Any college basketball fan who knows their Elliot Cadeau from their Emeka Okafor can tell you a little about the bygone days of college basketball. Senior-laden squads. Hoops icons making their bones on college campuses. Some of sports’ biggest attractions, from Phi Slama Jama to the Flyin’ Illini to the Fab Five. It was a different time.

Today, we have social media and superstar recruits. College agents. NIL budgets and the transfer portal. And while the pendulum has swung too far, according to some, players are finally getting the louder voice and the bigger slice of the pie that they long deserved. Better? Worse? It all comes down to your perspective. But one thing is certain: College basketball has changed.

Programs now face annual rebuilds. Not the unlucky ones, those coming off sanctions or breaking in a new coach. All of them. One-and-done no longer refers only to players leaving college early for the NBA. It’s shorthand for any player who dabbles with a program for a year and, whether seeking more playing time, better developmental opportunities, or additional NIL money, decides after a season to move on to yet another.

What college basketball is left with is an annual bidding war for talent, yearly program reboots and pro-style budget and “free agency” concerns that require modern coaches to operate as team-building CEOs as much as........

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