DALLAS - Jim Boeheim coached the player who was probably the most famous one-and-done prospect in college basketball history until this season - and Texas' Kevin Durant and Ohio State's Greg Oden may not eclipse Carmelo Anthony in acclaim unless one of them leads his team to a national title as the current NBA star did for Syracuse as a freshman in 2003. So Boeheim has a unique perspective on the new rule that prevents players from entering the draft until they're a year out of high school, a stipulation that Texas Tech's Bob Knight decried Monday by calling it "the worst thing that's happened to college basketball since I've been coaching."
It's not as if freshmen never turned pro after only one season before the regulation came into effect - 15 from four-year colleges did so over the last five drafts, to be exact. Even when recruits had the option to head straight to the NBA from high school, there were some who signed with colleges but stated their intention to play their way into the draft after just one year.
Boeheim has experienced the positive impact that a one-and-done player can make, but he also recognizes how rare Anthony's feat was.
"He, and other freshmen before that and since that, have had an effect," Boeheim said. "He's the first one that actually took his team to the national championship and won it."
Six of the Orange's top seven scorers were freshmen and sophomores that season. Anthony earned
