Hypothetical College Basketball Trades That Would Benefit Both Teams in 2014-15

Wouldn't it be amazing if there were trades in college basketball?

If this idea looks familiar, it's because we published one of these over the summer. Though we ended up toying around with a lot of the same rosters in this edition, the hypothetical trades and the rationales behind them are much different and more current.

Most of our proposed transactions would have teams trading out of excess to address a deficiency that could keep them from making a deep run in March. Some teams are trying to make the tournament despite coping with injuries or underperforming players. Others are simply giving up and aiming to improve next season.

What these trades all have in common, though, is that they're completely made up and could never happen. We have transfers and early entrants to the NBA, but there's sadly no trade deadline to obsess over in college hoops.

That doesn't mean we can't have some fun in discussing 10 mutually beneficial deals.

Kentucky and Michigan

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Michigan Trades: Kameron Chatman

Kentucky Trades: Marcus Lee

Let's get this party started with a bang.

Try as he might to say otherwise, John Calipari is not giving equal playing time to 10 guys. Marcus Lee barely sees the court and hardly gets touches while he's out there.

Lee is playing 12.8 minutes per game and receiving 7.1 field-goal attempts per 40 minutes. He's the only "platoon" guy who is playing under 18.4 minutes per game or attempting fewer than 10.1 shots per 40 minutes.

Long story short, he's being underutilized and is frankly expendable for a team that could desperately use a conventional small forward.

As luck would have it, Michigan is playing a conventional small forward at power forward, and it isn't working out so well. Freshman Kameron Chatman has an O-rating of 82.2, which is by far the worst among what's left of John Beilein's nine-man rotation, according to KenPom.com.

Chatman lost his spot in the starting lineup two weeks ago. He's a talented player, but it just hasn't been a good fit. Even with Caris LeVert out for the rest of the season, Chatman played just eight minutes against Rutgers on Tuesday night.

Now imagine a Michigan rotation of Spike Albrecht, Derrick Walton Jr., Zak Irvin, Ricky Doyle and Marcus Lee. Then imagine a Kentucky roster that could spell Trey Lyles with Chatman in addition to the rest of its ridiculous depth.

It's the type of "deadline deal" that could propel Michigan from "dead and buried" to a potential rematch of the 2014 Elite Eight.

Davidson and Georgia Tech

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Georgia Tech Trades: Robert Sampson

Davidson Trades: Oskar Michelsen

It's been a while since Georgia Tech was a competent three-point-shooting team. Not surprisingly, it has also been some time since the Yellow Jackets made the NCAA tournament. They shot worse than 32.0 percent from beyond the arc in each of the past four seasons and missed the tournament in each of them.

Despite that recent ineptitude, they are currently worse than ever. Entering play this past weekend, Georgia Tech was making just 25.1 percent of its three-point attempts. It's not quite the worst percentage in the nation, but it's close.

But Davidson has three-point shooters in spades, so the Wildcats wouldn't mind giving up one of their lesser gunners in order to improve their two-point defense and shot-blocking.

Davidson has five players who are averaging at least one made triple per game, but its tallest starter is 6'7".

It's a match made in heaven.

Oskar Michelsen is shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc while playing under 20 minutes per game for Davidson. Robert Sampson is a better-than-average shot-blocker and excellent rebounder who could be considered expendable with both Charles Mitchell and Demarco Cox on Georgia Tech's roster.

Both of these teams are currently somewhere on the bubble—Davidson is in considerably better shape than Georgia Tech—but they could both improve their stock by trading out of excess to improve a big weakness.

Eastern Washington and LSU

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Eastern Washington Trades: Parker Kelly

LSU Trades: Elbert Robinson

How about swapping another big man for a three-point shooter?

Robert Sampson might be expendable for Georgia Tech, but Elbert Robinson is definitely a candidate to be moved by LSU.

Not only do the Tigers have an incredible starting frontcourt in Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin, but they have two reserves in John Odo and Darcy Malone who are playing more than Robinson. The 7'1" freshman has a total of six points this season and hasn't even seen the court in eight of the last 14 LSU games.

