Simply put, the one-and-done rule is ruining college basketball.

Implemented in 2005, with the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement, the NBA and its players’ union agreed that prospects must be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from their high school graduation before they can declare for the NBA draft.

Since then, several college basketball players have starred at various universities for a year then made the leap, however, it has been diminishing the value of the athletic scholarship.

These players are taking seats in classes for one year that a normal student, who actually plans to be at the school for four years, could be using and it sets back his academic career.

College basketball needs to adopt a practice from its brother college football.

Football athletes are required to attend at least three years of college before they may enter the draft.

These athletes will have significantly higher levels of maturity and will be more prepared for the demanding lifestyle of a NBA player.

To push the age limit higher will also help the universities.

Several basketball powerhouses including Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA have several struggled because of players’ desire to play for one year and leave.

Since put in place, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, DeMarcus Cousins left their respective schools prematurely.

Their schools and other big-time schools have since struggled to recruit and build long-term success.

Thus leading to less talent in the NCAA Tournament, setting up a bizarre universe where teams like Butler and VCU could actually be contending for a title.

So what if we won’t have the LeBrons‘, the John Walls and the Derrick Roses’ anymore.

Instead we will have well-rounded college athletics that are prepared to begin a professional career.

But at the same time, college may not be for everyone, which is why athletes need to be able to explore other possibility like Brandon Jennings for example.

Instead of accepting offers from Arizona, UConn, Kansas, Kentucky or USC, he decided to skip college to play professional basketball in Europe for Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A.

Jennings later became the first player who skipped college to play professional basketball in Europe to be drafted by an NBA team since the rule was put into place after he was the No. 14 pick to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Or players can explore the route taken by Latavious Williams.

Williams was the 17th overall prospect in the 2009 recruiting class by Rivals.com. He had several offers from schools such has Memphis, Kansas State, Georgetown, and Florida International but he had trouble qualifying academically.

He later became the first player to be drafted out of high school by the NBA D-League after the Tulsa 66ers selected him.