A good chuck of draft ready football players are probably taking the year off instead of starting late and risking injury closer to the drafts, what about basketball? Not sure if UCLA has any one and dones who might not risk it either?
I don't think you'll see the same thing happening in basketball that you are in football. Part of it has to do with the schedule, specifically that the NBA Draft isn't until June (usually, though obviously not this year), while the NFL had yet to indicate it is even considering moving its draft from April. The physicality difference plays a factor here as well, along with the fact that basketball players do actually have non-college options they could do prior to being draft-eligible (think Daishen Nix choosing to go the G-League route rather than UCLA).
For UCLA in particular, there isn't much need to worry. They don't have anyone who would really be considered a one-and-done, and they're short on clear draft prospects this coming year. Chris Smith will obviously be gone afterwards, but nothing about Smith indicates he's considering sitting out the year. Cody Riley and Jalen Hill are the only other guys who would be considering jumping after next year, and both of them need to have a good year to make that a possibility, so that's out as well.
Another thing to consider with basketball is a pretty large percentage of the high-tier draft prospects are freshmen, and I'd imagine they'd be more motivated to add actual collegiate games to their film as opposed to driving by chairs in an empty gym. There are very few basketball prospects that would have had tape as good as a Ja'Marr Chase or Penei Sewell that are still around, as most guys declare as soon as the NBA shows interest. The guys with high-level film are generally the Cassius Winstons of the world, but he's not really considered a top-flight prospect so I don't think he'd be motivated to sit out either. So I agree that basketball is a much safer bet to retain their talent.
A good chuck of draft ready football players are probably taking the year off instead of starting late and risking injury closer to the drafts, what about basketball? Not sure if UCLA has any one and dones who might not risk it either?
I don't think you'll see the same thing happening in basketball that you are in football. Part of it has to do with the schedule, specifically that the NBA Draft isn't until June (usually, though obviously not this year), while the NFL had yet to indicate it is even considering moving its draft from April. The physicality difference plays a factor here as well, along with the fact that basketball players do actually have non-college options they could do prior to being draft-eligible (think Daishen Nix choosing to go the G-League route rather than UCLA).
For UCLA in particular, there isn't much need to worry. They don't have anyone who would really be considered a one-and-done, and they're short on clear draft prospects this coming year. Chris Smith will obviously be gone afterwards, but nothing about Smith indicates he's considering sitting out the year. Cody Riley and Jalen Hill are the only other guys who would be considering jumping after next year, and both of them need to have a good year to make that a possibility, so that's out as well.
Another thing to consider with basketball is a pretty large percentage of the high-tier draft prospects are freshmen, and I'd imagine they'd be more motivated to add actual collegiate games to their film as opposed to driving by chairs in an empty gym. There are very few basketball prospects that would have had tape as good as a Ja'Marr Chase or Penei Sewell that are still around, as most guys declare as soon as the NBA shows interest. The guys with high-level film are generally the Cassius Winstons of the world, but he's not really considered a top-flight prospect so I don't think he'd be motivated to sit out either. So I agree that basketball is a much safer bet to retain their talent.