When an "off" year is an NIT championship, or an NCAA 8 seed, and 22-25 wins, I'll take it. When an "on" year is an appearance in the NCAA title game, I'll take that, too.
The one and dones are a mixed bag, but overall I think they're worth it. The one year each we had out of Conley, Oden, Cook, Koufos and Mullins were worth the schollys, and I think those teams would have accomplished less without them. The problem hasn't been the one and dones as much as it's been the lack of four year players.
In addition to transfers, note that Ron Lewis, Othello Hunter, PJ Hill, and Jeremie Simmons are players who were not/will not be in the program for four years. David Lighty will be Matta's first four year player, and possibly five year.
Matta's teams have needed leadership. Transfer Ron Lewis provided a lot of that in the NCAA run, and we saw the strength of a senior-laden team in Donovan's Florida squad that year. Note that he hasn't fielded anything close to that since, despite some pretty good recruiting classes.
Obviously, we won't have any one and dones next year, since you need to have some actual Freshmen. The 2010 class looks like a good one, but no one jumps out at me yet as an obvious one and done. We'll see how Sullinger develops.
Mostly, we've had the one and done guys at center, which is a high priority position for teams in the Association. Sarikopolis looks like a guy who will need to stick around and develop, but I think both he and Dallas will complete their eligibility here. Steady improvement from both will keep our center play solid.
The one and done who hurt the most was Conley. Cook's production was replaced by Turner and now Buford. Each Center replaced the other, so if any one of them had stayed, we'd be fine. You can't play three centers.
Of the three, Oden was by far the most talented and strongest contributor. If you could keep one, he'd be the guy.