The one year rule is win win for the colleges and the pros, or so it seems.

The colleges are benefiting from getting a year out of the guys who would have gone pro straight out of high school. (Would it be better for colleges if there was a two year rule or a three year rule? Sure. But the comparison is between the one year rule and the zero year rule.)

It's no fun losing your best guy after only one year if you are a college fan, but it is so much better than not having him at all. I'm glad we had Love, you know SC is glad they had Mayo, Ohio State is thankful for Oden, Texas loved having Durant ... these guys were all pros who made the last two college seasons much better than they would have been if those guys went straight to the league.

And the NBA is going to benefit as well.

I read this blog enough to believe that being an NBA fan (and I am) is a minority view. There are other NBA fans on BN, but there are more who don't like it or are indifferent.

But having our guys in the draft seems to have made a huge difference. Some of us want NBA jerseys, more are vowing to watch the Sonics and the Timberwolves and so on. That's exactly what the NBA wanted.

For a long time, the NBA benefited because the NCAA made stars of the players before they went into the league. Rookies were known, they had a following. That's what they wanted when the put in the one year rule. ESPN is again making stars of the college players.

Not only that, but the players/NBA are benefiting from college coaching. With Howland, I think it is obvious, because his focus on defense is a bit of an anomaly -- getting guys who play defense with the intensity of our guys is rare. But most of the players are getting something out of a year in college, no matter who they are playing for.

(A side note: You know how there is something slightly off about Kobe, something you can't quite put your finger on? I mean, you know he's great, but there is something about his attempt to be a great teammate that's slightly unnatural for him. It's the thing that separates him from Jordan ... and that thing is Jordan played three years for Dean Smith and learned to be a teammate and Kobe came straight into playing for Del Harris and never quite got that part of being a star.)