Who's Under the Most Pressure in College Basketball in 2015-16?

It's hard to argue that anyone in college basketball is under more pressure this year than Indiana head coach Tom Crean.

Crean sits atop the list of coaches on the hot seat posted by both ESPN's Jeff Goodman and NBC Sports' Scott Phillips. It's a minor miracle he even survived the 2014-15 season with job intact, considering the revolving door of transfers and dismissals that have plagued the Hoosiers program in recent years. His own fanbase has completely revolted against him, going so far as to chant, "Tom Crean sucks" at his son's basketball game.

But he'll have one last chance for redemption with a roster that legitimately could contend for a national championship. Anything short of a top-four seed or a deep tournament run, though, and the ax with Crean's name on it may finally find its mark.

Crean certainly isn't the only person under a ton of stress this season.

These players, coaches and teams aren't listed or ranked in any particular order—though, we all know Crean would be No. 1 if they were. Rather, it's just a collection of entities that will all feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders this year. Make sure to send each a bucket of antacids for the holidays.

Ben Simmons, LSU

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Ben Simmons is immensely talented. In a recent piece comparing 2015 freshmen to NBA stars, ESPN's Jeff Goodman likened Simmons' game to that of LeBron James, writing, "I'm not saying Simmons will be the next LeBron James, but he's multifaceted like James. And, similar to James, Simmons is a position-less player."

Without a doubt, he's going to be one of the three best freshmen in the country. There's a pretty good chance he'll be the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA draft.

Here's the thing, though. While he's technically competing against this year's talent pool, the pressure he'll feel will be from comparisons to the last few years' worth of No. 1 freshmen. 247Sports has been batting 1.000, ranking Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel, Andrew Wiggins and Jahlil Okafor as the No. 1 freshman in each of the past four years. And they have Simmons in that spot this year.

Is he ready to be mentioned in the same breath as those instant stars? Will he be able to single-handedly shut up the draft experts lamenting that this is one of the weakest classes in recent memory?

Never mind the individual expectations—will Simmons be able to help justify LSU being ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for just the second time since Shaquille O'Neal left in 1992? Both he and the Tigers have a lot to live up to this year.

Kevin Willard, Seton Hall

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Tom Crean is the most infamous member of the hot-seat club, but the thread from which Kevin Willard is hanging onto his job at Seton Hall cannot possibly be much thicker than Crean's.

After more than a decade of tutelage under Rick Pitino, Willard took over an Iona program that went 2-28 in the season before his arrival. Three years later, the Gaels went 21-10, and he was hailed as the coach who was finally going to pull the Pirates out of nearly two decades of complete mediocrity.

In each of the 17 years before Willard was hired, Seton Hall won between 10-22 games and suffered between 10-18 losses for an overall winning percentage of 52.4. In the five seasons since then, virtually nothing has changed, as Willard has an overall record of 82-81 with Seton Hall.

Last year was supposed to be his big break. After four years of tirelessly working the phones, he finally landed a great recruiting class headlined by Isaiah Whitehead. Joining forces with veterans Sterling Gibbs and Brandon Mobley, many viewed Whitehead and Angel Delgado as the missing pieces that could propel the Pirates to the NCAA tournament.

Things looked great early on, but after a 12-2 start to the year, it all spiraled out of control. Whitehead missed nine games with an injury. Starting point guard Jaren Sina suddenly decided to transfer in February. Gibbs lost his cool and punched an opponent in the face before transferring to Connecticut this summer.

Long story short, things could have gone much better, and that pretty well sums up Willard's entire tenure at Seton Hall.

If the Pirates aren't unanimously projected to finish in the bottom four of the Big East this year, they're certainly close. And a sixth consecutive sub-.500 Big East record would probably be Willard's last.

North Carolina

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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 13 months, you've heard enough about North Carolina's academic "issues" that they don't need to be rehashed here. We can and have argued for way too long about what the punishment should or will be, but virtually everyone who doesn't bleed Carolina blue is under the assumption that some sort of penalty is eventually coming—probably early in the 2016 offseason.

The cloud of uncertainty regarding the program's future eligibility has clearly taken its toll on UNC's ability to recruit.

As Andrew Carter wrote for the News & Observer in late October, "The Tar Heels' perception problem. It exists. It's there. UNC fans might not want to admit it. [Roy] Williams might want to dismiss it. But he at least acknowledged it. ... 'I know that because of the stuff that's been going on for the last two and a half years, I know we've suffered.'"

Carter also noted back in April when Brandon Ingram chose to sign with Duke instead of North Carolina, "Asked Monday if he would have committed to UNC had it not faced such uncertainty because of the NCAA investigation, Ingram said, 'I think I would have. I liked them a lot, but I'm kind of glad that I waited.'"

UNC's best recruit in this year's class is Kenny Williams, a shooting guard who only became available because he didn't want to stick with VCU after Shaka Smart left. Even though Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson are graduating this summer and there's a reasonable chance Justin Jackson and Kennedy Meeks will jump to the pros, too, the Tar Heels haven't yet signed a 5-star recruit in the 2016 class.

