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NCAA Basketball: Biggest winners and losers of 2019 offseason

By Brian Rauf

PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 26: Head coach Dana Altman yells at Payton Pritchard (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - NOVEMBER 26: Head coach Dana Altman yells at Payton Pritchard (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after his teams 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after his teams 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Winner: Virginia

The national champs just keep winning! In reality, Virginia qualifies as an offseason winner for me because of the way they’ve been able to parlay that national championship into success this offseason.

While De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy, and Ty Jerome all left school as expected, Mamadi Diakite opted to return and should give the Cavs a force in the middle. They also landed perhaps the best sit-out transfer on the market in Sam Hauser, who will be eligible for the 2020-21 season after averaging 14.9 points and 7.2 rebounds for Marquette last season.

Tony Bennett has also been able to find success on the 2020 recruiting trail, landing a pair of top 55 prospects already in Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Reece Beekman. That class (No. 135 prospect Carson McCorkle committed as well) is already ranked No. 4 in the country.

Next. Most overrated, underrated teams in preseason AP poll. dark

Virginia and the other offseason winners on this list now have to go out and turn that into actual success on the court, while the offseason losers have to prove they’re able to outperform expectations.

That said, the winners on this list have put themselves in a better position to be successful as the losers have done the opposite.

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