Plus nearly everyone returning, hopefully!
Tank next year rather than fight for the NIT/CBI if it means we the next year we have Griffin, DJ, Bolton, Jackson, Walker, Dubar, Blackwell, Johnson, Foster, and Conditt! Add a defensive assistant, and we’re making a deep run.
That is one thing about college athletics that is so different than the pros.
Bad teams have viable paths in, say, the NFL or the NBA to get better -- tank, if you have the patience for it, and flip your useful assets to other teams to gain draft capital and cap space and then go out and use it to make yourself better. It works.
Bad college teams... just have to keep trying to do more of the same. Recruit, try and bring in some transfers, and develop yourself internally, despite these being slow processes. Plus, even if you get good players, you have a very limited clock on how long you can have them. They have four years, maximum, and the really good ones will move on to the professional leagues. Professional teams can build themselves around a stud player at a key position (e.g., PG or QB) for a decade or longer if they play their cards correctly.
College rosters are glaciers (
except for with the players you really would like to keep) while pro rosters are sports cars in their maneuverability in comparison.