College basketball teams are experiencing more year-by-year turnover than ever before due to graduation, players leaving early for the NBA Draft (click here for a list of 2015 NBA Draft early entries), and transfers galore (click here for an up-to-date list of college basketball transfers so far this off-season.) Here are five teams who missed the 2015 NCAA Tournament this season but should be dancing next year.
Here are five teams who made the tourney this year but are likely to regress in 2015-16. Also, check out my insanely early 2015-16 preseason Top 25 rankings.
Florida State
It’s difficult to make a move in such a competitive conference like the ACC, but the Noles have the pieces to do so. They bring back all five starters from a year ago including Xavier Rathan-Mayes who came on strong as the season progressed. Add in a top ten recruiting class composed of three highly skilled wings and FSU should make a charge into the upper half of the ACC standings.
Marquette
2014-15 was a transition season for first year head coach, Steve Wojciechowski as Marquette had a thin, depleted roster. Things will change next year as Wojo has locked down one of the top recruiting classes in the country led by McDonald’s All-American, Henry Ellenson who should be a program changer from day one. Add in the development of guys like Duane Wilson and Luke Fischer, and don’t be surprised if the Golden Eagles are one of the more improved teams in the country.
Michigan
A lot will depend on whether or not Caris LeVert returns for his senior but if he does, the Wolverines should have a big bounce back year. Everyone would return from an injury riddled team which would make the depth and skill across the roster extremely solid. Even if LeVert does declare for the draft, John Beilein returns enough talent to get Michigan back in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas A&M
Losing four of five to close out SEC play landed the Aggies on the wrong side of the bubble but that shouldn’t be the case next year. A&M returns their top three scorers led by versatile wings Danuel House and Jalen Jones, while also adding one of the top five recruiting classes in the country including a pair of talented big men. With the experienced Alex Caruso running the show, Texas A&M should be dancing for the first time in the Billy Kennedy era.
UConn
Assuming the roster remains in tact, only Ryan Boatright is gone from this year’s team. Boatright obviously played a major role for the Huskies but UConn has balance across the board and sophomore-to-be, Daniel Hamilton should make a major leap with his game. If freshman Jalen Adams can step in and take over at the point, UConn will compete for the American Crown and once again be tourney bound.
Vanderbilt
The young Commodores team finished with a .500 record in the SEC and continued to improve as the season progressed. With six of their top seven scorers returning and the addition of Cornell transfer, Nolan Cressler who should add some scoring on the wing, Kevin Stallings’ team should get back to the NCAA Tournament after a three-year hiatus.
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 Milwaukee 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), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.