Preview: Conference USA men’s basketball

Projected Order of Finish

Liberty Flames

No team returns talent more consistently than Ritchie McKay’s team. The trio of Kaden Metheny, Zach Cleveland, and Colin Porter return to the Flames for their final year of eligibility, and Isaiah Ihnen is back to hold down the middle. A small bunch of newcomers led by West Liberty (DII) transfer JJ Harper and former Virginia Tech forward Ryan James Jr. join the team, and former Stetson big man Josh Smith comes back following a redshirt year with the Flames.

With another year of the same core that finished third nationally in opposing 3-point percentage and sixth nationally in 3-point percentage, expect another year of good spacing, expert perimeter defense, and good quality shots taken by a team that makes very few mistakes and knocks down shots at an efficient level (fifth in NCAA EFG%).

Bottom Line: The Flames are set to continue what has been the most efficient mid-major offense we have seen in quite some time, with a long list of returners and expertly chosen transfers.

“Retention in this day and age is so critical, and I’d say even more so for mid-major programs, because our guys are on display for all the high majors who are resourced well enough to say, ‘hey, we would like to add you to our program,’ so having the commitment of those guys to come back and stay a part of our university and a part of our program means a whole lot, and that there couldn’t be finer representatives of our university and in the way they are as people and and as players,”

Liberty Head Coach Ritchie McKay said.

Kennesaw State Owls

The return of Simeon Cottle to Kennesaw, Georgia, should be met with thunderous applause. Cottle brings back half of the highest-scoring backcourt in the conference last season, and head coach Antoine Pettway replaces Adrian Wooley’s absence with the return of 2023-24 ASUN All-Freshman teamer RJ Johnson coming off a redshirt season and a duo of high-production freshmen in three-star recruits Darius Washington III and Kaden Rickard. In the frontcourt, CUSA All-freshman team forward Braedan Lue returns to be one of the top big men in the conference, with Perry Smith Jr. coming in from NC Central and three-star freshmen Amir Taylor and Isaiah Simpson to replace the void left by Rongie Gordon’s departure. Jamil Miller returns as a key rotational piece from last season to hold down the wing position for the Owls.

The guarantees of Cottle and Lue are enough to place this team firmly toward the top of the conference, but possibly the most exciting things are the unknowns. Under coach Pettway, the Owls have had a player make their conference’s all-freshman team in both of his seasons at the helm, with Lue and Wooley being the most recent examples last season. With a freshman group featuring Rickard, Taylor, Simpson and Washington, the potential is oozing from this team with the possibility of their first conference title in just their second year in the league.

Bottom Line: An impactful returning group looks to pair well with the highest-rated freshman group in the conference to reach the highest ceiling that the Owls have seen … possibly ever.

“In this landscape in college basketball, a lot of teams are falling in love with the portal, [but] my comfort zone is more relationship-based, so I enjoy developing relationships the freshmen we’ve got. It’s a relationship that goes back two years, three years sometimes, where we recruit them and they get to know us, we get to know their families, and we get a chance to bring them in and have a real, meaningful relationship from day one, instead of, you know, doing speed dating in the portal a lot of times,”

KSU head coach Antoine Pettway said.

New Mexico State Aggies

Three years into the Jason Hooten era in Las Cruces, the Aggies have mastered the art of catch-and-release in the transfer portal era. This year’s haul may be the most talented Hooten has ever brought in, with guards Jemel Jones (18.9 ppg at CSU-Bakersfield), Elijah Elliot (14.0 ppg at Southern Illinois), Jayland Randall (15.0 ppg at Southern Indiana) and Chris Terrell (21.2 ppg at DII Delta State) all coming in to battle for starting roles. They join a defensively-oriented group of forwards highlighted by Idaho transfer Julius Mims and East Carolina transfer Cyr Malonga.

It’s going to be hard to bet against a New Mexico St. team that seems to be without a specific weakness to exploit other than the entire roster being new, but if Hooten can bring this team together and find a way to combine the scoring talents of his strong group of previously high-usage guards, the Aggies are in for a possible big season in the Conference USA.

Bottom Line: The scoring talent in the backcourt gives this team a high ceiling with the potential to make its way to the top of C-USA if they can find cohesion.

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

Kamari Lands gets his shot to come alive. Last season, the 6-foot-8-inch guard who transferred in from Arizona State battled with injuries and juggling scoring duties with guards Cam Weston and Jestin Porter a season ago. Now healthy, Lands should be the main guard in a room with talented distributor Sean Smith coming in from Western Illinois to run the point and Northern Illinois product James Dent Jr. adding to the prolific backcourt.

