College Basketball: Top 10 Tournament Teams Who Won't Be Back This Season

One of the most remarkable aspects of college hoops is the speed with which a team’s fortunes can change. A championship contender one year can return to make a run at the Final Four again the next season or sink into obscurity with equal ease.

A pair of last year’s No. 4 seeds makes a great demonstration of both extremes. 

Kentucky can lose lottery pick Brandon Knight and two other starters and still vie for the preseason No. 1 ranking, but Texas—shredded by both graduation and the draft—isn’t even a leading contender in its own conference.

Read on for a look at the 10 most notable teams who won’t be dancing again come March.

10. Tennessee

After the offseason the Vols have suffered through, this pick is hardly likely to come as a surprise.

With coach Bruce Pearl and several key players (notably Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris) all departing, Tennessee is likely to look more like the team that got blown out by Michigan in the NCAA tournament than the one that swept Vanderbilt in the regular season.

Senior swingman Cameron Tatum will have his work cut out for him just to keep the Volunteers above .500 in what should be an improved SEC. Cuonzo Martin is in for a rough start to his coaching career in Knoxville.

9. Richmond

In most years, Richmond’s Sweet 16 finish would have been one of the best upset stories of the tournament.

However, VCU stole their thunder, and after Justin Harper and Kevin Anderson led the Spiders to wins over Vanderbilt and Morehead State, the curtain fell on their college careers with a loss to Kansas.

Even with the talent Richmond enjoyed last year, they barely clawed their way into the tournament as a No. 12 seed.

With A-10 powers Xavier and Temple likely to finish ahead of the Spiders in conference play again—and two other starters to replace in addition to Harper and Anderson—an at-large berth is probably too much to hope for this time around.

8. Georgia

Few teams got more out of their top two players than the Georgia Bulldogs did a season ago. Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie led the team to a No. 10 seed with a combined 30.6 points and 14.7 rebounds per game.

Unfortunately for Georgia, both Thompkins and Leslie are now Los Angeles Clippers. Even with senior PG Gerald Robinson returning to anchor the 2011-12 squad, the Bulldogs are unlikely to have the athleticism (or scoring) to survive this year’s SEC.

7. Illinois

If the legal troubles of the departed Jereme Richmond were all Illinois fans had to worry about this offseason, there would be more reasons for optimism in Urbana.

Unfortunately, Richmond’s ill-advised early entry into the draft combines with the graduations of Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis to leave the Illini high and dry for 2011-12.

Junior guard Brandon Paul is the only returning starter for a team that didn’t exactly breeze through the Big Ten last season (9-9 in conference play). Even with a promising crop of freshmen, Illinois looks likely to be NIT-bound this season.

6. Georgetown

After battling to an admirable 10-8 record in a loaded conference, Georgetown suffered one of the NCAA tournament’s most ignominious exits last year. The Hoyas became the second victims of red-hot Virginia Commonwealth, falling by 18 in the second round.

Georgetown will have a tough time building on the gains it made last season, as the top three players from last year’s squad (including star guards Austin Freeman and Chris Wright) have graduated.

Super-sub Hollis Thompson is likely to have a big year, but one outstanding player isn’t going to be enough to grind out a tournament berth in the Big East

5. San Diego State

Steve Fisher certainly has San Diego State on the right track as a program, but there’s no way to avoid calling this a rebuilding year.

Coming off perhaps the best season in program history—32-2, a school-best No. 2 seed—the Aztecs could go from the NCAA’s Sweet 16 to the MWC’s second division.

SDSU loses four starters from 2010-11, including NBA-bound Kawhi Leonard.

With Chase Tapley and James Rahon the only returnees who saw substantial playing time last year, the Aztecs will need transfers Xavier Thames and Garrett Green to play big if they want to make any noise in Mountain West play this season.

4. Texas

After a near-miss defeat against Arizona in the round of 32 last March, Longhorns fans are left to wonder what might have been. Instead of gearing up for a deeper tournament run, Texas will be struggling just to keep its head above water in the Big 12.

All five starters are gone from last year’s No. 4 seed, including three early-entry first round draft picks. Even with touted freshman Myck Kabongo arriving to run the point, the Longhorns will have a long road ahead of them in 2011-12.

3. Michigan State

It may have finished with an NCAA tournament berth, but Michigan State’s 19-14 season was one of the most disappointing in recent memory. The 2011-12 campaign is shaping up to be even less pleasant for fans in East Lansing.

Korie Lucious, the team’s assist leader in the half-season before he was thrown off the team, is headed to Iowa State, while scoring leader Kalin Lucas has graduated.

Draymond Green is a terrific all-around player, but with so many holes to fill in the backcourt—two other starters in addition to Lucas have graduated—he won’t be enough to make the Spartans contenders in this season’s Big Ten.

2. Kansas State

Coming off an outstanding 22-10 season, it’s tough to imagine the loss of two players sinking the Wildcats altogether. Then again, it’s tough to overstate how much Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly meant to Kansas State.

The most telling example is the team’s third-round NCAA tournament loss to Wisconsin, in which Pullen and Kelly scored 49 of the team’s 65 points.

Jamar Samuels and Rodney McGruder will keep the Wildcats from imploding altogether, but without last year’s leaders they don’t have the raw talent to carry a tournament team.

1. Butler

Yes, Brad Stevens’ team has played two superlative NCAA tournaments in a row. However, even with all the talent the Bulldogs boasted last year, they finished in a three-way tie for the regular-season title in the Horizon League (13-5 in conference play) and landed just a No. 8 seed.

Now, stars Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard (not to mention glue guy Shawn Vanzant) are gone. With apologies to big men Andrew Smith and Khyle Marshall, Butler no longer has the star power to earn an at-large bid, and another conference title is no sure thing for next season.