NCAA Basketball: Biggest losers from extended 2020 NBA Draft deadline

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 01: Ty-Shon Alexander #5 of the Creighton Bluejays reacts after making a basket against the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Wells Fargo Center on February 1, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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PALO ALTO, CA – FEBRUARY 28: CJ Elleby #2 of the Washington State Cougars (Photo by Cody Glenn/Getty Images) /

With the extended NBA Draft deadline now passed, which NCAA Basketball teams should be considered overall “losers”?

But on August 3rd, the NCAA Basketball world finally had full clarity. Some teams were winners at the NBA Draft deadline (not including the likes of Tennessee, Gonzaga, and LSU who all got big-time players back Monday), but some teams watched as their stars took a different route and left for the pros. Here’s a look at some of the biggest losers of the deadline.

*note this doesn’t include teams like Duke, Florida State, Memphis etc. who lost players that were never on the fence about staying

Honorable mentions

Washington State

In his two years at Washington State, CJ Elleby established himself as a prolific scorer. However, the Cougars couldn’t build around him as they finished second to last in the Pac-12 the last few seasons. Elleby then made a somewhat surprising decision to enter the draft. He’s likely to go undrafted and the Cougars should be near the bottom of the conference again.

Delaware

The Blue Hens were looking to make strides after an impressive 22-11 season. But now they’ll have a major void to fill after Nate Darling elected not to return for his senior season. Darling transferred in from Alabama-Birmingham and put up 21 points per game on 39.9% shooting from deep. At 6’5, I think he’s got a chance to be a quality G-League player with his shooting upside.

Nevada

Jalen Harris was one of the breakout stars of the Mountain West averaging 21.7 points per game in his first season in Reno. Harris has shown steady growth over his three-year career, consistently bumping his scoring numbers up. At the NBA level, he’s got some intrigue as a combo guard that can score at all three levels. He’s a top 80 guy to me. The Wolfpack will miss his services but Harris seems ready to start his pro career.

Wisconsin

Despite not having any of their players enter the NBA Draft, the Badgers are here as victims of outside circumstances. A month ago, it appeared Illinois would for sure lose Ayo Dosunmu and Iowa might lose Luka Garza. If that had happened, the Badgers would be the consensus favorites to win the Big Ten again.

But Dosunmu returned, as did his teammate Kofi Cockburn for the Illini. Garza is back for Iowa too. I still have faith in the Badgers and believe they can win the Big Ten, but their path got a lot harder.

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