The college basketball offseason has passed the NBA Draft Deadline, the point when college stars choose to either stay in school or leave for a paycheck. Coaches can now look at their rosters and know what they do and don’t have for the coming season. Rosters are not as hypothetical as they were before the deadline. Freshmen are still mysteries, but coaches can look at sophomores, juniors and seniors and know that they can develop returning players and insert them around their freshmen to form more complete teams. Which teams improved and – on the other hand – lost out in these various declarations?
Michigan State Spartans
NBA Draft Deadline: Winner
There is Miles Bridges, and then there is everyone else. Bridges is the most elite player who stayed behind for another year of college basketball. No one else quite matches his impact and influence, so for that reason, Michigan State is the biggest winner of the draft deadline declarations. Bridges gets another year under Tom Izzo and can make a dramatic leap in his development. He will gain a much better understanding of what he can do, and as he learns what his teammates can do, he will be much more attentive to the team’s needs. This one returning player will have a ripple effect on how well the Spartans will do.
Texas A&M Aggies
NBA Draft Deadline: Winner
The Aggies were not sure if Robert Williams would return for a second season, but the strong scorer and rebounder chose another year in the Southeastern Conference instead of the NBA. This should enable Texas A&M to return to the NCAA Tournament after a disastrous 2017 season, which followed a run to the Sweet 16 in 2016. Williams is another highly influential player, which means that A&M’s outlook has been radically changed by this turn of events.
The Aggies are coming off a terrible season in SEC play. They finished just 8-10 in the SEC and 16-15 overall. Only five other teams had a worse record than them in the SEC this past season.
North Carolina Tar Heels
NBA Draft Deadline: Loser
The Tar Heels watched Joel Berry return to school, a big win, but they lost Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, their two best big men, to the NBA Draft. Surely, the third-best big man on the 2017 roster, Tony Bradley, was going to return. After all, Bradley played spot minutes in the NCAA Tournament and did not have a breakout game of any kind. Bradley played well in November of 2016 for the Tar Heels, but he receded into the background during the rest of the regular season and the postseason. His decision to go to the NBA Draft took a lot of people by surprise. North Carolina now has no proven big man in the middle, and it’s hard to see how that won’t matter… a lot.
Indiana Hoosiers
NBA Draft Deadline: Loser
The Hoosiers were big losers in terms of attrition and depth: They lost O.G. Anunoby, Thomas Bryant, and James Blackmon, Jr. to the NBA Draft. Their frontcourt will be much weaker, and their wing defense will be significantly damaged. New coach Archie Miller will recruit up a storm, but that probably won’t translate to big results until 2019.
The Hoosiers are coming off one of their worst seasons in a while. They finished just 18-16 overall. They were 7-11 in conference play and ended up 11th in Big Ten play. Only three other teams had a worse record in the conference.
USC Trojans
NBA Draft Deadline: Winner
The Trojans got the large number of returning pieces which Indiana did not get. Three players who conceivably could have gone to the NBA – Bennie Boatwright, Chimezie Metu, and Shaqquan Aaron – all returned to Los Angeles. Andy Enfield should have a Sweet 16-level team which will have an outside chance at competing for the Final Four. It could be the best USC basketball team since the 1992 team got a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans were a mid-tier team in the Pac-12 last season. Four other teams had a better record than them in the conference. They finished just 10-8 in Pac-12 play. However, they were 26-10 overall.
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