It's One and Done, but They Still Made It Fun

SAN ANTONIO

It was the longest and, probably the most heartfelt, hug of the handshake line. Kevin Love found Derrick Rose waiting for him after he had received congratulations from the rest of Rose's Memphis teammates. There were some whispered words of good luck, a warm embrace and an extra handshake before they parted.

"You're a winner," Rose said. "Keep your head up."

"You are, too," Love answered.

If this had been a Rocky movie, Rose might have added, "Ain't gonna be no rematch." To which Love would have replied, "Don't want one."

Of course they will meet again, just not in a college basketball game. A year from now, they will be in the NBA, very wealthy young men who will no doubt talk about the time they faced one another in the 2008 Final Four.

Everyone in the Alamodome on Saturday night knew Love had just played his last game in a UCLA uniform when the buzzer sounded in Memphis's 78-63 victory in the opening semifinal. Just as certainly everyone will know Monday night that Rose's college career is over regardless of the outcome of the championship game.

Here today, gone tomorrow -- that is the way it is with today's truly great players.

It would be wonderful if we could watch Rose and Love for another three years at this level, not to mention players such as Indiana's Eric Gordon, Southern Cal's O.J. Mayo and Kansas State's Michael Beasley -- all freshmen who almost undoubtedly will be NBA rookies this fall. It would be great to get to know them better as people, to watch them grow and mature and become comfortable as public figures. By the time Grant Hill graduated from Duke in 1994 after playing in three Final Fours, most college basketball fans felt as if he was an adopted son.

But today's reality is that no one wants to wait to get rich anymore than anyone wants to wait for a dial-up Internet connection. That's why the silly and self-righteous people who have whined about the one-and-done rule created two years ago by the NBA should quiet down. College athletes who are good enough to play on the pro level have been leaving as early as allowed for a long time now. Moses Malone skipped college altogether in 1974.

And, in spite of all the NCAA hypocrisy about "student-athletes," kids such as Love and Rose and many, many others are basketball players. If they really want college degrees someday, they will have the opportunity to get them.