And I then said that I doubted they would ever do that. I don't think they would in large part because I am not sure it would do much to press the NBA to change their rules, should they prove unwilling. In reality a Kevin Durant wouldn't be in street clothes at Texas, he would be in Europe or Asia earning a paycheck and making sure the NBA could see him play.
I also doubt the schools would see much difference in money...at least in aggregate. Sure Texas would have lost some fan interest had we not had Durant that one year and that team didn't make a Sweet 16, but I am not sure if other Texas teams might have had better records and tourney runs in many years by having a stable, more experience roster rather than cycling through rent-a-players. The biggest loss for Texas would be not having Durant as a big time booster, but the likelihood of Texas again drawing one of the Top 2 basketball players of any given era is pretty slim. I would be curious to see if more tickets were sold after the one-and-done rule was brought back compared to when the NBA took HSers.
I ultimately think the NCAA and NBA get on the same page and the NBA opens their draft to high school players again, but I doubt they will agree to rules like in baseball that require a college player to be 3 years removed from HS before being draft eligible again.