Cinderella. Underdog. The little guy. Whatever you want to call them, teams outside the power-conference structure provide college basketball with much of its March magic. No other sport routinely produces David-versus-Goliath tall tales like the Saint Peter’s run to the 2022 Elite Eight or Florida Atlantic’s Final Four berth last season.
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Like any good magic trick, the prestige often comes as a genuine surprise. No one was talking about FAU this time a year ago; the Owls were picked to finish fifth in Conference USA, yet came within a buzzer-beater of playing UConn in the national title game. That honor instead went to San Diego State, which authored its own longshot journey out of the Mountain West. Meanwhile, No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson stunned Big Ten champion Purdue, and Princeton toppled No. 2 seed Arizona and Missouri en route to the Sweet 16.
We can’t predict who will bust brackets in 2024 — nor would we want to spoil the fun of discovery. But we can highlight 10 mid-major teams worthy of your attention this preseason. For these purposes, we’re including all teams outside the Power 6 conferences except for three who operate like high-majors: Gonzaga, Memphis and, yes, San Diego State (welcome to the big time, Aztecs, not that you weren’t already there).
Click on the team names for a detailed breakdown, including key newcomers and big nonconference opportunities, and maybe you’ll find the next March mid-major magicians.
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Dusty May recently borrowed a page from another South Florida basketball coach’s book — literally and, uh, literarily. Quoting Pat Riley’s “The Winner Within,” May warned his Florida Atlantic players about succumbing to “the disease of me” after their 35-win, Final Four campaign. As Riley described it, those who sacrifice for the team to win often start looking for individual glory after tasting success.
“It’s human nature,” May says. “We’re trying to be self-aware and get out ahead of it. Hopefully, we can overcome the things that typically happen to a team that had the run we had — and try to do it again.”
Selfishness seems like the least of these Owls’ concerns. This is a group, after all, whose two best players (junior wings Johnell Davis and Alijah Martin), willingly came off the bench for large portions of last season. Every player with eligibility returned to Boca Raton and ignored the transfer portal. Even younger players who barely got off the bench a year ago and still have no guarantee of major minutes decided to run it back. May and his staff thought seriously about bringing in a veteran transfer — many were interested in joining — until deciding the chemistry risk wasn’t worth it.
Except for graduated sixth man Michael Forrest, these are the same dudes who stormed through March. But this won’t be a carbon copy of last season. Expectations, basically nonexistent throughout program history, are suddenly enormous, and the Owls greet them head-on with games against Arizona and Illinois and a spot in the ESPN Events Invitational. FAU also leaps from Conference USA to the AAC. “It feels almost as if we all transferred together,” May says.
FAU lineups often featured four players 6-4 and under, and their toughness and tenacity let them beat beefier teams like Tennessee. Three who served as understudies — 6-foot-7 Tre Carroll, 6-8 Isaiah Gaines and 6-9 Brenen Lorient — are gearing up for more important roles going forward. “There are going to be nights when we feel like it’s an advantage for us to be a little bigger,” May says. “They’re all bigger, more athletic versions of guys we have in our program.”
Davis, Martin and 7-foot-1 center Vladislav Goldin proved their chops during the cauldron of March. The big risers this offseason were sophomore point guard Nick Boyd and backup big Giancarlo Rosado. Boyd has added a floater and “is playing with much better pace in the pick-and-roll,” May says; the 6-8 Rosado didn’t attempt a 3 last season but increased his shooting range over the summer.
This remains a super versatile team willing to do whatever it takes to win. True freshman guards Jakel Powell and Devin Vanterpool present a prime example. May told them they’d have little chance to crack the rotation this season barring injuries, but both signed on anyway. The disease of me? Florida Atlantic still prefers the power of us.
