Ohio State Basketball: What will happen when one-and-done is gone?

The Ohio State basketball team just had a one-and-done player in Malaki Branham. He wasn’t expected to be one of those guys though. He just had a heck of a season once Big Ten play started and his stock started to rise. He’s not one of the guys you think of when you think one-and-done.

The NBA has already expanded the G-League to allow high school players to go there for a year in lieu of college if they want. So what happens to college basketball when the one-and-done rule goes away? Specifically, what does that mean for Ohio State basketball?

There’s no question that the rule will go away in the next NBA collective bargaining agreement. High school kids will once again be able to jump right into the NBA. That will be the answer for most of the top 10 recruits in high school pretty much every year.

But for all of the other kids, NIL makes college an attractive option still. They can still get some development at the collegiate level while still making some decent money. Ohio State has several players who took advantage of NIL money last season and college players will keep doing that.

As far as the Buckeyes are concerned, this rule ending won’t affect them too much. Chris Holtmann doesn’t recruit one-and-done guys like Thad Matta did. He tries to build his roster a little bit differently. That’s succeeded in the regular season, but not so much once the postseason rolls around.

College basketball as a whole will take a hit as far as the quality of the product. Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and other blue-bloods will be hurt as well. But programs like Ohio State won’t see too much difference in their roster quality from year to year once this rule does stop being in effect.