5 most disappointing teams in college basketball: UNC, Arkansas and others

College basketball, even in this new NIL era, is all about passion. Usually that comes through in a positive way, as we see rowdy fans on "College Gameday," raucous student sections during rivalry games and campus-wide exhilaration as prospective Cinderellas try on that glass slipper each year.

There are two sides to every coin, and for all the teams such as Auburn, St. John's and Louisville that have gone above and beyond preseason expectations, there are others that have fallen well short of the mark. Even as the NCAA Tournament has expanded, basketball is still a zero-sum game in the end. One team wins, another loses. Today we're looking at five teams that have done a lot more losing than their fans expected when the season began. All five teams began the season ranked, but only one of them still is.

None of these fanbases are feeling particularly good about the way this season has gone, so to rank them by how disappointing they've been would prove to be a futile act. Instead, let's rank them by how likely they are to rediscover their mojo and make something of this season before it all slips away. We'll begin with the most hopeless and work our way up to the team that could still realize their preseason dreams, or at least come close.

5. Indiana Hoosiers

This season started out fine enough for Indiana. The Hoosiers were ranked 17th in the preseason AP poll and were 13-3 in early January, with their only losses coming at the hands of Gonzaga, Louisville and Nebraska. No shame in that, but since that point, they've been in a death spiral of epic proportions.

Not only has Indiana lost six of its last seven (with its only win coming by one in overtime), they're now going to be looking for a new coach at year's end amid reports that Mike Woodson will not be returning. That's likely only to disappoint the Hoosier faithful more, as the school reportedly has its sights set on pie-in-the-sky candidates like Brad Stevens and Bruce Pearl.

Indiana is one of the true blue bloods in college basketball, but they haven't shown it in a long time. They've only made the tournament two of the last nine years, and haven't reached the Sweet 16 since 2016. Their last Final Four appearance occurred before anyone on the current team was even born.

The Hoosiers are only favored to win two of their final six games. Given the dreary mood enveloping the program right now, they might win less than that.

4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

In a way, it's a win for Rutgers to even make a list like this, because it's not that often that James Gandolfini's alma mater even gets their hopes up for basketball season. This year was different though, as the Scarlet Knights were ranked in the preseason AP poll for just the fourth time in program history. That ranking was a direct result of five-star freshmen sensations Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, who headlined the number one class in the Big Ten and the sixth-ranked class nationally.

Harper and Bailey have lived up to their individual expectations. They're each averaging over 19 points per game and are widely expected to be the second and third overall picks in the NBA Draft, but their individual brilliance hasn't brought team success to the RAC. The Scarlet Knights are 10th in the Big Ten and just 12-11 overall. Take away Quad 4 games and Rutgers is only 6-11. That's bad news, because seven of their final eight games are Quad 1 or 2, and the other is Quad 3.

Rutgers doesn't shoot the ball well from anywhere on the court (even the free throw line), they don't have a high assist rate and they don't rebound it all that well, either. Unless Harper and Bailey can start putting up 30 points per game each, Steve Pikiell's team will be back to square one next year with nothing to show for the best recruiting class in school history.

3. North Carolina Tar Heels

UNC's manifold problems have been well-documented by this point of the season. RJ Davis hasn't replicated his All-American numbers from a year ago. The center position is toothless without Armando Bacot. Carolina exerts nearly no defensive pressure and can't shoot or offensive rebound like in years past.

Add it all up and you have a team that is lucky to even be on the bubble at 13-10. The Tar Heels have failed in just about every test against a quality opponent this year, and that all came to a head when they got boatraced by Duke on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Head coach Hubert Davis' seat is getting warmer than a Chapel Hill summer day, a fact he recently addressed by announcing plans to hire a general manager to handle off-the-court matters such as NIL going forward. That's all well and good, but it's not going to help Carolina turn this season around. The Heels are facing a must-win game on Saturday against the same Pitt team that outlasted them nearly two weeks ago. Two days after that is a road trip to Clemson, another have-to-have-it game for their tournament resume.

Carolina still has a chance to make something of this season, but it's clear that they were getting by on name alone when they were ranked ninth in the preseason. The bubble is not a place Tar Heel fans are used to, but it's sadly becoming more and more common.

2. Arkansas Razorbacks

One of the biggest stories of the offseason was John Calipari leaving Kentucky for SEC rival Arkansas. Coach Cal quickly hit the recruiting trail and the transfer portal, and he even brought three Wildcats with him. Talent certainly wasn't an issue, so most people expected him to find immediate success with the Razorbacks. That ... hasn't really happened.

The SEC is an absolute nightmare this year, so it doesn't look so bad in retrospect that the Hogs played such a cupcake non-conference schedule. Still, they lost to Baylor and Illinois and only won by three over a Miami team that was so awful it forced Jim Larranaga into retirement later that month. The only respectable result was a two-point win over Michigan, and things didn't improve once SEC play started.

Arkansas lost its first five conference games, finally breaking the skid with a close home win over Georgia. They've really struggled with their outside shooting. Only 7-foot-2 center Zvonimir Ivisic is shooting at least 37 percent from deep, and to make matters worse, Boogie Fland is out for the year with a thumb injury.

Johnell Davis, who most fans will remember as one of the best players on that Florida Atlantic team that made the Final Four a couple years ago, has been disappointing, as has Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo, who's played 10 minutes or less in three of the last four.

It's taken months for this team to jell, but it may finally be happening. Saturday's win over Kentucky at Rupp Arena looked like a turning point, even more so after Arkansas followed it up immediately with another road win at Texas. Razorbacks fans hoped to be in better position at this point in the season, but this team may be hitting its stride just in time.

1. UConn Huskies

The final team on our list is currently ranked 19th in the country. Most teams would love to be in such a spot, but the standard is different when you're the two-time defending champion.

The Huskies lost most of the core that cut down the nets last year. Tristen Newton, Donovan Clingan, Cam Spencer and Stephon Castle are all gone, and though the offense is still top-10 in efficiency thanks to the emergence of Solo Ball, the defense has suffered mightily without Newton and Castle hounding opposing guards. UConn was ranked fourth in defensive efficiency last year according to KenPom. This year, they're 118th. Post defense isn't the problem, it's stopping the three-point shot and keeping opposing teams off the foul line that are.

Dan Hurley's title defense got off to a terrible start, as did his campaign for Citizen of the Year. The Huskies got swept out of the Maui Invitational with an 0-3 record, with Hurley debasing himself by fighting with the refs pretty much nonstop. It was disastrous.

Freshman Liam McNeeley has shown incredible promise, but he's also struggled to stay on the court. He missed over a month with a high ankle sprain, but made his return Friday night against St. John's.

Though it's been a bumpy road, UConn is still going to be a major problem in March. They showed what they could do in handing Marquette just its second home loss of the season last week, and at the time of this writing, had a double-digit lead in the first half against red-hot St. John's. The names on the back of the jerseys are mostly different, but nobody will be excited to see UConn in their region when Selection Sunday comes.