This story appears in the Dec. 3, 2018, issue of Sports Illustrated. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine—and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.
Among the most important one-and-done players in this young college basketball season is a 23-year-old with 104 games of Division I experience, two first-team All-Pac-12 selections and a bachelor's degree in science, technology and society from what U.S. News & World Report ranks the country's seventh-best university. When power forward Reid Travis announced last June that after graduating from Stanford he would enroll at Kentucky for his final season of collegiate eligibility, he ignited instant national championship buzz by giving the young Wildcats—who were already adding four five-star freshmen to three of last season's five-star freshmen—the sort of experienced complement that their rosters of wunderkinder typically lack.