Throw in top frontcourt recruit Ben Simmons coming to LSU next year and Craig Victor transferring in from Arizona, and it's tough to see Robinson ever getting a fair shake in Baton Rouge.

But put him in Eastern Washington, and he's suddenly playing 25-30 minutes per game for a team that can't rebound or defend in the paint to save its life.

What LSU needs in return is a guard who can shoot three-pointers and avoid committing turnovers. LSU shot the lights out against Florida on Tuesday night, but in the fall-from-ahead loss to Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon, the Tigers committed 16 turnovers and shot just 7-of-23 from three-point range.

Enter Parker Kelly. The senior shooting guard is making 43.4 percent of his three-pointers and has committed an almost unthinkable six turnovers in 524 minutes.

It's a high asking price, but with Tyler Harvey and Venky Jois already on the roster to handle the scoring load, the Eagles wouldn't hesitate to deal Kelly for 3.5 years of a talented giant who never would have considered signing with a Big Sky school.

Duke and Oregon State

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Duke Trades: Rasheed Sulaimon and Grayson Allen

Oregon State Trades: Gary Payton II and Cheikh N'Diaye

Don't be fooled by recent wins over Louisville and Pittsburgh. Duke's guards didn't suddenly learn how to play defense after the entire world simultaneously came to the conclusion that an average three-point-shooting team can beat the Blue Devils by ball-screening them to death.

Louisville just isn't anything close to an average three-point-shooting team. The Cardinals had open looks all day long. They simply couldn't convert them.

As such, Duke would deal a pair of McDonald's All-Americans for a defensive wizard and a little more frontcourt depth in this hypothetical trade.

Grayson Allen could eventually be a star at Duke, but he hasn't played more than eight minutes in a game since November, and Mike Krzyzewski already has another outstanding shooting guard waiting in the wings in Luke Kennard. And heaven knows he could go out and land another great shooting guard like Malik Newman if he suddenly had an Allen-sized vacancy on the roster.

Meanwhile, Sam Vecenie of CBSSports.com tweeted after the loss to Miami an increasingly popular sentiment about Rasheed Sulaimon's lack of effectiveness for Duke. He's a talented player, but as far as his fit in Duke's system goes, it has felt at times like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.

It's a lot to give up, but could you even imagine an eight-man rotation of Tyus Jones, Quinn Cook, Justise Winslow, Amile Jefferson and Jahlil Okafor with Gary Payton II, Matt Jones and Marshall Plumlee/Cheikh N'Diaye coming off the bench?

Even though it's the type of trade that could propel Oregon State to national relevance for the first time in 25 years, it might actually be the Beavers who refuse to make the trade. That's how great the second coming of The Glove has been for them on both ends of the floor this season.

Green Bay and Wyoming

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Green Bay Trades: Alfonzo McKinnie

Wyoming Trades: Riley Grabau

Wyoming does a lot of things well, but offensive rebounding is not one of them.

Among Cowboys who have logged at least 100 minutes, Derek Cooke is the team's most efficient offensive rebounder at 8.3 percent. He isn't quite the worst team leader in the country—poor Richmond doesn't have a single player with an offensive rebounding percentage better than 6.6—but Wyoming is one of just 11 teams in the country that is grabbing fewer than 22.5 percent of its own misses.

Alfonzo McKinnie has been a great offensive rebounder for Green Bay, and he was even better during his time with Eastern Illinois before transferring to play for the Phoenix. According to KenPom.com, McKinnie ranked 21st in the category during the 2011-12 season.

However, he commits too many turnovers and doesn't shoot well, which makes him a prime candidate to be traded to improve the team's free-throw woes.

Take star point guard Keifer Sykes (77.7 percent) out of the equation and the rest of Green Bay's roster is shooting 57.0 percent from the charity stripe. Kenneth Lowe is so bad from the free-throw line (31.6 percent) that he lost his starting job a month ago.

Meanwhile, Riley Grabau has converted on 54 of his 57 free-throw opportunities this season.

He hasn't done much else, though. Grabau is shooting 30.7 percent from three-point range and is barely averaging one two-point attempt per game. In 54 minutes against Fresno State on Saturday, he had seven points, three assists, one rebound and no blocks or steals.