Key Returners
Johnell Davis
Guard
Alijah Martin
Guard
Vladislav Goldin
Big
Nick Boyd
Guard
Key Newcomers
Devin Vanterpool
Guard
Jakel Powell
Guard
Big Noncon Games
Penn State or Texas A&M (Orlando)
Nov. 24
Illinois (New York City)
Dec. 5
Arizona (Las Vegas)
Dec. 23
American Athletic
It can’t be said enough: Randy Bennett has engineered an enduring miracle in Moraga.
Saint Mary’s has an enrollment of just 2,700, plays in a 3,500-seat gym and generates less than a third of San Diego State’s men’s basketball revenue. Yet the Gaels have won at least 25 games in 12 of the past 16 seasons and just keep getting better; they’ve earned back-to-back No. 5 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and claimed the top seed over Gonzaga in the 2023 WCC tournament. They finished last season No. 11 in the NET and 13th at KenPom. If not for the misfortune of drawing UConn in the second round (and Alex Ducas’ first-half back injury during that game; the Gaels led with 16 minutes to go), maybe Saint Mary’s would have been March’s mid-major darling.
Bennett lost just two rotation players from last season’s squad, although they were ultra-important ones. Multi-year starters Logan Johnson and Kyle Bowen were the primary stoppers on a defense that finished in the top 13 at KenPom each of the past three seasons.
“We’ve got to replace that leadership, and we’ve got to replace that toughness,” Bennett says. “That was our identity. We weren’t sexy the past few years. We were gritty, not pretty.”
But these Gaels might boast a bit more bucket-getting glamour, especially if sophomore guard Aidan Mahaney keeps rising. He made the All-WCC team as a freshman and earned a reputation as a big-shot maker; in one eight-day stretch, he drilled the game-winner at BYU; dropped 17 on San Francisco; and took down Gonzaga in overtime with a plethora of clutch moments. He hit 40 percent from 3 and befuddled defenders with his herky-jerky moves, but he also struggled against the bigger, faster guards of VCU and UConn in the tournament, scoring just nine total points.
“He needs to get stronger so he can get through screens,” Bennett says. “He needs to be a better playmaker as well as a scorer — we need him to be like a four- or five-assist guy. And he needs to become a consistent defender. But he’s had a good offseason.”
Ducas returns for a fifth season and brings elite shot-making and leadership — “he’s our alpha,” Bennett says. There’s size inside with 6-foot-10 senior Mitchell Saxen and 7-foot sophomore Harry Wessels, the latter of whom made key strides this summer. Lithuanian guard Augustas Marciulionis, a rotation player for the past two years, moves into a starting role as a junior. “He’s next up,” Bennett says. “It’s time for him to be a real good starter and a guy who can score for us.”
Harvard transfer Mason Forbes comes off a sit-out year and could replace some of Bowen’s wing defense, while 6-3 freshman point guard Jordan Ross — a four-star recruit who won a Peach Jam title with MOKAN Elite — injects more athleticism and playmaking.
“I do think we have a lot of good players, and one of our toughest challenges will be getting it down to your nine or 10 guys and finding roles,” Bennett says. “Everybody has to get a little better. We can get a lot better if that happens.”
With the Moraga miracle worker in charge, you can pretty much count on it.
Key Returners
Adian Mahaney
Guard
Alex Ducas
Guard
Mitchell Saxen
Big
Key Newcomers
Mason Forbes
Forward
Jordan Ross
Guard
Big Noncon Games
San Diego State (Las Vegas)
Nov. 17
Utah
Nov. 27
Boise State (Idaho Falls)
Dec. 1
West Coast
San Diego State is the class of the Mountain West, but don’t ignore Boise State’s upward trajectory. Almost always good under Leon Rice, the Broncos won the league’s regular-season and tournament titles in 2022 and hovered around the top 30 of the NET and KenPom rankings most of last season before earning a No. 10 seed. The program’s first NCAA Tournament win, however, remains elusive.
