College basketball teams are experiencing more year-by-year turnover than ever before due to: graduation, players leaving early for the NBA Draft, and transfers galore; Here are five teams who made the 2013 NCAA Tournament this season but will likely take a step back next year and have their work cut out for them if they want to return to the Big Dance.
MIAMI HURRICANES
In winning the ACC regular season and conference tournament, the Canes were one of the most surprising teams in college basketball this past season. A big reason for that was due to the experience of having five seniors on the roster. With that being said, there will be a major re-building effort next season as Jim Larranaga tries to replace those seniors and possibly sophomore point guard Shane Larkin if he decides to leave for the NBA. If Larkin is back, Miami will be respectable next season but if he enters the draft, there will be a major drop-off for the Hurricanes.
N.C. STATE WOLFPACK
The Wolfpack is going through a pretty heavy transition on their roster right now. They lose Richard Howell and Scott Wood to graduation. C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown both declared for the NBA Draft. Rodney Purvis decided to transfer to UConn and there are rumblings that point guard Tyler Lewis could be following him out the door as well. T.J. Warren will be the man next year while LSU transfer Ralston Turner and McDonald’s All-American point guard Anthony Barber add some talent. The major concern for Mark Gottfried is depth. Assuming Lewis stays with the Wolfpack, there are only six scholarship players on the roster next college basketball season.
OREGON DUCKS
Dana Altman’s team was one of the surprises of the college basketball season, finishing second in the Pac-12, winning the conference tournament, and advancing to the Sweet 16. The Ducks lose their entire frontcourt though which accounted for 57% of the team’s scoring and 60% of Oregon’s rebounding. They will rely heavily on their sophomore backcourt of Dominic Artis and Damyean Doston and need to find some bodies to fill the void inside.
MISSOURI TIGERS
Frank Haith loses three of his top five scorers to graduation and this past week a pair of freshmen who figured to see quality minutes next season, Negus Webster-Chan and Dominique Bell, announced they were transferring. Phil Pressey, Jabari Brown, and Earnest Ross all return and Tulsa transfer Jordan Clarkson figures to make a significant impact as well. Mizzou only managed to earn a nine seed with a more talented roster this past season so I think Haith will have his work cut out if the Tigers are to get back to the tourney next year.
COLORADO STATE RAMS
The Rams became a major player in the Mountain West Conference, finishing in second place and earning their second straight trip to the big dance of college basketball. However, Larry Eustachy loses all five starters to graduation. The Rams will get guard Jesse Carr back after he missed all of this season with a torn ACL and junior guard Dwight Smith returns after redshirting but size will be an issue for Colorado State. As a result, a third consecutive appearance in the college basketball postseason is not likely.
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.
Follow paulmbanksThe post Five college basketball teams likely to regress next season appeared first on The Bank.