Mark Story: When the time comes, should UK retire jerseys for one-and-done players?

Watching the University of Kentucky's ceremony to retire the No. 00 basketball jersey of Tony Delk two Saturdays ago, my mind wandered to the future.

When the time comes, should Kentucky retire jerseys for star players who have been one-and-done at UK? After all, the pre-eminent players of the current era of Kentucky basketball — Anthony Davis, John Wall etc. — have logged only one season in blue and white.

Some will argue an academic institution should not reward those whose time in school is measured in mere months. Others will wonder if it is disrespectful to those who put four years of sweat equity into the Kentucky program to give the highest honor the athletics department can bestow to those who played only one season.

There is time for UK to think through the path it wants to take. Since Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart initiated the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005, there is a waiting period before a Wildcats sports figure can be considered for a retired jersey.

Five years after a person has departed Kentucky, they are eligible for selection to UK's Hall of Fame. A committee that includes former UK letter winners, some media members and athletics department staff members does the selecting.

To have a jersey retired, one must have been gone from Kentucky for 10 years, and must first have been chosen for UK's Hall of Fame.

The first class of John Calipari-era, one-and-done players — Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton — departed UK in 2010.

According to the university, the criteria considered for Hall of Fame/retired jerseys is "athletic and academic accomplishments of the individual while at UK, as well as post-UK accomplishments and character."

So, when the time comes, should Kentucky honor one-and-done players with retired jerseys?

The answer should be yes.

Kentucky set the precedent of retiring jerseys for athletes who turn pro early when UK honored both former football star Tim Couch and basketball star Jamal Mashburn at a time when neither had graduated. Both 1990s-era Kentucky sports stars turned pro after their third years of college.

To me, it comes down to this. You look at the achievements of each player independent of how long they played at Kentucky.

In his UK career, Davis was the best player on the team that captured the 2012 NCAA championship. He won every major national player of the year award. In the summer after he left UK, he was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft and won an Olympics gold medal. Davis has already become an NBA All-Star.

One-year player or four-year player, that is a résumé worthy of a retired jersey.

The same, I think, is true of Wall.

In his one season at UK, Wall was the best player on a team that went 35-3. He was a consensus first-team All-American, the USBWA National Freshman of the Year and the SEC Player of the Year. In the summer after he departed UK, Wall became the first ex-Kentucky player ever taken No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft.

He's gone on to become an NBA All-Star and to win an NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Much as Mashburn enabled Rick Pitino's quick revitalization of Kentucky basketball in the 1990s, Wall played a similar role for Calipari.

That merits a retired No. 11 jersey in Rupp.

After those two, it gets interesting.

Brandon Knight is the top scorer (657 career points) among Calipari-era one-and-dones. He hit two game-winning shots in the 2011 NCAA Tournament that helped send Kentucky to its first Final Four since 1998. Is that alone worthy of a retired jersey?

What about Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a consensus second-team All-American who just oozed positive intangibles for the 2012 national champions?

Then there is Julius Randle, who averaged a double-double (15 ppg, 10.4 rpg) for a team that reached the 2014 NCAA title game. Or DeMarcus Cousins, also a consensus second-team All-American, who almost averaged a double-double (15.1 ppg, 9.9 rpg) in 2009-10.

With players whose one year achievements at UK may not quite merit a retired jersey, how much weight do you give to post-Kentucky success?

The easy part of this question is, yes, one-and-done players should be eligible at the appropriate time to have their jerseys retired in Rupp Arena.

After Davis and Wall, the hard part is determining which jerseys it should be.

This story was originally published February 28, 2015 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Mark Story: When the time comes, should UK retire jerseys for one-and-done players?."