“First, you’ve got to get there and then get there somewhat consistently, and that creates those opportunities,” says Rice, who’s entering his 14th season. “Keep crossing those milestones and keep knocking on the door, and eventually you’ll get those next steps.”
Don’t be surprised if this is the year for that breakthrough. Rice has one of his deepest rosters, and while the past two seasons were built on top-30 defenses, these Broncos are full of versatile options on the other end.
“We’re not going to let our defense slide at all,” Rice says, “but I think this team could be a pretty darn efficient offensive team. We have a lot of balance, and I love the way we share the ball.”
It begins with Tyson Degenhart, the do-it-all, 6-7 junior who might well be the Mountain West’s best player. He was often pushed into playing center out of necessity last season, and while he has a strong post-up game, he’s much more of a mismatch threat on the perimeter. Degenhart’s 3-point shooting dipped to 32.7 percent last year from 42.5 percent as a freshman, and Rice says that’s primarily because he was playing out of position.
“He’s an elite, elite shooter,” Rice says. “He just didn’t get enough chances to show that last year. You’re going to see big strides in Tyson’s game.”
Boise State can still go small with Degenhart at the five, but transfers Cam Martin (Kansas) and O’Mar Stanley (St. John’s) will primarily man the post. Martin was a three-time Division II All-American who played just 10 total minutes in two seasons with the Jayhawks because of injuries and talent ahead of him. But at 6-9 with perimeter skills — “he’s like a point guard playing center,” Rice says — Martin makes for a fascinating frontcourt pairing with Degenhart. The Broncos could load the floor with shooting and utilize some deadly pick-and-rolls with those two and senior guards Max Rice and Chibuzo Agbo, who each connected on 40 percent of their 3s last season.
The main concern: replacing Marcus Shaver Jr. at point guard. Shaver bailed the team out whenever the offense stagnated and never shied from taking over in the clutch. San Diego transfer Roddie Anderson III and sophomore Jace Whiting are battling in practice for the starting job. Anderson has quick-twitch athleticism and likes to get to the rim, while Whiting is a less flashy but perhaps steadier hand. Martin, Max Rice and Degenhart are comfortable initiating the offense as well, lessening the pressure on the point guard position.
Keep an eye on 6-7 freshman Andrew Meadow, who scored 31 points in the team’s first Canadian exhibition game this summer. Meadow, who played on the same grassroots team as Bronny James, is sure to be a cult hero with his long hair and dark-rimmed glasses. “It’s Kurt Rambis / the Hanson Brothers from ‘Slapshot,’” Rice says. “We have tons of belief in him. He’s played on some big stages.”
It could be time for the Broncos to do the same.
Key Returners
Tyson Degenhart
Forward
Max Rice
Guard
Chibuzo Agbo
Guard
Key Newcomers
Cam Martin
Big
O'Mar Stanley
Big
Roddie Anderson III
Guard
Big Noncon Games
at Clemson
Nov. 19
Virginia Tech (Orlando)
Nov. 23
Saint Mary's (Idaho Falls)
Dec. 1
Mountain West
How unlucky can one program be? In 2020, the Obi Toppin-led Flyers would have been a No. 1 seed in the COVID-19-canceled NCAA Tournament. In 2021-22, Dayton beat eventual national champion Kansas in November but was the first team left out of the field of 68. Last season’s squad, decimated by injuries, lost to VCU in the Atlantic 10 title game.
Perhaps the karma is ready to turn. If so, it’ll probably be because DaRon Holmes II did the pushing. The 6-10 Holmes was the highest-ranked recruit in Dayton history, and he’s somehow still on campus as a junior. After averaging 18.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and nearly two blocks as a sophomore, Holmes went to the NBA Combine with intentions of turning pro. There were also some blue-blood schools eagerly anticipating his entry into the transfer portal. He did neither, opting for one more ride with the Flyers.
“I didn’t really know too much about all that,” Holmes says of the transfer rumors. “Maybe my family knows more than I do. But I knew Dayton was the place for me. It’s home. I’ve been developing here already, so it’s like, why (leave)?”
