SAN ANTONIO — In 1999, I was courtside when Duke played Connecticut in the N.C.A.A. championship game. On the floor were four first-round N.B.A. draft picks and five others who would go on to have solid-to-spectacular professional careers. Guys like Elton Brand and Richard Hamilton and Shane Battier.

When Villanova meets Michigan here on Monday, the pro pickings are going to be much slimmer. The Wildcats’ Mikal Bridges is a likely lottery pick next year, and his teammate Jalen Brunson is projected to go late in the first round. The Wolverines’ Moritz Wagner should go in the second round and might grow into a solid N.B.A. player.

So what happened to college basketball?

Yes, the upsets in the early rounds of the N.C.A.A. tournament were entertaining, and the evolution of Loyola-Chicago from lovable underdogs to genuine contenders captured the imagination of the nation. But wasn’t this just more evidence of a massive talent drain in the collegiate ranks?

Have one-and-doners robbed the game of its majesty? Have slick coaches who have treated them like mercenaries, and the assistants coaches that have been linked to a vast federal investigation into recruiting improprieties, drained any honor out of the label student-athlete? Has the N.B.A., and its rosters stocked with international stars, appropriated America’s game as its own and transformed it into a global entertainment product?