Yeah, take any good player off of any team and you will see a drop. That's common sense, but, I think the situation with Garza is qualitatively different though. The question is whether or not Fran can take credit for what we are seeing with Garza?
From a recruiting standpoint, while he was a very good get for Fran, I wouldn't say he was a major recruiting coup. He wasn't a top 100 prospect nationally and didn't have any "blue-blood" offers. Even Maryland didn't offer despite being in close proximity. Very good job by Fran, but I don't think even he could say with a straight face that he saw this level of a player at the time.
From a play standpoint, Garza's other-worldly ascension from last season to this season has for the most part been self-made. I don't think anyone saw it coming. Fran gets some credit, yes, but for the most part he is just reaping the rewards.
Obviously it's all speculation, but I disagree that trading Garza for JBo, Nunge and Patrick is close. Bohannon would cut into a lot of the minutes played by CJ, so that's basically a wash since we would probably about break even offensively and would take a step back defensively. Also, a lot of the open looks that occur on the perimeter, occur because of the presence of Garza.
That leaves Nunge (who has yet to prove that he's a B1G quality player IMO) and Patrick (an undersized true frosh) as the trade for Garza. Our depth would be better, but in terms of how the records would shake out, I'll take the team with Garza there by a mile.
We may find out next season. I hope Garza stays, but if he leaves and everyone else returns, we'll see almost that exact scenario play out.