Mike Krzyzewski benefited from "one-and-done" players en route to a National Championship this year and he acknowledges it, but he does not appreciate people adding a negative connotation to it.
After his Wisconsin Badgers lost to the Duke Blue Devils in the national title game Monday night, coach Bo Ryan said he does not rely on "rent-a-players" to win games. His remark was taken as a dis specifically targeted for the team that beat him, which benefitted from 60 points scored by freshmen.
According to ESPN, Krzyzewski responded to Ryan's comments on the ESPN Radio program "The Herd with Colin Cowherd."
"I know as a coach, you're the first guy up there when you lose - I've lost national championship games, I've been the loser," Krzyzewski said. "It's never easy. You can take one line out or a couple lines out without context. The line 'rent-a-player' is not a good line because - use 'one-and-done' - 'rent' could mean you're doing something illegal. There is a better choice of words for that. If you say, you don't do the one-and-done in your program, that's your right. But understand that everybody does it differently.
"There is more than one way to run a business, and just appreciate the expertise of all the people doing it in these ways."
Ryan's method of developing players through multiple years in his program worked. As a senior, center Frank Kaminsky has won all major Player of the Year awards thus far and he lead an experienced squad to a Big Ten title and a 36-4 season. In the Final Four, to make the national title game, they beat a Kentucky team that has traditionally relied upon one-and-done freshmen.
The one-and-done phenomenon is a matter of debate much larger than one National Championship game. Sen. Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, even got involved by making similar remarks about Duke's youth. It did not go well for her either.