Yet, he plays all those minutes because he's such an asset at the free-throw line and at least has a history of being a good enough three-point shooter to also help Green Bay in that department.

St. John's and Vanderbilt

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St. John's Trades: Rysheed Jordan

Vanderbilt Trades: James Siakam

The biggest key to trading is being able to recognize whether you're a buyer or a seller. Vanderbilt might have been a buyer two weeks ago, but after four consecutive losses—including a loss to Mississippi State on Saturday—now is the time to start thinking about the 2015-16 season.

The Commodores are a young team. Of the eight players who are averaging more than 8.0 minutes per game, seven are freshmen or sophomores.

But that leaves one senior who would be valuable to a team like St. John's because of his exceptional offensive rebounding. James Siakam is not only grabbing 15.3 percent of possible offensive rebounds, but he is shooting 65.8 percent from the field as well.

If he was traded to St. John's, he would immediately become the Red Storm's leader in both of those categories.

Unlike Vanderbilt, it's now or never for the Johnnies. Four of the members of their six-man rotation are seniors, and junior Chris Obekpa gave some serious thought to transferring this past offseason.

The Red Storm are already going to be in a rebuilding situation next season, so they might as well go whole hog and trade their only noteworthy underclassman for a senior who could help address their biggest weaknesses.

Rysheed Jordan has had a rough year and a half with St. John's, as a series of tragedies in his personal life seems to have kept him from reaching his full potential on the court. He was rated by 247Sports.com as the 30th-best player in the class of 2013, so perhaps a change of scenery would get him to start playing like the two guys who were rated directly before and after him—Terry Rozier and Nigel Williams-Goss.

Minnesota and Washington

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Minnesota Trades: Maurice Walker

Washington Trades: Darin Johnson and Jernard Jarreau

Like Vanderbilt, it's about time for Minnesota to admit this season is over. The Golden Gophers are already 1-6 in Big Ten play with nothing but a home win over Rutgers to their credit. Their best nonconference win was a neutral-court game against Georgia, which still stands as their only RPI Top 80 win.

Unless they plan on winning at least 10 of their next 11 games, they aren't making the NCAA tournament. So, why not trade a senior for a pair of sophomores?

Both Darin Johnson and Jernard Jarreau are a little banged up right now—Jarreau will be out a couple of weeks after arthroscopic surgery, and Johnson has missed the last two games with a strained quad—but why would Minnesota even care if they play again this season?

Jarreau could be the team's future at center with both Maurice Walker and Elliott Eliason graduating this summer. In Johnson, the Golden Gophers would be buying low on a backup shooting guard or small forward who has been a good free-throw shooter in his career but has struggled everywhere else this season.

Walker would be the asking price for a Washington team that desperately needs another big man.

Robert Upshaw has been unbelievable for the Huskies, and Shawn Kemp Jr. is playing much better now than he did in his first three years. But with Jarreau on the sideline for the foreseeable future, they don't have a suitable reserve for either big man—and neither one of them is conditioned to play anything close to 40 minutes per night.

An active defender and a great rebounder, Walker would put the Huskies in position to interchangeably play three big men roughly 27 minutes per night.

The longer they can keep Upshaw from running out of gas, the better their chances of making the NCAA tournament.

Louisiana Tech and Texas

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Louisiana Tech Trades: Alex Hamilton

Texas Trades: Prince Ibeh

Louisiana Tech is a talented and underrated team. There's a fairly good chance that Conference USA sends at least two teams to the tournament, and the Bulldogs are in position to be one of them.

They have an outstanding point guard in Kenneth "Speedy" Smith, a great shot-blocker in Michale Kyser and a couple of solid, aggressive scorers in Raheem Appleby and Erik McCree.

But this is one of the worst rebounding teams in the country. According to NCAA.com, Louisiana Tech has an average rebounding margin of minus-6.4 per game. And according to KenPom.com, Louisiana Tech's defensive rebounding percentage ranks 347th in the nation.

That's, um, not very good. The Bulldogs are the only team in the bottom 10 in that category that doesn't have a losing record.

