In 2006, Ohio State landed arguably the most decorated high school basketball recruit since Lew Alcindor.

Greg Oden, along with prep teammate Mike Conley and their AAU teammate Daequan Cook, chose the Buckeyes over everybody.

The reality was, all three would have chosen the NBA over college, just like LeBron, T-Mac and Kobe, but the NBA had just instituted an age-limit rule that forced high school players to spend at least one year somewhere else before declaring for the draft.

With Oden as the centerpiece, Ohio State rode four freshmen all the way to the 2007 national championship game.

The one-and-done era was born, and it was a smash hit out of the gate … well, until the veteran Florida Gators swarmed the Young Bucks to win their second consecutive national championship.

Days after the confetti fell on Florida, Oden, Conley and Cook declared for the 2007 NBA Draft. Oden went No. 1 to Portland. Conley went No. 4 to Memphis and Cook No. 21 to Philadelphia.

Save three years to start the 1960s, Ohio State has never had it better than that stretch from Signing Day to Final Four.

The Buckeyes’ blueprint set the new standard that college basketball’s true blue bloods soon tried to perfect.

John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski have spent most of the past decade landing elite class after elite class, then turning everything over to the teens and hoping for the best. One or the other has won the past 10 recruiting titles.

Here’s the rub. It hasn’t worked.

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Just twice in the 11 tournaments since the NBA created the one-and-done has a team led by freshmen won a national title.

Kentucky did it in 2012.

Duke did it in 2015.

That’s it. That’s the list.

In both cases, those teams had a team-first point guard willing to get everybody else involved.

In most cases, these heralded freshman classes arrive and it’s a foot-race to declaration day. They don’t want to share headlines, much less the basketball. And defense? Krzyzewski has spent more time in the past three years complaining about his team’s loose interpretation defense than he did in his first 35 at Duke combined. And while these rental teams have enough sheer talent to do some damage, their lack of teamwork, poise and experience usually rears its ugly head in the NCAA Tournament.

Assuming they get there. Twice in this era, Kentucky has failed to make the NCAA Tournament. They’re in danger of adding to that again in 2018.

And yet the chase for one-and-done talent repeats itself each year.

UNC wins by losing on Signing Day? Oddly, yes

North Carolina just lost out on the Zion Williamson sweepstakes.

Just like it lost out on the Jabari Parker sweepstakes, the Brandon Ingram sweepstakes and the Dennis Smith sweepstakes.

Signing day matters so much more in college football because eventually those elite freshmen become 5-star juniors and seniors. That's almost never the case any more in basketball. The result is, you get 22-year-old men playing against 18-year-old boys.

The Tar Heels haven’t signed a single top-5 recruit since landing Harrison Barnes, the No. 1 player in the 2010 class.

Duke (10) and Kentucky (7) Duke have combined to sign 17 since then.

It’s not for a lack of trying or brand recognition. The Legend of Jumpman began in Chapel Hill, after all.

Roy Williams has bemoaned the fact that he hasn’t been able to compete on signing day. Everybody knows why.

It’s ironic that as severely as the prolonged NCAA saga handicapped his ability to sign the nation’s best high school players, the unintended benefit was that it allowed Williams to develop some of the nation’s best teams.

Why? His recruits stayed on campus a lot longer than Duke and Kentucky’s. In some cases, three years longer.

Twice in the one-and-done era, North Carolina has ridden less-heralded veterans to the national championship. UNC has reached three national championship games in nine years, including the past two — the two most directly impacted by the NCAA investigation.

Without the scandal, who knows?

Without the scandal, North Carolina lands Ingram, who was from Kinston, a UNC pipeline, and played on Jerry Stackhouse’s AAU team. Without the scandal, it likely lands Smith, whose above-the-rim style was a natural pairing with the high-flying UNC dunkers of years’ past.

But without the scandal, it’s fair to wonder how those ball-dominant players would have fit in on two teams that proved they could make it to the final Monday night of the college basketball season. After all, Ingram won all of one NCAA Tournament game at Duke, and Smith couldn’t even lead N.C. State to the NCAA Tournament.

While Calipari and Krzyzewski (and on occasion, others) are chasing and landing one-and-dones, Williams and the veterans have gotten it done by following more of a build-and-develop mid-major approach.

Signing day hasn’t been nearly as much fun, but signing day matters so much more in college football because eventually those elite freshmen become 5-star juniors and seniors.

That’s almost never the case any more in basketball. The result is, you get 22-year-old men playing against 18-year-old boys.

Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

It’s no coincidence that in the 11 NCAA Tournaments featuring one-and-dones, six mid-majors reached the Final Four, matching their output from the previous two decades (and that’s graciously including heavyweight programs like UNLV and Marquette as a mid-major during the 20-year stretch).

Memphis, Butler (twice) and Gonzaga played in the national championship game in the one-and-done era. True, Derrick Rose was the freshman sensation on that 2008 Memphis team, but he was surrounded by four talented upperclassmen and he wasn’t the Tigers’ leading scorer.

Time and again, we’ve seen graybeards get to the final Monday and cut down the nets.

The kids aren’t just leaving school early, they’re leaving the NCAA Tournament early. And that’s leaving a lot more teams with an opportunity, teams like South Carolina last year, which reached its first Final Four behind senior Sindarius Thornwell.

Auburn’s nearly unprecedented rise this season? Trace it to their five leading scorers: two juniors and three sophomores, nary a freshman to be seen. They combined for 71 of Auburn’s 76 points in the 10-point victory over Kentucky on Wednesday night.

Neither Auburn nor South Carolina sniffed a top 10 recruiting class recently.

None of this is to suggest that signing day is irrelevant, or that fans shouldn’t be excited when a freakish talent the caliber of Williamson picks your campus to spend nine months.

But if the one-and-done era has proven anything, it’s that far more often than not, these kids will be done and gone before they’ve won much of anything.

Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports