College Basketball Teams That Will Look Completely Different in 2016-17

Roster turnover is a part of life in sports, but in college basketball it tends to be more noticeable. Division I teams have room for just 12 scholarship players each year, and every departure accounts for a sizable portion of the lineup.

Coaches do their best to plan ahead for impending losses through recruiting and the burgeoning transfer market, but that still means having to acclimate a large percentage of a team on an annual basis. And in cases where the coach is new from one year to the next, the differences in appearance are even more noticeable.

Every one of the 351 Division I teams will have a somewhat different look in 2016-17 from how they appeared this past season, but for some, it's far greater than others. Here are some of the teams that will look the least like what we saw just a few months ago.

Delaware Blue Hens

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Anthony Mosley (3) is one of four remaining scholarship players left on Delaware's roster.

At this point, the Delaware Blue Hens might as well change its mascot and uniform colors. That's about all that's going to be the same in 2016-17.

Consecutive 20-loss seasons cost head coach Monte Ross his job, despite winning 25 games and taking the Blue Hens to the NCAA tournament in 2014. He was let go on March 18, and since then, dozens of other Division I coaches were fired and their replacements were hired. But Delaware's position remains vacant.

And whoever eventually gets that job won't have to worry about learning many names, since hardly anyone is left. Forwards Eric Carter, Chivarsky Corbett, Maurice Jeffers and Skye Johnson, and guards Cazmon Hayes and Kory Holden have all transferred, asked for their release or left the program. That's in addition to the loss of two seniors, including No. 2 scorer Marvin King-Davis.

Holden was the team's leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, and he's left for South Carolina where he'll be eligible in 2017-18. Delaware has four scholarship players left in the program, with junior guard Anthony Mosley (9.7 points per game) its top returning scorer.

There's apparently no timetable for the school to hire a coach, probably because it also doesn't have an athletic director. Matthew Robinson has been the interim director since December.

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

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The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors entered the 2015-16 season under NCAA investigation for alleged violations that occurred under previous head coach Gib Arnold. The Rainbow Warriors learned of their punishment in December, just before they were about to begin hosting a pre-Christmas tournament that included Oklahoma.

Among the penalties: a postseason ban, but not until the 2016-17 season, which meant Hawaii could go for broke this year but know that next year would be limited to the regular season. The Warriors made the most of this furlough, reaching the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2002 and knocking off the fourth-seeded California Golden Bears along the way.

Once their season ended though, reality set in for the Warriors. It actually began while play was still going, when guard Isaac Fleming left the program in late February. That was one of eight departures, four of which were due to graduation (including grad transfer Stefan Jovanovic, who is now at Loyola Marymount). Aaron Valdes and Stefan Jankovic turned pro, though Valdes didn't sign an agent and could return by May 25.

Mike Thomas, a senior wing who averaged 7.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, is head coach Eran Ganot's top returning scorer. It wouldn't be surprising to see some players, including incoming freshmen, to take a redshirt rather than use up a year of eligibility with a postseason ban looming.

Kentucky Wildcats

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Consider the Kentucky Wildcats a perennial candidate for this list as long as head coach John Calipari continues to swim almost exclusively in the one-and-done pool. And with the NCAA changing the draft declaration rules to allow players to put their names in (and return) every year, the likelihood of massive roster turnover in Lexington is almost a given.

"Every player who is eligible for the draft, including our walk-ons, will submit their names for the NBA Draft," Calipari tweeted on March 23.

It ended up only being five players—guards Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis and frontcourt players Skal Labissiere and Marcus Lee—with Briscoe and Lee retaining the right to come back. Lee said Thursday that he's “87 percent sure” he won't come back to Kentucky, per Jordan Cornette of CampusInsiders.com, while Briscoe wasn't invited to the NBA draft combine but has been lining up individual workouts with prospective teams.

Kentucky also said goodbye to senior Alex Poythress, leaving senior Derek Willis (7.7 points per game) as the top returning scorer assured to be on the team in 2016-17.

Fear not Big Blue Nation, because while Calipari's recruiting approach means that the stud prospects he brings in each year won't be around long, it also means the next crop will be there before you know it. The Wildcats have the No. 1 recruiting class with all five signees rated as 5-star players, per 247Sports.

Maryland Terrapins

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If Melo Trimble opts to come back to Maryland for the 2016-17 season, then he'll be the only returning starter.

Melo or no Melo, the Maryland Terrapins are going to look very different in 2016-17. Whether he opts to return for his junior year could be the difference between having an off year or a rebuilding one.