Meanwhile, Texas has more rebounders than it knows what to do with. The Longhorns rank second in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-12.2 per game. They have five regulars who are averaging at least 9.5 rebounds per 40 minutes, but Jonathan Holmes is the only one playing more than 22.4 minutes per game.

They aren't just going to give away one of those studs, though. Prince Ibeh is definitely the bottom man on their frontcourt totem pole, but he would have a ton of value at about 330 other schools.

What they need in return for Ibeh is a good on-ball defender. Texas has been a little better about creating steals with Isaiah Taylor back in the lineup, but that's still this team's weakness. The Longhorns haven't tallied more than six steals in a game since getting seven in the season opener against North Dakota State.

That's where Alex Hamilton comes in. He already has six games this season with at least three steals. He's no Briante Weber, but he would make for a much more valuable reserve guard than Kendal Yancy or Javan Felix.

Memphis and San Diego State

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Memphis Trades: Pookie Powell

San Diego State Trades: Trey Kell and D'Erryl Williams

San Diego State is in dire need of someone who can orchestrate an offense. Between their slow pace and inability to execute, the Aztecs are averaging just 62.2 points and 10.5 assists per game.

Meanwhile, Pookie Powell is averaging 7.5 assists per 40 minutes for Memphis, but his playing time has taken a hit with Kedren Johnson finally starting to heat up and Powell's turnover issues not going away any time soon.

For San Diego State, the assists are worth the turnovers. The Aztecs don't have a single guard who is averaging more than 1.4 assists per game. And even after a game in which they scored 77 points in 57 possessions against Air Force, their adjusted offensive efficiency still ranks 207th in the nation, according to KenPom.com.

It would be great if they could add someone capable of putting the ball in the hoop, but they don't really have the necessary pieces for that type of trade. Thus, they're looking for someone who can help the rest of the team put the ball in the hoop—someone who can drive at the rim before kicking the ball to an open J.J. O'Brien or Winston Shepard.

Powell isn't Xavier Thames. Far from it. But it's definitely worth giving up a freshman shooting guard who hasn't been hitting shots and a sophomore guard who barely sees the court to find out if he can jump-start this offense.

Memphis needs to take a risk on those two Aztecs, though, because it is simply not a good three-point-shooting team. Trey Kell has struggled to find his stroke for San Diego State, but the Tigers only have one player who has made more than 11 three-pointers this season.

North Carolina and Notre Dame

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North Carolina Trades: Isaiah Hicks

Notre Dame Trades: Steve Vasturia

A hypothetical intraconference trade? Now we've gone too far!

It makes sense, though.

Even with Zach Auguste's academic suspension lasting a grand total of one game, Notre Dame could still use some help in the offensive rebounding department.

According to Sports-Reference.com, the Fighting Irish have six or fewer offensive rebounds in four of their last five games—though the one outlier is a serious one for both teams, as they grabbed 13 offensive rebounds against a Virginia team that has been one of the best in the nation at defensive rebounding.

Then there's Isaiah Hicks at North Carolina.

The former McDonald's All-American is playing just 14.6 minutes per game in reserve of Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks, but he has 12 offensive rebounds in his last six games, totaling 89 minutes of playing time. He has been one of the team's best offensive rebounders, and he's only getting better.

But what North Carolina needs more than another backup big man is a secondary three-point shooter. According to KenPom.com, Marcus Paige is the only Tar Heel who has made more than three total three-pointers in the team's five conference games.

Hicks is great, but the drop-off in production from him to Desmond Hubert or Joel James might be worth the increase in production from Nate Britt or Theo Pinson to Steve Vasturia.

Vasturia is shooting 38.8 percent from three-point range on the season. However, he isn't getting nearly the number of shots that he deserves, because everyone in that starting lineup is ridiculously efficient.

Vasturia could play the type of role that Andre Dawkins played for Duke last season—a three-point specialist who plays 12-15 minutes per game with an eternal green light to shoot every time he touches the ball.

Statistics on the following slides current through the start of play on Wednesday, Jan. 21, and are courtesy of ESPN.com, NCAA.com, Sports-Reference.com and KenPom.com.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.