NBA front-office types want to see Holmes improve on the perimeter, both in stretching the floor offensively and guarding quicker players. He took just 19 3s last year (making six) but has been hoisting at least 350 per day during his offseason workouts. “That number will definitely go up,” he says of his long-range attempts.
Holmes remains most effective inside; he led the nation in dunks (89) and shot 70.8 percent at the rim, according to CBB Analytics. While it’s unfair to compare him to Toppin, Holmes committed to Dayton largely because of Toppin’s success. And Toppin was a mobile five man who became the national player of the year in his third season with the program, which Holmes is entering now. Holmes says Toppin has given him words of wisdom and reminded him this summer “to be the anchor on offense, be versatile, be able to do it all.”
But for the Flyers to return to the NCAA Tournament, they’ll need better health in the backcourt. Starting guards Malachi Smith and Koby Brea missed significant chunks of time last season and were lesser versions of themselves when they were on the court. Smith had offseason surgery on both ankles, while Brea underwent operations on both tibias. Guard Kobe Elvis also sat out nearly half the year, although he avoided the knife.
Neither Smith nor Brea played on the Flyers’ summer exhibition tour in Europe, which meant extra minutes for transfers Javon Bennett (Merrimack) and Enoch Cheeks (Robert Morris). Both provide backcourt insurance at the very least; if Smith and Brea are fully recovered, coach Anthony Grant will finally have depth and enough ballhandlers to space the floor around Holmes. With forwards Mustapha Amzil and Toumani Camara gone, the Flyers are likely to showcase many three-guard lineups, as they often did in the enchanted 2019-2020 campaign. Pitt transfer Nate Santos and 6-11 Buffalo import Isaac Jack give Grant the option to go bigger, while 6-4 freshman Marvel Allen — a top 150 recruit who played at powerhouse Montverde (Fla.) Academy — could push for early playing time.
With VCU going through a coaching transition, the Flyers are the clear A-10 favorites. Is this the year they get a little luck?
“It’s definitely going to come around,” Holmes says.
Key Returners
DaRon Holmes II
Big
Malachi Smith
Guard
Koby Brea
Guard
Kobe Elvis
Guard
Key Newcomers
Enoch Cheeks
Guard
Javon Bennett
Guard
Isaac Jack
Big
Big Noncon Games
at Northwestern
Nov. 10
LSU (Charleston)
Nov. 16
at Cincinnati
Dec. 16
Atlantic 10
Sure, Princeton carried the Ivy League banner to the Sweet 16, but Yale beat the Tigers twice in the regular season before losing as the No. 1 seed in the league tournament final — on Princeton’s home floor. Yale coach James Jones says he and his team never played the what-if game but “we’re certainly going to try to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Bulldogs are surefire Ivy favorites, as they return four starters and 75 percent of their scoring after leading the league in offensive and defensive efficiency last season. “This is my most talented team from top to bottom,” says Jones, who has taken Yale to three of the past six NCAA Tournaments in which the Ivy participated, including a 2016 first-round upset over Baylor.
The offense revolves around senior forward Matt Knowling, a midrange maestro who shot 62.5 percent from the field last season despite battling a painful calcium deposit in his biceps. A veteran backcourt features reigning Ivy defensive player of the year Bez Mbeng and sharpshooters August Mahoney and John Poulakidas.
The Bulldogs must replace All-Ivy center EJ Jarvis but have some intriguing young post options. Sophomore 7-footer Danny Wolf led the FIBA U20 European Championships in rebounding and was second in scoring this summer while playing for Team Israel. “He grew late and still moves like a guard,” Jones says. “I don’t dare say he’s like (Nikola) Jokic, but he’s got a lot of similarities.” And 6-9 freshman Samson Aletan turned down offers from Texas, Texas A&M and Kansas State, among others.