Trimble is one of three Terrapins who declared for the upcoming NBA draft, but only he didn't hire an agent. Forwards Robert Carter Jr. and Diamond Stone are fully gone, and along with the graduation of forward Jake Layman (as well as guard Rasheed Sulaimon), the Terps are basically starting over in the frontcourt. That is unless Damonte Dodd and Michael Cevosky—combined 2015-16 production: 173 points, 153 rebounds in 819 minutes—take major leaps next year.

Maryland adds three freshmen, but none are taller than 6'7”, so head coach Mark Turgeon is likely going to have to pick up a grad transfer to fill the void in the paint.

Trimble seems to be on the fence about coming back or staying in the draft, telling Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton that "If anybody says I need to go back to school, that's pretty much it. If a team tells me I'm ready, I'm going to go." What might also influence his decision is whether he'll want to be part of an almost all-new team—at least when it comes to starters and key contributors.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

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A review of the 144 projected NCAA tournament fields that BracketMatrix.com tracked last season had Tulsa in exactly one of them, which made it quite surprising when the Golden Hurricane earned a bid. Maybe the selection committee was throwing them a bone, knowing that head coach Frank Haith's 15-man roster featured nine seniors.

That mass exodus took with it 80.6 percent of Tulsa's scoring, 87.7 percent of the rebounds and 91.7 percent of the assists. Needless to say, playing time will be available for Tulsa's few returning players, which includes Rutgers transfer Junior Etou and Haith's son, Corey.

Corey Haith has played 25 minutes in college, those coming in 2012-13 and 2013-14 when playing for his father at Missouri.

It's a safe bet that the Golden Hurricane are going to struggle unless Haith is able to whip something together from the leftover pieces and what he's bringing in. But don't bet on it.

"Maybe Tulsa survives that type of turnover if it's still in the WAC or C-USA, but there are too many quality teams in the American to be able to tread water while replacing that much production," Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller wrote.

UNC-Asheville Bulldogs

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A scan of the ever-growing list of transfers that ESPN compiles will show that the vast majority of Division I schools have to deal with this issue. For the power schools, it's usually not as big a deal because those who decided to transfer likely weren't playing much, and another group of quality recruits is on the way.

The same can't be said for the smaller schools, who the last few years seem to lose a ton of emerging stars who are hoping to parlay their early success into a spot with a more high-profile program.

Case in point: UNC-Asheville won the Big South's NCAA tournament automatic bid, which earned it a first-round game against eventual national champions: the Villanova Wildcats. The Bulldogs lost 86-56 but were looking good for 2016-17 with four starters and five of their top-six scorers set to return.

Then freshman guard Dwayne Sutton, UNCA's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, opted to transfer. He ended up picking the Louisville Cardinals, though as a walk-on without a scholarship. A few weeks later, freshman guard and leading scorer Dylan Smith asked for his release, announcing Wednesday he was transferring to Arizona.

Two other little-used guards also transferred, and in turn head coach Nick McDevitt has brought in seven new players (including a transfer). McDevitt, entering his fourth season as head coach but 16th with the program and already knows how to deal with this: the leading scorer from 2014-15, Andrew Rowsey, transferred to Marquette after averaging 19.2 points per game as a sophomore.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels

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There's no truth to the rumor—which we just made up—that UNLV's acronym really means University of Nobody Left on Varsity. It would make sense though, since the Runnin' Rebels' basketball program has resembled a revolving door since the winter.

Goodluck Okonoboh left the program in December with the intention to transfer, but he ended up declaring for the draft. He'd be the first of five UNLV players to turn pro, all of whom have signed with agents, including a transfer from St. John's (Chris Opekpa) who was sitting out 2015-16 and thus never played for the Rebels.

Head coach Dave Rice resigned in January, then interim coach Todd Simon wasn't retained and was hired by Southern Utah.

Amid the draft declarations and transfers—Ben Carter is now at Michigan State while Daquan Cook and Jordan Cornish are still searching for their next stop—the school hired Chris Beard from Arkansas-Little Rock on March 27. Less than three weeks later, he'd left for the Texas Tech job, eventually replaced by New Mexico State's Marvin Menzies.

Coach Menzies inherits a team that lost its top seven scorers. So far he's added three players, with UNLV actively pursuing numerous transfers. When the Runnin' Rebels debut their next team in November, fans will need to be regularly consulting the roster in the game program.

All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information from 247Sports, unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.