If I was a college basketball coach in some alternate universe or other life, I would run my program like Marquette has over the past decade.

The Golden Eagles have not had to worry about players leaving early for the NBA Draft, making their off-seasons much less stressful. It is the best for everyone involved. The coaches don’t have to recruit for two classes, returning players know what their role is going to be, and the fans can relax – which obviously is the most important of the three.

Since 2000, Marquette has had one player leave early to pursue a career in the NBA. It was Dwyane Wade, and it was a no-brainer. He pretty much had to go after the 2002-03 season. There was no doubt Wade would be a lottery pick, which means he had to make the jump while he had the guaranteed chance.

Imagine that happening to a program every single year, one player every April having to make that decision, and most of the time choosing to go to enter the NBA Draft.

At some schools it happens on a much larger scale. As long as John Calipari is head coach at Kentucky, at least one player will leave after his freshman season, and a sophomore or junior is likely to do the same. This season, only Archie Goodwin is leaving early, but there could be anywhere from four to eight Kentucky players that declare early for the 2014 NBA Draft.

I don’t even know how much Calipari actually has to recruit. If a player knows he is only going to play one year of college basketball, I’m sure Kentucky is one of the first schools in his head. Then, Calipari comes along, and there isn’t even that much work left for him to do.

As a member of the media – that sounds really snobby – I would be frustrated if I had to cover that team. If I was a big fan of the Wildcats, while they win, I would be annoyed. How would I be able to build any type of relationship with a player? Am I supposed to get to know new guys every single year? The success every year would definitely make up for all those things, but I would still be annoyed.

It’s difficult to recruit top-ranked talent in college basketball nowadays without that talent wanting to bolt to the NBA after one season. Marquette is doing that. Current head coach Buzz Williams is doing it, and Tom Crean did it when he brought in Dominic James, Wesley Matthews, and Jerel McNeal.

There could be an argument that they just recruit players that aren’t good enough to leave early, and that certainly is a possibility. But in college basketball’s current state, to have the consistent success Marquette has without having players leave early every year is impressive.

This year is different for Marquette, as Vander Blue apparently is still working on deciding whether to leave early. Still, one player every ten years or so is fine.

If I ever become a college basketball head coach, that’s how I’d run my program. Unfortunately, if that ever did happen, I probably wouldn’t get the results to last three years at any school.

Oh well, back to writing.