Jones also added Northwestern transfer Casey Simmons, a 6-6 sophomore wing and former four-star recruit. “He’s really long and athletic,” Jones says. “He’ll bring another dimension to our team and can help us shut other teams down.”
Yale looks so loaded that Jones says his only real concern is keeping everybody on the roster happy and “managing expectations.” We’ll all get a sense of how good this team can be when it plays at Gonzaga and at Kansas in nonconference play. “That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?” Jones says with a laugh. High-major opponents beware: It likely won’t be much fun to see these Bulldogs in March.
Key Returners
Matt Knowling
Forward
Bez Mbeng
Guard
John Poulakidas
Guard
August Mahoney
Guard
Key Newcomers
Casey Simmons
Wing
Samson Aletan
Big
Big Noncon Games
at Gonzaga
Nov. 10
at Kansas
Dec. 22
Ivy League
Drake has reached two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, including an at-large bid and a First Four win in 2021. Three key players from that run — guards Roman Penn, DJ Wilkins and Garrett Sturtz — finished their eligibility last season, and nine new players populate this roster. That degree of turnover is usually deleterious, but we defer to Drake’s DeVries duo.
That would be head coach Darian DeVries, who has built a winning culture in Des Moines, and his son, Tucker. Last season, Tucker DeVries became just the fourth sophomore to win the Missouri Valley Player of the Year award after averaging 18.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from 3 on seven attempts per game. The 6-7 wing may lack explosiveness, but he can bury contested jumpers and get into his pull-up game with a high release and flawless mechanics. Tucker accounted for 30 percent of the team’s shots a season ago and could take on an even heavier load after those veteran departures.
“His body has become more filled out,” Darian says of Tucker, who was listed at 210 pounds a year ago. “And you can tell he’s more experienced by the way he’s playing. He’s learning how to get open, how to stop and start and how to set up defenders. Those are all the things he’s going to have to get better at as defenses focus on him even more.”
Tucker DeVries is at his best operating outside the paint; luckily, the Bulldogs can leave the interior dirty work to their other returning veteran, sixth-year big Darnell Brodie. The 6-10 wrecking ball has slimmed down to 270 pounds this offseason after playing as high as 290. The hope is that Brodie, who has averaged 11.5 rebounds per 40 minutes at Drake, can stay on the floor even longer than his career-best 24.8 minutes per game last season. “I think he has a chance to be an all-league guy with the work he’s done and the shape he’s gotten himself in,” Darian DeVries says.
Four D1 transfers arrive, three of whom — guards Atin Wright (Cal State Northridge), Ethan Roberts (Army) and Kyron Gibson (UT Arlington) — were double-digit scorers at their previous stops. All three can stroke it from deep, as can Conor Enright, who made the Valley all-freshman team last season.
“We’ve got a lot of options on offense and can really spread it around and space people out,” Darian DeVries says.
Replicating last year’s top-40 defense could prove much tougher, especially without the ball-hawking skills of Penn and Wilkins. The challenge of integrating all those new players is another reason to doubt Drake can make it back to March Madness. But with one DeVries potentially vying for All-America honors and another becoming a hot name on the coaching carousel, we’ll bet on these Bulldogs.
Key Returners
Tucker DeVries
Wing
Darnell Brodie
Big
Conor Enright
Guard
Key Newcomers
Atin Wright
Guard
Ethan Roberts
Guard
Kyron Gibson
Guard
Big Noncon Games
Saint Louis
Dec. 6
Nevada (Henderson, NV)
Dec. 9
at UAB
Dec. 22
Missouri Valley
On Jan. 20, New Mexico was 18-2 and ranked 25th in the AP poll, with true road wins over Saint Mary’s and San Diego State. Then the Lobos finished the regular season 3-8, lost in the Mountain West quarterfinals and settled for the NIT. Included in that closing stretch were two losses in The Pit on buzzer-beaters (one by San Diego State’s Lamont Butler, who turned out to be, you know, pretty good at those) and two more when star point guard Jaelen House was out with a hamstring strain.
