NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest winners and losers from 2021 NBA Draft decisions

This NCAA Basketball offseason has been unique in so many ways, in terms of the new rules regarding both the transfer portal and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). We’ve also had to deal with the deadlines regarding players entering and leaving the NBA Draft, due to the league’s 2020-21 season being moved a month later due to the pandemic.

So July 7th was the deadline this time around for players who had entered the NBA Draft to come back. And that’s a week later from the deadline for NCAA Basketball players to officially enter the portal and remain eligible for the following season without having to sit out.

Add to it that players also had an extra year of eligibility offered to them by the NCAA due to the pandemic, it made for a storm of many decisions from the best players this late in the offseason. Dozens of programs had little clue of what the rosters look like, with not many options to replace them had they entered the draft.

But as the deadline passed by midnight, we got plenty of quality news involving a number of quality players coming back. Add a bunch of 5th-year seniors taking advantage of the extra year and a quality incoming freshmen class, you have a ton of talent that should make the 2021-22 season one to potentially remember.

This piece will focus on the early entrant NBA Draft decisions, with some programs clearly “winning” while others were on the losing end. In terms of who left, I opted not to mention true seniors moving on such as Jose Alvarado of Georgia Tech or Corey Kispert of Gonzaga.

Here’s a countdown of the 10 biggest winners and losers.