Up front, Torey Alston slots into the forward position to lead the frontcourt with the loss of Essam Mostafa, while Chris Loofe finally gets his shot after two years playing backup. The main question for head coach Nicholas McDevitt will be that frontcourt depth, with freshman Luka Jovanovic coming in from the Serbian KLS league as a wild card in the conference with the potential to star for MTSU.

Bottom Line: Talented returners get to step into bigger roles with new transfers to support their development.

“Last year, Torey, until Kamari got hurt, was kind of coming off the bench as somewhat of Kamari’s replacement, and now you want to find a way to get those two guys out there together as much as possible with those two being two of our better players, and so that’s building on-court. Chemistry is really important, and then it’s not just those two with each other, but those two with the other three guys that are out there. That group of five has to play well together, but they’ve been really receptive to some of the schematic changes that we’ve made, [and] some of the new additions to what we’re doing on the offensive end to try to highlight those two and I think they’re doing a great job,”

MTSU head Coach Nicholas McDevitt said.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Going into his second year at the helm in Bowling Green, head coach Hank Plona looks to avoid a collapse like his team experienced last season within a rigorous travel schedule. The Hilltoppers add high-quality transfers in guard Cam Haffner (Evansville) and forward Grant Newell (North Texas) to lead the offense, while a large array of returners look to slot into expanded roles nicely. Guard Teagan Moore comes off a redshirt year while guard Jack Edelen and forward/center Blaise Keita slot into higher-impact positions in the lineup.

On top of that, Plona adds additional support pieces in guard Ryan Myers from Western Illinois, forwards Louie Semana from Stonehill and Bryant Selebangue from McNeese St. and seven-footer Noah Boyde from LSU. The only piece this team lacks seems to be an evident main scorer, but with so many players coming off high-usage seasons at their respective schools, the Hilltoppers hope one of their many transfers will rise to the top.

Bottom Line: A deep class of transfers meets many needs that the Hilltoppers have, but it remains to be seen who rises to the top and leads this breakneck offense.

“We skidded into the finish line a little bit. Obviously a little bit that was probably physical, and not having all of our pieces. If I learned anything, we had made the tournament two years before, and when we appeared that we weren’t in position necessarily, to get back, I think some of the guys struggled to handle getting to that finish line…so it just kind of felt like a natural conclusion for that two-year group, and so I think at the end of the season, we knew would be a kind of a restart and this kind of feels like kind of ‘Year Zero’ slash ‘Year One,’ of starting with the new team,”

WKU Head Coach Hank Plona said

Florida International Panthers

Head coach Jeremy Ballard brings in possibly his most complete team to Miami since his first year with the program in the 2018-19 season. New Mexico State transfer Zawdie Jackson and Houston Christian addition Julian Mackey provide a scoring punch up top, while big men like Larry Olayinka (Samford) and international transfer Gvidas Gicevicius bring depth in the middle. CSU Bakersfield transfer Corey Stephenson comes off a big year in the Big West as well to bring a talented wing to the lineup.

Other transfers such as Brit Harris (USC Upstate), Amarion Nimmers (DII Tampa) and Kennedy Brown (DII Roosevelt) add to the depth that this team has contrary to past years, with returner Ashton Williamson making this room of guards go legitimately five-deep.

Bottom Line: The Panthers might have their best, most well-balanced roster in years, and hope to use that against what might be the most difficult travel schedule in C-USA.

“Well, you know, we’re a team that traditionally plays very fast as well, and we certainly like to be back in that upper echelon of tempo. This is a very diverse league and all aspects, but I think the big thing for us is we just want to try to make the game be played on our terms, regardless of what the other team is doing, and we want to apply pressure offensively. We want to apply pressure defensively, and if we could try to make the other team play the style we’re most comfortable with, we feel like that’ll give us the best chance to win,”

FIU Head Coach Jeremy Ballard said

Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Another guard-heavy transfer class highlights Ray Harper’s first team post-Jaron Pierre in Jacksonville. Louisiana transfer Mostapha El Moutaouakkil leads a backcourt with HBCU transfers AC Bryant (Alabama A&M), Toby Nnadozie (Coppin St.) and Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. (Tennessee St.) as they join returner Jamar Franklin, who was averaging 10.4 points per game alongside Pierre last season before a season-ending injury.

As for big men, a duo of non-DI transfers in Emondrek Erkins-Ford (Eastern Florida State College) and Aitor Anabitorte (St. Francis (Ill.)) improve the interior with the efforts of returning seven-footer Iaroslav Niagu.

Bottom Line: It’s always hard losing a piece as electric of Jaron Pierre, but a solid group of transfer guards will make sure that the Gamecocks won’t be out of the conversation in the conference.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

With Daniel Batcho gone, it’s back to the drawing board for the Bulldogs. Guard Kaden Cooper returns to lead the team following a productive season while 6’8 forward Will Jeffress returns with his season only lasting three games last year before a season-ending injury. Other than the main two, Talvin Hester adds a long list of community college and JuCo transfers plus Scooter Williams from East Texas A&M and Sir Issac Herron from Oral Roberts to hold down the middle.