“It was a really good season for Year 2 of a rebuild,” third-year Lobos coach Richard Pitino says. “But it could have been a phenomenal season if those four games went the other way.”
The first NCAA Tournament bid since 2014 should be the goal now for this proud program. Experienced, playmaking guards are almost always a winning recipe in college basketball, and New Mexico has the senior combo of House, who averaged 16.9 points and 4.7 assists and finished second in Division I in steals, and Jamal Mashburn Jr., who has led the team in scoring each of the past two years.
“I think we have one of the best backcourts in the country,” Pitino says. “They’re both dynamic scoring the basketball, they’re hard to guard and they’re older. They’re at the age where all they care about is making the NCAA Tournament.”
They’ll be joined on the perimeter by another graybeard, Jemarl Baker Jr., who began his career at Kentucky and is now with his fourth school in seven years. Though oft-injured, Baker can’t be left open beyond the arc; he set a Fresno State record last season by burying 10 3-pointers in a game. The Lobos ranked 353rd in 3-point attempt percentage last season despite having good shooters in Mashburn and House; Baker and 6-9 stretch four Mustapha Amzil, who shot 37 percent from 3 for Dayton in 2022-23, will allow Pitino to play more four-out sets.
Then again, scoring hasn’t been the problem. The Lobos finished 24th nationally in adjusted offense and led the Mountain West in points per game — but also ranked last in the league points allowed. The defense fell off a cliff in the final 10 games, when they allowed 114.5 points per 100 possessions, in the bottom fourth percentile nationally. With the 6-8, offensive-minded Morris Udeze at center, New Mexico ranked last in the conference in block percentage. In comes 6-10 transfer Nelly Junior Joseph, who finished in the top 150 nationally in block percentage the past three seasons at Iona under Pitino’s father.
Mashburn and House are both slightly built and aren’t coming off the floor much, so there’s always going to be some size vulnerability. But Amzil, Joseph and 6-5 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer Isaac Mushila provide more respectable length. Pitino also added a pair of four-star recruits in 6-9 forward JT Toppin and 6-4 guard Tru Washington, who each could earn immediate minutes.
“The hope is now that we have more depth so if we have an injury or something like that, that we can sustain it a little bit better,” Pitino says.
Key Returners
Jaelen House
Guard
Jamal Mashburn Jr.
Guard
Key Newcomers
Nelly Junior Joseph
Big
Mustapha Amzil
Forward
Isaac Mushila
Forward
Big Noncon Games
At Saint Mary’s
Nov. 9
UC Santa Barbara
Dec. 6
Santa Clara (Henderson, Nev.)
Dec. 9
Mountain West
John Groce has likened this Akron season to “The Last Dance,” the 2020 documentary about Michael Jordan and friends’ final Chicago Bulls season. The Zips are a rare-earth element in college basketball these days, especially at the mid-major level. They’ll have five fifth-year seniors in the rotation, including four players who started the 2022 NCAA Tournament near-upset of UCLA.
“What we have,” Groce says, “is an absurd amount of old.”
There’s a definite “getting the band back together” vibe in Rubber City. Ali Ali, who led Akron in scoring two years ago, boomeranged back to the Zips after one injury-plagued season at Butler. Wing Mikal Dawson also is back after missing all of last season with injuries. Groce didn’t lose any key players to the transfer portal and credits senior Enrique Freeman as the main reason why everyone wants to stick around.
Freeman, a former walk-on, averaged 16.8 points and 11.2 rebounds last season while shooting 61.6 percent from the floor, one year after leading the country in field-goal percentage and earning MAC defensive player of the year honors. Even though Freeman tested the NBA Draft waters, he didn’t seriously consider leaving for a bigger college program, opting instead to pursue his MBA at Akron.
