack of continuity for teams has ruined collegiate basketball.
But no matter what you think of one-and-done players, they’ll always be an integral part of NCAA basketball. The fact of the matter is that most top-ranked high school recruits would skip school entirely if they were required to play multiple seasons in college. Although the induction of NIL complicates things, there aren’t many kids who would pass up their lifelong dream of playing in the pros.
Being that the Kansas Jayhawks consistently put together one of the best recruiting classes every single year, there has been a fair share of one-and-dones to cross paths with head coach Bill Self’s program.
To clear up any confusion, we’re utilizing the term “one-and-done” very specifically. Those who are eligible had to have committed to Kansas basketball out of high school, competed with the Jayhawks for one season, and left for the NBA after the conclusion of their freshman year.
Players that are not counted include Tarik Black, who spent three years at Memphis before transferring to KU. Despite technically spending a year in Lawrence before declaring for the NBA Draft, it wasn’t the first stop he made. And if the player left the program for undisclosed reasons and didn’t go to the NBA afterward, they weren’t included either.
We also aren’t counting players like Quentin Grimes, who played a year at Kansas before transferring to a different school. The term “one-and-done” will be used loosely for one of the spots on this list, but we’ll explain that one when you arrive there.