A 35-win Wildcats team that also featured future NBA standouts DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe fell to West Virginia in the 2010 Elite Eight amid a hail of missed jump shots. The only blemish on Wall’s otherwise terrific college résumé is that he did not lead Kentucky to the Final Four. He then validated the hype, averaging 16.6 points and 6.5 assists, earning consensus first-team All-American honors and becoming Kentucky’s first-ever No. He announced his arrival in college basketball with a signature dance move at Big Blue Madness in October 2009, sending 24,000 fans into a frenzy just by flexing his arm and twisting his wrist. If Anthony Davis is the most revered of John Calipari’s many one-and-dones, then Wall is not far behind. He hung 25 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks on a Gators frontcourt that featured Joakim Noah and Al Horford. Ohio State lost to Florida that night, but Oden was nothing short of spectacular. He averaged 15.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in his lone season with the Buckeyes, teaming with Mike Conley to take his team to the 2007 national title game. At Ohio State, Oden was the national defensive player of the year, a chiseled 7-foot, 260-pound center who altered shots at the rim, dominated the glass and possessed the agility to guard in space. Oden displayed so much promise in high school and in his lone season at Ohio State that it wasn’t even all that controversial when Portland selected him ahead of Kevin Durant. It’s easy to forget how good Oden was before injuries derailed his NBA career. But he was the second-best player in the country and won a title. And his 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game don’t jump off the page. Now, he was far from a force throughout that NCAA tourney run, held to 10 or fewer points in three of Duke’s last four games. Specifically, you want the best player on a national championship squad, one who wowed with his combination of size, touch and feel? That’s Okafor. You want high-usage efficiency and individual brilliance? Check. Which is why we left this as a dead heat. So do we penalize Young for not having Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey and others supporting his cause? Or do we penalize Rose for pedestrian numbers because he had others to share the wealth? Neither is fair. But he sputtered late, won just one game in February, and bowed out in the first round of the tourney. For portions of the season, he was a must-watch one-man show. Young, on the other hand, poured in 27.4 per game, plus 8.7 assists (Rose dished out 4.7 per game). Yet he averaged 14.9 points per game, the fewest of anybody in our top 10. Rose led John Calipari’s best Memphis team to 38 wins, and to within one magical Mario Chalmers three of a national title. We couldn’t separate Young and Rose, largely because they occupy opposite – and equally compelling – sides of the debate that underlies this entire list: Individual exploits and numbers vs. Where does Duke’s transcendent freshman rank among the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Michael Beasley? Below is our attempt to rank college basketball’s all-time best one-and-dones based on what they accomplished in their lone seasons at their respective schools.
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