One and Done: Banchero is 14th Frosh in Last 16 Years to Become 1st Pick

The newcomers are the latest not to give themselves sufficient time at the college level to amass one-for-the-books or one-for-the-ages career records. Paolo Banchero (Duke) was the 14th freshman in last 16 years to become first overall choice in NBA draft. But be careful out there with any focus on freshman fascination despite yearlings becoming first three picks this year! Greg Oden, the first pick in the 2007 NBA draft, scored a grand total of 30 playoff points in three injury-plagued campaigns compared to Kevin Durant, the second selection in the 2007 draft, dominating two of the last five NBA Finals and becoming all-time leading scorer for U.S. Olympic Team. Washington's Markelle Fultz, the first overall pick four years ago before inexplicably misplacing his shooting touch, averaged only 7.1 ppg in 14 contests as a rookie with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sacramento Kings have collected the most "one-and-done" draft selections with 14 but the underaged pros haven't helped them appear in NBA playoffs since 2006.

Incredibly, coach John Calipari's first 31 frosh defectors (4 with Memphis and 27 with Kentucky) became first-round picks in the NBA draft until UK forward Kahlil Whitney went undrafted two years ago. Manute Bol (Bridgeport CT) and Bol Bol (Oregon) represent the only father-son combination in this first-year category. An all-time record 16 first-round choices in 2017 are among the following alphabetical list of 231 freshmen and G-Men (three from G League each of last two years), only 36 hanging around long enough to become an All-American (five in 2017), leaving universities since troubled Dontonio Wingfield became the first major-college "one 'n done" frosh upon departing from Cincinnati in 1994:

NOTE: Manute Bol (DII Bridgeport in 1985) and Shawn Kemp (JC Trinity Valley in 1989) were the first two non-NCAA DI players selected as freshmen. Ledo did not play with PC for academic reasons.