Love it or hate it, Cal and Duke are really the only ones to embrace the OaD philosphy - 2 NC's in the history of CBB does not do much to support the model, especially considering the lack of success compared to the amount of talent.
Now, if you want to read some more on the history of Super Freshmen (or OaD) teams, here is a little longer read.
The 1992 Michigan Fab 5 experiment proved what most coaches already believed - no matter how great their talent, any team led mostly by freshmen would eventually let you down against more experienced teams. That 1992 Michigan team did come close (falling short in the NC game), but when they fell short again the next year in the 1993 NC game (as sophomores), again due to inexperience (and a costly turnover by taking a timeout that they did not have) we thought the issue was settled.
And it was, for a while - few coaches intentionally loaded up with freshmen talent - no matter how good they were, a team made up primarily of freshmen was considered a rebuilding year... that is, until Ohio State in 2007. That team had the #1, #13, #21, and #31 freshmen prospects with 3 of them in the starting lineup and the leading scorer, #1 freshman Greg Oden. But, like Michigan over a decade earlier, that team also fell short in the NC game. Thad Matta continued to dabble in super freshmen off and on at Ohio St. over the next decade or so, but he never had more than two super frosh on his teams after that. I don't know him or Oh St basketball well enough to say whether it was by intent or if he just couldn't attract that much elite talent again, but they never posed a NC threat after 2007. Ohio St did make it to the 2012 Final Four, but that team didn't have any freshmen in the regular rotation.
Perhaps it was that freshmen led 2007 Ohio St. team that inspired John Calipari's vision to build OaD teams when Thad Matta beat his Memphis Tigers by 16 points in the Elite 8. The next year, Calipari would bring in the #3 prospect Derrick Rose and the #48 Jeff Robinson (who didn't turn out to be that good), but Cal fell short in the 2008 NC game (are you noticing a trend yet?). Undeterred, he brought in the #3, #38, and #78 freshmen the next year, but fell in the sweet 16. If only he had a bigger platform than Memphis to draw in more super frosh, maybe his vision would succeed - he just needed more top 5 prospects.
As chance would have it, Kentucky was not satisfied with their recent hire and Cal would get the chance he had been waiting for. He left Memphis with a top class of freshmen and OaD's who followed him to start his new career at UK for the 2009/2010 season. The super frosh experiment was now truly reborn. But, that first class, combined with quite a few experienced players, fell in the Elite 8.
The next year, 2011, another top class of freshmen with a light mix of experience would fall in the Final Four. Now it was clear, all he needed was more freshman NBA talent and fewer experienced 4 year CBB players.
Then, 2012 happened - Cal's best class of freshmen so far with a light mix of experience finally broke through the National Championship ceiling for Freshman led teams! 3 freshmen started and in a tight 7 man rotation, 4 of the main players were freshmen.
But if 2012 was the peak of the freshmen party, then 2013 was a hangover season. Even when the #1 recruit (Noel) went down with injury, there was still a very good class of freshmen on that team, but there just wasn't enough experience leftover to make the NCAA tournament in 2013 (or, there wasn't enough freshman NBA talent in reserve, depending on which lens you are looking through).
In an attempt to never be caught short of great talent again, Cal brought in the greatest class of freshmen ever assembled for the 2013/2104 season with #2, #5, #6, #9, #10, and #18 ranked prospects along with two more very good unranked freshmen. That is SIX top 20 freshmen and 2 more good ones to boot! After struggling all season with freshmen mistakes, they eventually put things together for a NCAAT run, but lost in the final game (still seeing that NC game trend?).
Similar to the Fab 5, the core of that group returned for their sophomore year, and added another haul of OaD type talent (#5, #12, #18, #23 freshmen combined with 4 top 20 sophomores, a top 40 junior, and two very good backup roll players just in case); this is arguably the best CBB team ever assembled, but this talented 2015 class of freshmen and sophomores fell short again, this time in the Final Four with a pile of inexplicable mistakes and shot clock violations at the end of the game (and, perhaps, a few bad calls). In a year that should have been a coronation, a mere formality, crowning UK with their 9th Title, Duke walked away the new king of OaD's and the National Championship in 2015.
The OaD model of Duke and UK has only one Final Four appearance since then.
Duke joins the party:
After witnessing Calipari's "success", Coach K decided to adopt the Calipari model for the 2014/2015 season and he won it all! With that kind of immediate success, Duke has been all in on OaD's since then with no signs of letting up, arguably outdoing Cal and Ky in the super freshmen race, but, like Ky, Duke has had similar lackluster results with their OaD approach since 2015 (with a lone Final Four run in 2022).
Sweet 16's and a couple of Elite 8's with an occasional early 1st or 2nd round exit, and missing the NCAA tournament altogether now and then might be accepatable and even considered a winning stretch for most Power 5 teams, but it is underwhelming for bluebloods that can usually sleep walk their way to an Elite 8. If you aren't in the Final Four regularly, you aren't really in the hunt for a National Title every year.
Since 2016 (perhaps excluding the 2021/2022 season), Cal continued to chase super freshmen and has fielded mostly freshmen dominated teams, but for whatever reason (FBI investigation, the loss of World Wide Wes, bad luck, poor prospect evaluation, poor development,injuries, busts,...?....you choose), Cal has not quite been able to get the same class of top OaD's every year like he did in his first few years.
Meanwhile, other teams with more experience and less OaD talent, have continued to win Championships the traditional way. Why did the OaD model work so well for a few short years? Was it a fluke? Maybe in the future, we can gain some perspective on what elements came together to result in the perfect storm. Or, maybe things will turn around and start favoring super freshmen laden teams again?
In the meantime, we know that in 2021/2022 Cal had his most experienced team at UK with a lot of transfers, only one OaD, and a couple of highly ranked freshmen that did not play up to their billing. But, that didn't end well either.....
The 2022/2023 Ky team will also be experienced with several of the core players returning, including the NPOY, a high profile transfer, and a couple of top freshmen likely playing the biggest roles, so we will see if this is a new winning formula.
But watch out for the 2023 class and even the 2024 class - Calipari seems to be going all in on freshmen once again! Since that is the only approach that has ever led to much tourney success for him, maybe we should embrace it while he is here - it might be the best way for Cal to win.