Remember, this is the same program that signed three of the top nine recruits in the country in 2006. Williams used to reel in McDonald's All-Americans in his sleep, but now none of the top guys want to take a chance on Chapel Hill.

Not only does North Carolina have the normal pressure of being the preseason No. 1 team in the country, but there is an inordinate amount of pressure to win it all this season because there's no telling when it will be a realistic possibility again.

Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin

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The good news is that "pressure" is one of the only words not in Nigel Hayes' lexicon.

As you may recall, Hayes was the life of the party at the 2015 Final Four media days, cracking jokes, using big words just to mess with the stenographer and even flipping the script by sitting among the media to interview teammate Frank Kaminsky. The world already loved Frank the Tank, but Hayes is the one who really made everyone buy into Wisconsin's ability to not be afraid of the moment.

Whether he can feel it or not, though, there is a ton of pressure on Hayes to prove right the masses who refused to sell their stock in Bo Ryan's Badgers just because five of last year's seven leading scorers are gone.

Hayes was pretty efficient in his first two seasons, but there's no denying the benefit of being the third- or fourth-best scorer on a team with five starters who can score from anywhere within 30 feet. He was never anything close to the No. 1 concern for the opposition's defense.

How will he handle that role this year? Can he possibly continue to average 1.49 points per field-goal attempt while needing to take more shots and taking them against the opponent's best frontcourt defender as opposed to its second- or third-best one?

He should be able to put up big numbers en route to Wooden Award consideration, but anything less might be catastrophic for a team seeking its 18th straight NCAA tournament appearance.

Referees

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There is always a ridiculous amount of pressure on referees to get every single call right, but there is an added layer this season because of the new rules and the negative effect that new rules had on the game two years ago.

The 2013-14 season was a nightmare for officiating. Verbiage on hand checking and the block/charge call were amended, but things only got worse. There was absolutely no consistency on the block/charge calls, and everyone was getting into serious foul trouble for things that were completely legal six months prior. Like the concerted effort to make things less physical in both the NBA and NFL, it was considered a necessary evil to achieve a greater good.

That is, until they got halfway through the season, abandoned the changes and went back to the old way of calling games.

Here's hoping that doesn't happen this year.

Fortunately, most of the rule changes have very little to do with how the game is officiated. The shot clock is shorter, but it will still buzz at zero. The restricted area arc is wider, but a foot inside it on a block/charge call still means a foul against the defense. In fact, the referees caught a break with an expansion of what is reviewable and the elimination of the five-second closely guarded call, giving them one less thing to worry about tracking.

The big change for the zebras, though, is the renewed emphasis on freedom of movement. No more hand checking. No more moving screens. No more physicality in the paint. This is basketball, not wrestling. The referees are expected to use their whistles when it begins to resemble the latter.

Whether or not you agree with the intended direction of the game, the pressure on the referees is to achieve uniformity and stick with it this time. Games in the Big East should be called the same as games in the Big West, Big South and Big Sky so there are no inexplicable whistles once we get to the Big Dance.

Rick Pitino, Louisville

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Six weeks ago, it would have been absolutely ludicrous to see Rick Pitino's name on this list. In the past eight years, he has led the Cardinals to eight tournaments, six Sweet 16s, five Elite Eights, two Final Fours and a national championship. Last summer, Pitino was No. 8 on my list of the college basketball coaches with the most job security.

But then Katina Powell happened, and now there's no telling what Pitino's future may hold.

By their standards, this was already probably going to be a rough year for the Cardinals. They lost all four of last year's leading scorers and their top 2014 recruit (Shaqquan Aaron) transferred out of the program. Even with the additions of graduate-transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis and a trio of top-50 freshmen, just maintaining the level of excellence achieved in the previous three seasons was going to be a challenge.

Now they have a massive off-the-court distraction to deal with, too. It's tough to envision any scenario in which it bodes well for Louisville to face constant scrutiny from media, fans, the NCAA and perhaps even law enforcement.

Just about the only way to deal with a scandal in sports is to go out and win. It's precisely what Pitino did while dealing with another sex scandal a few years ago, and by the time Louisville won the national championship in 2013, the whole thing was pretty much forgotten. If the Cardinals win either of their nonconference road games against Michigan State or Kentucky, it becomes an inspirational tale of the kids who banded together to shut out all of the negativity and succeed.

What if Louisville struggles, though? What if the Cardinals get blown out in those aforementioned games and even drop a home game against North Florida amid increasingly intensifying cries for Pitino's forced resignation?

To say the least, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to find Pitino out of a job within the next six months. Imagine reading that sentence last November.

Yale

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The Bulldogs probably seem quite out of place on a list that otherwise consists entirely of members of power conferences. However, with the way things ended last year, the opportunity before them this year and the ever-increasing number of years since its last NCAA tournament appearance, there's some serious pressure on Yale to strike in 2015-16.

