Watching a replay of SEC Storied on the SEC Network that documents the back to back national titles of Billy Donovan's 2006-07 team of future NBA first rounders Joaquin Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford stand on the podium after the first title and tell the crowd they were all coming back to win another one is pretty incredible. They stayed in school just to win another title together when they could have all been NBA millionaires and it was pretty incredible that they did it. They passed on the money and still pulled off the back to back NCAA championships. It was unique at the time in college basketball and increasingly seems like a feat that might not ever be redone.... not so much by a school but by the same core group of returning players. The program is a repeater so it's worth watching if you're a college basketball fan.
With the new rules I wonder how many of the one and done kids will pass on college and go directly to the NBA. I forget exactly but I think even kids who aren't like the current Duke/Kentucky one and done kids who are all going to be lottery picks, can by pass college and at least play in the NBA minor leagues for a salary.
The way the rules have changed and seeing how instantly rich the one and dones become when drafted it's hard to imagine that there will ever be kids like those kids in the spring of 2007 at UF announcing they were passing that up for another year of fun winning a national championship together. There was also 3 point sharpshooter Lee Humphrey and guard Taurean Green on that team who both did make money playing pro ball. Considering today's environment of sitting out the bowl games etc. it's pretty special what Noah, Brewer and Horford decided collectively that spring.