Winners And Losers Following Wednesday’s NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline

Now that the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline has come and gone, we have a much clearer picture of the college basketball landscape for the 2022-23 season.

In the big picture, it looks like the Blue Bloods — North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Duke — will once again be among the top teams going into next season, along with some of the so-called New Blue Bloods like Gonzaga and Baylor.

Here’s a look at the Winners and Losers after the deadline:

WINNERS

NORTH CAROLINA

Even though none of their players went up against Wednesday night’s deadline with their decision, it’s hard not to call the Tar Heels the big winners after they returned four starters from last year’s national runner-up: Armando Bacot Jr., Caleb Love, Leaky Black and R.J. Davis. Things would’ve been perfect for Hubert Davis’ group if they added Baylor transfer Matthew Mayer to replace the departed Brady Manek as a floor-spacing perimeter shooter, but Mayer chose Illinois instead.

After losing to Kansas in the NCAA championship game, the Tar Heels figure to be the preseason No. 1 in most polls. And they have the new NIL rules to thank for enabling players like Bacot to earn six-figure incomes in college.

GONZAGA

Mark Few’s program has made seven straight Sweet 16s and two of the last five national championship game appearances, and they will yet again be in the mix for a deep March Madness run after Wednesday and Thursday’s developments. Drew Timme, Julian Strawther and Rasir Bolton all announced they were withdrawing from the NBA Draft and returning to school. That trio accounted for 41.4 points last season. On Thursday, the Bulldogs also added top transfer Malachi Smith, putting them in the conversation for the preseason No. 1 spot.

CREIGHTON

Baylor Scheierman, one of the top transfers in the portal, announced last month he would transfer from South Dakota State to Creighton, but also entered his name in the NBA Draft and said he would go if just one team gave him a guarantee. Apparently none did as Scheierman (16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists) will join a team that also brings back Ryan Nembhard, Trey Alexander, Arthur Kaluma and Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Bluejays, who reached the Big East championship game last season, look like they have Final Four potential.

HOUSTON

Houston nearly beat Villanova in the Elite Eight last season without Marcus Sasser, (17.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists) and now the 6-2 guard returns for his senior season after playing just 12 games a year ago due to a foot injury. Besides Sasser, the Cougars return double-digit scorers Jamal Shead and Tramon Mark while bringing in five-star forward Jarace Walker and four-star forward Terrence Arceneaux.

MIAMI

Nijel Pack, who transferred from Kansas State, reportedly signed an NIL deal worth $800,000 over two years plus a car. That led current Miami guard Isaiah Wong (15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists) to threaten a transfer unless he was compensated similarly. Wong was also entered in the NBA Draft, but ultimately ended up staying at the ACC school. The Canes also have Jordan Miller, Anthony Walker and Arkansas State transfer Norchad Omier (17.9 points, 12 rebounds).

KANSAS

The reigning national champions lost Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun to the Draft, but got a double-dose of good news Wednesday when Jalen Wilson (11. points, 7.4 rebounds) announced he was withdrawing from the Draft and returning to Kansas, and defensive-minded Texas Tech guard Kevin McCullar (10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals) announced he was pulling out and transferring to Kansas. The Jayhawks could now run out a starting five of Wilson, McCullar, Dajuan Harris, Gradey Dick and Ernest Udeh and make another deep run.

USC

Andy Enfield’s club returns both 6-9 senior forward Drew Peterson (12.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists) and junior guard Boogie Ellis (12.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists) while bringing in five-star bigs Kijani Wright and Vince Iwuchukwu.

RICHMOND

Tyler Burton, a possible Atlantic 10 Player of the Year candidate, will return after averaging 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds as a junior.

GEORGE MASON

Josh Oduro, who averaged 17.7 points and 7.5 boards a year ago, returns for his senior season.

LOSERS

MICHIGAN

Freshmen Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate both announced on Wednesday that they will be remain in the Draft. Houstan, a Class of 2021 five-star recruit out of Montverde Academy (FL), averaged 10.1 points per game on 38.4% shooting for the Wolverines last season. He is projected to go 25th to the San Antonio Spurs according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Diabate, the second five-star in Michigan’s 2021 class, averaged 9.0 points per game on 54.2% shooting. The forward also hauled in 6 rebounds per game while putting up highlight-reel dunks. Michigan does bring in a strong recruiting class led by 6-4 guard Jett Howard, the son of coach Juwan Howard and the MVP of the recent Iverson Classic.

ARIZONA

Tommy Lloyd had a tremendous season in his first year at Arizona, but the Wildcats are now losing Bennedict Mathurin, Christian Koloko and Dalen Terry to the NBA Draft. Lloyd’s club will enter next season with a lot of question marks but will look something like the United Nations with eight international players from Estonia, Lithuania, France, Sweden, Mali and Serbia.

ARKANSAS

Eric Musselman has a six-player recruiting class ranked No. 2 nationally by 247Sports.com, but college basketball has become more about who you return and less about who you bring in. They are not returning 6-10 forward Jaylin Williams (10.9 points, 9.8 rebounds) after he opted to remain in the Draft despite being a projected second-round pick. Still, Musselman adds five new transfers and brings in three five-star freshmen in Nick Smith, Anthony Black, and Jordan Walsh.

MARQUETTE

Marquette’s Justin Lewis announced he will remain in the NBA Draft, depriving coach Shaka Smart of one of the Big East’s best players. The 6-foot-7 Baltimore native averaged 16.8 points and 7.9 rebounds during his second season at the Big East school. The 20-year-old is currently projected as the No. 44 pick in the June 23 NBA Draft by ESPN.com.

DUKE

It’s tough to call a school with the No. 1 recruiting class in both 2022 and 2023 a “loser,” but purely in terms of the Draft the Blue Devils are losing five players, including Trevor Keels, the freshman guard who announced his plans Wednesday. Had Keels come back for his sophomore season to join Jeremy Roach in the backcourt along with the incoming talent of Dariq Whitehead, Kyle Filipowski, Dereck Lively, Jaden Schutt and Christian Reeves, the Blue Devils would have been even more dangerous.