Requiring more years could spell less talent for Lute

Lute Olson has claimed he's finished with one-and-done prospects.

If Lute has his way, Jerryd Bayless was the last one-and-done of the Olson era. (Getty Images)

My first reaction to the news was that it was a silly stance rooted in the frustration of losing Jerryd Bayless to the NBA Draft after one season and Brandon Jennings to Europe before he even enrolled. I couldn't imagine the Arizona coach being serious when he told the Los Angeles Times "If someone's a 'one-and-done,' we're not going to pursue them anymore, no way."

It just seems like a crazy strategy. But then I spent the weekend looking at Arizona's history and the 24 consecutive NCAA tournaments and realized Olson has done OK for himself while mostly avoiding one-and-done prospects.

In fact, Bayless was his first.

Which means Olson made 23 consecutive tournaments -- and won the 1997 national title -- without messing with one-year wonders. That's phenomenal. So let the record show that if anybody can pull this off it appears to be the Hall of Famer in Tucson ... though I still can't tell you I agree with the philosophy.

How can it be advantageous to swear off the most talented high school prospects in the nation? And is it really wise to eliminate any group of anythings in any aspect of life? Take blondes, for instance.

What if you got burned by a blonde and abruptly decided you'd never deal with blondes again? It might make sense at the time. Trust me, I've been there. But what you'd be doing is eliminating Marisa Miller, Elisha Cuthbert, Stacy Keibler and that hot chick from Talladega Nights from your potential dating pool, and why would you want to do a thing like that?

(In fairness, you'd also rid yourself of a possible Brooke Hogan hook-up. That wouldn't be terrible).

No foreigners? That means no Adriana Lima.

No tattoos? That means no Megan Fox.

And do you see how these hard stances can work against you? The same principle applies to basketball. All prospects should be judged on their own merits, scrutinized as individuals but not eliminated because they possibly fit some undesired criteria.

In other words, I can understand why somebody might not have wanted the O.J. Mayo circus on their campus for a year given how it exploded in Southern California's face. But do you think Memphis made a mistake in taking Derrick Rose for a year?

The Tigers spent two seasons losing in the Elite Eight, case you didn't know. Then they welcomed Rose for a stop that was never going to last more than a year and sold out every game, earned their first Associated Press No. 1 ranking, set the NCAA record for wins in a season, made the Final Four for the first time since 1985 and played for the national title for the first time since 1973.