4. Florida
The Gators lost five starters, including three lottery picks (Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah) and a fourth possible first-rounder (Taurean Green), but those were foregone departures. Seeing that in one crazy weekend at the beginning of June, Florida also appeared to be losing both its head coach and some of its top-ranked recruiting class, it emerged from the offseason in excellent shape. Billy Donovan's flip-flop after taking the Orlando Magic job wasn't a good PR move, but the result of it is that he's entrenched in Gainesville for at least the next five years. That's more than enough time for Donovan to build another contender.
5. Kansas
Strange offseason for the Jayhawks. Their most likely scenario was that guard Brandon Rush would leave for the NBA, while forwards Julian Wright and Darrell Arthur would remain in Lawrence. Arthur stayed. But Wright, who had said he wanted to play four years at KU and graduate, left early. Rush planned to leave, too -- then tore his ACL in a pick-up game the week before the predraft camp and was forced to return. As devastating as the knee injury had to be for Rush, the upside is that after rehab, he'll re-join Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins as part of the nation's No. 1 backcourt. And KU, once again, will have no reason for not reaching the Final Four.
Other winners: Virginia, for retaining guard Sean Singletary; VCU, for keeping coach Anthony Grant; Texas A&M, for hiring Mark Turgeon, keeping Joseph Jones and Gillispie's recruits; Memphis, for getting Chris Douglas-Roberts back and Washington State, for keeping Tony Bennett.
The Losers
1. Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets brought in a blockbuster recruiting class in 2006, with two five-star headliners in forward Thaddeus Young and point guard Javaris Crittenton. A year later, what does Tech have to show for it? A sixth-place finish in the ACC and a first-round loss to UNLV in the NCAA tournament. Young and Crittenton both went one-and-done to the NBA, but neither was ready to make the jump. That has been made clear by the fact that despite being major prospects, neither are guaranteed lottery picks in '07. Neither player was expected to become an upperclassman at Tech, but had Young and Crittenton stayed for their sophomore seasons, the Jackets could have contended for an ACC title.
2. West Virginia
The Mountaineers lost the college game's craftiest tactician, John Beilein, to Michigan after he took WVU to improbable heights with limited talent. They replaced him with Bob Huggins, the college game's most notorious recruiter of trouble-making talent. This should not be considered an improvement, regardless of Huggins' ties to the state.
