Ok, let's go another route-- we will take a historical approach:
2012: The team loses in the round of 32 after being a "bubble" team. We lose Royce White, Scott C., Chris Allen. We return (notably) Ejim, Babb, McGee, Booker. We add Lucious, Clyburn and Georges.
2013: We improve our NCAA seeding and lose to KU in the semifinals of the Big 12 tourney. We again lose in the round of 32, but do so in a heartbreaking loss. We lose Lucious, Clyburn, Booker, McGee and Babb (arguably, 5 of our top 7 players). We return Georges and Ejim of note. We add Hogue, Morris and Kane, of note.
2014: We make huge strides, being ranked for a large portion of the year. We win the Big 12 tournament and get a 3 seed in the tournament. We get much more production than expected out of Naz, Hogue and Morris. One of the best seasons in history. We lose Ejim and Kane. We return Hogue, Georges, Matt, Naz, Monte. We add the preseason newcomer of the year in BDJ, a juco all American in
McKay and a known quantity in Nader. We also add another solid recruit in Custer.
We've improved every year under Fred, and we've entered past years in much more dire circumstances than this year. I can't fathom how you would think we are in any worse position this year than we have been in previous years, with only 3 years ago having us be on the bubble.