Bill Self speaks on one-and-done teams competing for titles

Another year, another Final Four filled with veteran-led teams. While that is not always the case and teams like 2012 Kentucky and 2015 Duke have won titles behind star freshmen, it is certainly not the norm.

During a Final Four press conference on Friday, Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self was asked about how difficult it is, “even the best coaches, like Cal and like Coach K,” to essentially start over with new rosters each year.

“I can’t speak to what they think or everything,” Self said. “But I know personally, with me, I think the best teams are the ones that your most talented kids are your youngest kids but your foundation is always your upperclassmen.”

He even pointed out that the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats were not all freshmen when they took home the crown by beating his Jayhawks in the championship game.

“I think what happened with Kentucky, which we lost to them in the final game, they still had [Darius] Miller and they still had some guys that were a little bit older that probably were a foundation for them.”

He’s not wrong. Darius Miller played great during tournament time after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist gave up his starting position for the senior. Sophomore Terrence Jones was also an important part of that run.

Kentucky, the youngest team in the tournament field this year, exited to Kansas State in the Sweet 16. Duke, who started four freshman, was eliminated by Kansas in the Elite 8 last weekend.

Does Self believe a team built on one-and-done players will ever win another title?

“It will happen again where somebody will do that,” he said. “But I really think the percentage play is having a balance of both.”

His point may be moot if Adam Silver and the NBA change their age requirements in the next few years, but based on recent results he is pretty spot on.

I wonder if there are any teams next season returning a ton of talent and bringing in some killer recruits...