Between the transfer market, traditional high school recruiting, summer workouts, foreign tours and all the other commitments required of coaches, there isn’t much of an offseason in modern college basketball. But with the dawn of a new academic year, the 2023 player movement cycle has nearly concluded, bringing the upcoming 2023-24 season into focus.
A few transfers, such as new Kansas State commitment Ques Glover, dragged their recruitments into mid-August. It’s also a normal practice for international prospects such as recent UCLA commitment Aday Mara to sign in August as programs look to fill out some of their remaining scholarship slots.
For the most part, though, the offseason — perhaps free agency is a more appropriate term in 2023 — has concluded. It won’t be long before official practices are fired up and preseason polls and predictions start rolling off the presses.
Before we get there, let’s take a look back at the “offseason” and determine who the winners and losers have been in college basketball since UConn celebrated its national title in Houston on April 3.
Winner: Duke scores continuity
Continuity is a significant but increasingly rare trait in college basketball, and Duke ranked No. 337 in KenPom’s continuity metric last season, as guard Jeremy Roach was the team’s only returning rotation player. A great offseason ensured the Blue Devils will climb the continuity charts in coach Jon Scheyer’s second season. Five members of the Blue Devils’ No. 1 ranked 2022 recruiting class chose to return for their sophomore seasons. Three of them — Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell — likely would have been drafted. Their returns speak to the foundation established by Scheyer, who also landed the nation’s No. 3 ranked recruiting class. Duke finished 27-9, won the ACC Tournament and earned a No. 5 seed for the NCAA Tournament last season in a transition year. After an…
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