Returning sophomore guard AJ Bates looks to be the favorite to start alongside Williams and Cooper in the backcourt, but many of the questions around this team revolve around how the talent translates to a league like C-USA. It is only a matter of time before a possible diamond comes from the long list of transfers.

Bottom Line: The Bulldogs look to be in a bit of a rebuilding year, but key returners may be enough to power this team to some conference success.

Missouri State Bears

Cuonzo Martin gets his first taste of the C-USA this season while maintaining two key pieces from last year’s squad. Forward Michael Osei-Bonsu and combo guard Zaxton King bring back some scoring from last season while Martin loads up on height in the frontcourt to combat a much more physical C-USA. 6-foot-9 forward Darrion Sutton (Georgia Tech) and 6-foot-8 guard/forward Amar Kuljuhovic (North Dakota) add size and rebounding while guards Antwan Barnett (Grambling St.), Kobi Williams (DII Truman St.) and Tyrique Brooks (DII Missouri Southern) bring scoring to the frontcourt.

Bottom Line: It will be interesting to see how Missouri St. responds following a lackluster season in the Missouri Valley conference, but this team is built to take on C-USA physicality.

“Well, the one thing we talked about, in order to be great, it will take everything you have in you, and that’s on a consistent basis, until the buzzer sounda, and when the buzzer sounds, that means the season is over. Then the other part is: ‘what are you willing to sacrifice to be successful?‘ We have to sacrifice the individual. You have to sacrifice things as a team to do what’s best for our guys, and then we always talk about the cost of greatness, man, and it takes a lot out of you. This is a great league. You have a lot of different coaches, a lot of different styles, but the key is, can you impose your style on the competition to win basketball games,”

MSU Head Coach Cuonzo Martin said.

UTEP Miners

Another team ransacked by the transfer portal has had to rebuild itself in one offseason through the exact way it was taken apart. 6-foot-9 forward Kaseem Watson comes in from Delaware State and Jamal West Jr. joins the team off a productive season at Nicholls to give the Miners a solid unit of forwards, while the backcourt looks to be led by UL-Monroe transfer Tyreese Watson and Arkansas Tech product Cassius Winston. Two under-the-radar transfers in Elijah Jones and Trey Horton III look to gain expanded roles following the loss of most of the Miner’s core from last season.

Bottom Line: The Miners lack the offensive punch that it takes to be truly competitive in C-USA, but it remains to be seen how well the transfers carry their success over to a higher level of play.

Sam Houston State Bearkats

The Bearkats come into the season with a large scoring void to fill following the departure of Lamar Wilkerson, and it’s always difficult to replace a player as talented as the two-time All-CUSA selection. Po’Boigh King comes in from NC Central to fill a major part of that scoring void, and the Bearkats add Isaiah Manning (TCU) and Veljko Ilic (Loyola Maryland) to bring skill to the frontcourt, but most of the team’s production looks to come from the duo of redshirts from last season in Damon Nicholas Jr. and CJ Beaumont. Kashie Natt transfers in after averaging 19.9 ppg at LSU Alexandria, but with very few guarantees coming from this roster, it’s hard to put them high in the conference rankings.

Bottom Line: The Bearkats lose a lot from a roster that finished second-to-last in the conference last season, and with a squad that comes with few guarantees of success, it’s hard to see them finding consistent success.

Delaware Blue Hens

Coming off a run to the CAA conference championship game last season, the Blue Hens move over to the wildly-different C-USA. Cavan Reilly returns from last year’s team to give the squad a surefire leader to rally around, but without the advantage of high-quality transfers to back him up, it’s difficult to see this team having sustaned success over the course of a long, rigorous season. Tyler Houser (VMI), Nnanna Njoku (Villanova) and Bouna Kebe (Memphis) do provide some size down low to help with the newfound physicality, but with very little on-court experience coming from most of this roster, the Blue Hens look to be due for some growing pains in their first year in the conference.

Bottom Line: With very little on-court DI experience coming from the majority of this team, Cavan Reilly is going to have his work cut out for him to make this team competitive in C-USA.

“It’s going to come back like the defensive end of the floor. That is something that we’ve worked really hard on this summer and in the preseason. We’ve got to have an identity. We got to be tougher and physical and be able to slow teams down on the defensive end, and it’s not just going to be one guy. We’ve got to be a great positional defensive team, and I’m hopeful that as we continue to spend more time together, we can make great strides in that area,”

Delaware head coach Martin Ingelsby said.

Source link