Here's how the teams that lost lottery players did from last year vs. this year:
We're the only team to have a better conference record and the only team to get a better NCAA seed (Gonzaga matched and could not exceed). Context obviously matters (leagues are easier/harder, teams lost other guys, etc.), but take this as overwhelming evidence that it's really hard to lose a lottery talent and make forward progress as a program. But we did it. That's one of the main reasons I don't think this season was a failure.
| Player | Record With | Record Next Year | NCAA Tourny Seed WIth | NCAA Tourny Seed Next Year | Better or worse season? |
| Cade Cunningham | 21-9 (13-8) | 15-15 (8-10) | 4 | N/A | Way worse |
| Evan Mobley | 25-8 (16-6) | 26-7 (15-7) | 6 | 7 | Slightly worse (likely much worse NCAA result) |
| Scottie Barnes | 18-7 (12-5) | 17-14 (10-11) | 4 | N/A | Way worse |
| Jalen Suggs | 31-1 (17-0) | 27-3+ (15-1) | 1 overall | 1 overall | Slightly worse unless they win NCAAs |
| Franz Wagner | 23-5 (15-4) | 18-14+ (11-10) | 1 | 11 | Way worse. |
| Davion Mitchell | 28-2 (13-1) | 27-6+ (14-5) | 1 | 1 | Slightly worse unless they win NCAAs |
| Ziare Williams | 14-13 (10-11) | 16-16 (9-13) | N/A | N/A | Slightly worse |
| James Bouknight | 15-8 (12-7) | 23-10 (13-6) | 7 | 5 | Slightly better |
| Joshua Primo | 26-7 (19-2) | 19-13+ (9-10) | 2 | 6 | Way worse |
| Chris Duarte | 21-7 (15-5) | 20-14 (12-10) | 7 | N/A | Way worse |
We're the only team to have a better conference record and the only team to get a better NCAA seed (Gonzaga matched and could not exceed). Context obviously matters (leagues are easier/harder, teams lost other guys, etc.), but take this as overwhelming evidence that it's really hard to lose a lottery talent and make forward progress as a program. But we did it. That's one of the main reasons I don't think this season was a failure.