“He’s an unbelievable story,” Groce says. “He’s like the pied piper for us.”
High-scoring guards usually rule the MAC, but the Zips will play through their frontcourt. Freeman’s wingspan allows him to play bigger than his listed 6-7, while the 6-9, 235-pound Sammy Hunter can split time with him at the five. Hunter, another fifth-year senior and a former Ole Miss transfer, gave a glimpse of his potential by scoring 51 points in the team’s final two regular-season games. Throw in the 6-8 Ali, and “We have power-conference size and length,” Groce says.
The question marks come in the backcourt, where the Zips must replace the MAC’s leading scorer, Xavier Castaneda. Groce brought in Northern Illinois transfer Kaleb Thornton, who ranked second in the MAC in assists and fourth in steals last season. But he’s not guaranteed to start, as sophomore Tavari Johnson and Wichita State transfer Shammah Scott are angling for the gig. Greg Tribble, a non-shooter but arguably the MAC’s best perimeter defender, can slide over to the one. He’s a fifth-year senior, too.
Groce says this is the deepest team he’s had in his seven years at Akron, and it’s certainly the oldest he will ever coach. The best part, he says, is that the veterans only care about each other and about winning. Can this last dance lead to a spot in the Big Dance? Groce is simply trying to enjoy each step.
“We’ve got a culture that’s unbelievable right now,” he says. “We think we have a special team and a special chance to do something significant with our group.”
Key Returners
Enrique Freeman
Big
Greg Tribble
Guard
Sammy Hunter
Big
Mikal Dawson
Wing
Key Newcomers
Ali Ali
Forward
Kaleb Thornton
Guard
Shammah Scott
Guard
Big Noncon Games
At UNLV
Nov. 28
Bradley
Dec. 5
St. Bonaventure (Cleveland)
Dec. 30
Mid-American
View it as a sign of respect that Charleston — which returned only three players who saw time last season — couldn’t schedule a single game against a power-conference opponent. “We called everybody,” third-year Cougars coach Pat Kelsey says. “We couldn’t even get bought.”
High-majors aren’t interested in tussling with a Kelsey-coached squad. Charleston won 31 games last season, beating Virginia Tech and pushing North Carolina in Chapel Hill before losing a close one to San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament first round. In 2020-21, Kelsey’s final team at Winthrop entered the tournament 23-1 — but had the ill fate of drawing Villanova in the first round.
The names on the uniform change, but there are a few constants on Kelsey’s teams. They’re going to play one of the fastest tempos in the country, they’re going to come at you with waves of players and they’re going to have talent from everywhere — Division II transfers, international imports, you name it.
“We’re not afraid to take guys if they fit our system regardless of where they come from,” Kelsey says. “I like to think one of our strengths is putting pieces together and building chemistry.”
So he’s not daunted by the challenge of blending so many new faces. They include a two players who squared off in the Division II national title game: 6-foot-5 guard Bryce Butler, a D2 All-American at West Liberty, and 6-3 guard Kobe Rodgers, a glue guy/stopper for the 36-0 champs, Nova Southeastern. Add in two mid-major transfers in point guard C.J. Fulton (Lafayette), who ranked in the top 20 nationally in assist-to-turnover rate, and Frankie Policelli (Stony Brook), who led the CAA in rebounding last season.
Helping continuity are three redshirt freshmen, the most interesting of whom is 6-4 guard Evan Kilminster, who played alongside Duke’s Tyrese Proctor and the NBA’s Dyson Daniels at the Australian Institute of Sport. Two promising recruits also join, including 6-11 pogo stick James Scott, who just turned 18 and is, in Kelsey’s words, “a baby deer” with a bright future.