The long-awaited tournament berth was in the bag. After a 62-52 win at Harvard on March 6, the Bulldogs merely had to beat Dartmouth on March 7 to earn the Ivy League's automatic bid. The Big Green had already lost games to Hartford, Longwood and Jacksonville State, so how hard could it be?

With 24 seconds remaining, Yale held a five-point lead. According to KenPom.com's win probability graph, the Bulldogs had about a 99 percent chance of winning at that point. But they somehow managed to lose in regulation.

They still had a chance to dance one week later in a tiebreaker game against Harvard. Yale even held the lead in the final two minutes but fell two points shy of its first tournament appearance since 1962.

Harvard was absolutely gutted this offseason. Four of its top six scorers graduated, and starting point guard Siyani Chambers tore his ACL and will miss the entire season. If the Crimson somehow manage to make the tournament for a fifth straight season, it would be the most remarkable coaching year of Tommy Amaker's career.

Yale also lost a number of key players but will still have inside-outside duo Justin Sears and Jack Montague. Columbia is arguably the favorite to win the Ivy League, but this might be the best shot Yale has had in more than half a century.

Kris Dunn, Providence

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Can you remember a time when a near-unanimous preseason All-American played for a team that is a near-unanimous bubble team at best?

Such is life for Providence's Kris Dunn—arguably the best player in the nation on a roster full of guys that even a Friars season-ticket holder would have trouble picking out of a lineup. Junior Lomomba, Jalen Lindsey, Rodney Bullock and Ben Bentil could absolutely have nice seasons alongside Dunn and get into the Big Dance, but could you even imagine where this team would rank if he had decided to go pro?

As the most high-profile player to turn down a shot at the NBA for one more year of college ball, Dunn is under even more pressure than most to have a huge year.

Guys such as Jared Sullinger and Marcus Smart really only hurt their draft stock in their one season after surprising us by not declaring, and there's certainly a chance that Dunn will follow suit. An injury-prone and turnover-prone guard who hasn't shot very well in his college career, it isn't particularly difficult to envision a scenario in which the pressure to always be "the guy" for Providence only serves to further amplify the holes in his game, causing him to drop out of the 2016 lottery.

Of course, it's also completely possible to see a finally healthy Dunn having an absolutely monster season, becoming for Providence what Russell Westbrook was for Oklahoma City without Kevin Durant last year.

Here's hoping that's exactly what happens and it leads to more fringe first-round picks opting for one more year of development in college instead of wasting away on the bench in the NBA.

Shaka Smart, Texas

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Normally, a newly hired head coach has a grace period of at least a season or two to really implement his system and make an impact at his new school.

Normally doesn't normally apply at Texas.

By no means are we saying that Shaka Smart is on the hot seat in season one with the Longhorns, but big things will be immediately expected from the man who has been heralded as the future of college basketball coaching since leading VCU to the Final Four in 2011.

Texas fans gave up on Rick Barnes long ago. A great recruiter who made a bad habit of wasting immense talent, he repeatedly wore out his welcome by failing to reach the Final Four in any of his final 12 seasons, despite having such future NBA players as Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, D.J. Augustin, Tristan Thompson, Avery Bradley, Myles Turner, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson.

But if Smart could turn a bunch of no-name recruits into national semifinalists, just imagine what he can do with the type of kids he'll be able to recruit to Texas!

Rome wasn't built in a day, though, nor are most national contenders built in an offseason. Smart inherited a pretty talented roster, but how well and how fast will the players fit in his system? Hopefully the fans in Austin will exercise patience with a team that should probably make the tournament but is also probably a couple years away from really competing to win one.

California

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California won the recruiting lottery by adding both Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown during the late signing period, stealing two of the best available players in the country away from far more likely destinations like Duke and Kentucky.

Now it's time to find out if the Golden Bears can really get some skin in the recruiting game.

We've seen "unorthodox" schools land big-name recruits in recent years, but they have almost always failed to do anything with them. UNLV signed Rashad Vaughn and Dwayne Morgan last season only to lose 15 games. Ditto for Seton Hall with Isaiah Whitehead.

Three years ago, Providence made waves by signing Ricky Ledo and Kris Dunn, but Ledo never played a college game and it took Dunn three years to really shine. In the same year, Alabama signed 5-star Devonta Pollard and got a whopping 3.9 points per game out of him.

Eventually, though, one of these teams is going to turn a strong recruiting class into an even stronger season and really lay the pipeline for a decade of top high school kids seriously considering its program.

California could absolutely be that program. If the Golden Bears live up to the hype by becoming a serious contender this year, what 17-year-old phenom in the class of 2016-20 wouldn't think about going to a good school and good team within a stone's throw of the beach?

Conversely, California could follow in the footsteps of all the other one-offseason-and-done contenders from the past few years by failing to meet expectations and going right back to struggling to convince great recruits to even put the Golden Bears on their list of finalists.

No pressure.

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

Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.