A few days ago we looked at the success of B1G teams over the last five years in B1G and NCAA tourney wins. Wiscy was 1, MSU 2, Mich and OSU were t-3, and IU was a pretty close 5, with Iowa and PU a distant 6 and 7. Any guesses at to how those teams stacked up with respect to (1) players who left early for the draft (even if they didn’t get drafted) and (2) years lost to early entrants? And since we were talking about success over the last five years, I’m referring to the offseasons that preceded those last five years. Answers to come soon…
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Here’s the rank of top B1G teams with what players left early for the pros over the last 5 offseasons, how many years of eligibility each players gave up, and the total players and years lost for the teams:
(1) Michigan - Darius Morris - 2 years, Trey Burke - 2 years, THJr - 1 year, Nik Stauskas - 2 years, GRIII - 2 years, Mitch McGary - 2 years.
Totals: 6 players, 11 years lost
(2) OSU - Jared Sullinger - 2 years, LaQuinton Ross - 1 year, DeShaun Thomas - 1 year, DeAngelo Russell - 3 years
Totals: 4 players, 7 years lost
(3) IU - Cody Zeller - 2 years, Oladipo - 1 year, Noah Vonleh - 3 years
Totals: 3 players, 6 years lost
(4) MSU - Gary Harris - 2 years
Totals: 1 player, 2 years
(5) Wiscy - Sam Dekker, 1 year
Totals: 1 player, 1 year
(6) PU - 0
(7) Iowa - 0
You can’t make too firm a conclusion on a small sample size, but it seems probable that Wiscy and MSU were able to keep their consistency versus Mich, OSU, and IU, because they had far few early entrants and lost far fewer years of eligibility from their most successful players.
It’s not just the top teams that were affected – Nebraska lost Pitchford and Pettaway after their junior years and had a much less successful year this year. Illinois lost Meyers Leonard for 2 years and probably could’ve used him for another two years.
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I wonder if we’ll have any in the next 5 years. I sure hope so.
Also: I hate MSU.
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I don’t know if it matters much. It’d be great to have guys like Trey and Nik, but if we have guys with careers like Yogi Ferrell or Denzel Valentine, that’s okay with me too. And as I said above, maintaining consistency can be hard with early entrants, especially if you’re not reloading with top 10 guys every year like Kentucky or Duke.
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Brice Johnson, Buddy Hield, Malcolm Brogdon, AJ Hammons, Taurean Prince…just give me more talent. It’s not ALL about having upperclassmen. It’s about talent + experience.
Izzo and Bo Ryan were masters of that sort of thing.
For sure, but Hield wasn’t the same Hield before this year, and would you have believed Trice would be MOP of a region after his sophomore of junior years?
…after Middle TN I don’t think I believe anything 
On Buddy - he was still real good as a soph & junior averaging 17ppg/5rpg (36-39% three).
On Brice - I think that’s what happens when you load up with athleticism. JMO
It would be interesting to see the numbers for UK, Duke contrasted with UCONN and Villanova.
Personally, I prefer the benefits of retention and experience. You get to watch the same guys for 3 or 4 years.
Michigan was really hurt recently because they were operating under a retain and develope system and got hit with Duke like turnover rates. It is hard to recruit for one style and then get hit with different results.
I agree. Beilein never anticipated his roster being gutted by early departures and it set him back. He’s a coach who believes he can develop players and who really values experience/basketball brain as an effective counter balance to one and done type talent. We can argue if that’s the best approach in general but I think it perfectly fits Beilein’s personality.
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Agree, but of the guys you listed, it literally took all of them a fair amount of time to become star players. As Michigan fans, we (or at least some of us) seem to always want “instant impact” guys. Those guys are not easy to find, and also tend to leave early.