I haven’t looked at the rosters for all the final four teams for the last few years, but I don’t believe that either San Diego St. or Florida Atlantic had draft picks on their rosters in 2023. Regardless, I certainly wouldn’t deny that a team has to have good players to chase a championship. Coaching is not going to be enough, experience is not going to be enough AND “talent” (whatever that means to the person using the word) is not going to be enough.
But if you have good enough players to get to a Final Four it’s likely one or more of your players will be drafted – usually even in the 1st round I suppose - although, a top teams best player may be drafted below a lesser teammate (or even not at all) due to the lesser player’s age and perceived upside (i.e., ceiling based on perceived talent).
What I’m confident about, however, is that no team today needs a 5-star freshman, regardless of where he goes or is projected to go in the NBA draft, to win a title. In fact, I believe if not properly used and constrained the 5-star OAD freshman will be counterproductive to winning a title due to the lack of maturity, experience, skill refinement, basketball IQ, etc. They should almost always be a supplemental piece, not expected/allowed to try to carry a team.