Returners Reyne Smith, Ben Burnham and Ante Brzovic form the nucleus. Smith, another Aussie, is a career 36 percent shooter from distance who made 90 percent from the free-throw line. The 6-7 Burnham hit 44 percent of his 3s. The linchpin is the 6-10 Brzovic. A D2 transfer last year, the Croatian entered the season as the third-string big man but put up 15 points in 15 minutes in Game 2 at UNC. His playing time gradually increased, and in four postseason games, he averaged 15.5 points and eight rebounds. His per-40 averages of 24.4 points and 12.5 rebounds portend more, though Kelsey rarely plays anybody over 30 minutes.
“Ante is a play-through guy,” Kelsey says. “Good things happen when the ball’s in his hands in the post because he can. score and pass. And he makes big plays in big moments.”
The CAA looks improved this year, so another 30-win campaign seems unlikely. But Kelsey says, “I think we have the potential to be really good.” Potential high-major opponents apparently agree.
Key Returners
Ante Brzovic
Big
Reyne Smith
Guard
Ben Burnham
Wing
Key Newcomers
CJ Fulton
Guard
Frankie Policelli
Forward
Bryce Butler
Guard
Big Noncon Games
at Florida Atlantic
Dec. 2
Coastal Athletic Association
Few teams at the true mid-major level — i.e., not the Mountain West or Atlantic 10 or WCC — can claim as much pure skill as the Gauchos, who are coming off a 27-win season and their second NCAA Tournament berth in three years. But there’s a big catch, as coach Joe Pasternack saw when he took this year’s group on a Canadian exhibition tour this summer.
“We learned we’re inexperienced,” Pasternack says with a laugh. “A lot of turnovers. Long way to go.”
Pasternack, a former Arizona assistant, knows how to assemble talent and brought in some highly regarded transfers. Still, this roster severely lacks Division I experience. Take Yohan Traore, for example. He was a five-star, top-25 recruit who saw only token minutes as a freshman at Auburn. At 6-10 with soft hands, great wheels and a burning motor, he’s a Big West unicorn. But he’s still learning how to play. The same can be said for Mezziah Oakman, a 7-foot junior college import, or Ben Shtolzberg, a 6-4 combo guard who understandably got buried on the bench on an outstanding Creighton team. Freshmen Kilian Brockhoff — a 6-9 stretch four who had success on the German youth national teams — and Jason Fontenet II also look promising, but they remain trainees.
“It’s a situation where in practice we’re doing a lot of teaching,” Pasternack says. “It’s not a full team of returners like I’ve had in the past where we can hit the ground running. We’re really introducing just the basics.”
At least there’s an enviable core of three true veterans. Ajay Mitchell was the Big West player of the year after averaging 16.3 points, a conference-best 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the field. The one knock on Mitchell is that he’s a career 29 percent 3-point shooter, but Pasternack is convinced he can bring that number up. Fifth-year senior Josh Pierre-Louis is the team’s best athlete, who rebounds, guards the other team’s best player and can go get a bucket. Junior guard Cole Anderson, the sixth man last season, is a 40 percent career 3-point shooter.
Those three must guide the youngsters, especially early on when things might look pretty rough. This probably isn’t a top-10 mid-major team in November. But by March, with this talent?
“We just have to survive the nonconference and keep chipping way and get that experience,” Pasternack says. “I think our best days will be ahead of us.”
Key Returners
Ajay Mitchell
Guard
Josh Pierre-Louis
Guard
Cole Anderson
Guard
Key Newcomers
Yohan Traore
Big
Ben Shtolzberg
Guard
Mezziah Oakman
Big
Big Noncon Games
at New Mexico
Dec. 6
Also considered (in alphabetical order): Bradley, Colgate, Colorado State, Duquesne, Grand Canyon, Nevada, UNC Asheville, St. Bonaventure, San Francisco, VCU
About this story: Development by Marc Mazzoni. Design by Megan McMillan and Drew Jordan. Design direction by Amy Cavenaile. Photos of DaRon Holmes II, Aidan Mahaney and Alijah Martin: Mike Stobe, Ethan Miller and Carmen Mandato / Getty Images.
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