Mid-Major Basketball

Last year's America East Newcomer of the Year and All-conference first team member returns to Vermont this season and he should be the best player in the AE this coming season. Some transfer guards they bring in are going to be very impactful including UMass Lowell transfer Darrel Yepdo who averaged double figures for the Riverhawks last season and two Saint Anslem transfers with Hayden Johns and Will Davies who averaged 13.7 PPG and SEVEN AST. They also have a really great freshman class highlighted by two bigs in Marko Masic and Sublime Gbiegba. This is a very talented team and I'd say significantly more than the last two seasons.

The #1 team in the Nation in returning minutes. The only team in the entire country with 100% of their minutes from last season returning. They aren't losing someone like Xavian Lee again like they did last offseason. With Coach Henderson coming back with every single player from last year's locker room, there is not much more threatening than that no matter what kind of season they had last year.

We might be getting the team in Sacramento State basketball history this season. This is mainly due to the fact that their 2 leading scorers from last are returning. That doesn't happen often. In addition they add multiple big time transfers including Cal State Northridge transfer Larry Hughes Jr. who led the Matadors in scoring last season with roughly 18 PPG. They also add two more in conference transfers that averaged double figures this past season in Marcus Wilson from UC Davis and Osiris Grady from UC Riverside. Their bigs are then filled out with two senior transfers with Sasa Ciani from Penn State and Ridvan Tutic from Stonehill who averaged 8 REB for the Skyhawks. They also have increased depth at that position this season. One more name to add to this already stacked team is incoming freshman Chidi Nwigwe who should be one of the best in the Big West.

Green Bay surprised many last season being much improved from the season prior and to say this team won't be even significantly better is crazy. Just take look at those 5 seniors. That should be their primary 5 out there on the floor and that could be one of the best 1 through fives in all of Mid-Major basketball. In addition to Hall, Lovejoy, Edwards, Hadaway, and Overway, their bench is filled with multiple returners and Stewart Erhart II who averaged 18 PPG and almost FOUR STLS A GAME for Fort Lewis. One more transfer to know is JUCO product Christian Burnett who did it all on the stat sheet at Gordon State. They are projected 2nd in offense and experience right now in the Horizon.

Not a single player on this Indiana State roster played for them last season, but that doesn't change the fact that they're ranked 1st in the MVC in Projected Production from Transfers. Oregon Tech transfer Jackson Cooper who put up some crazy numbers with 17.7 PPG, 7.7 REB, 5.8 AST, and 1.4 STL joins the sqaud along with Karmani Gregory who led South Carolina Upstate in scoring last season. Those should be their two top guys with a good chance of them being all-conference. A couple more high level transfers to note, are Maguire Mitchell from IU Indy and Meechie White from Eastern Illinois both averaging double figures this past season with White also putting up 3.7 REB, 3 AST, and 2.0 STL for the Panthers. Former 3-star and SMU transfer Chance Puryear also becomes a Sycamore along with D2 Natty runner-up Lander transfer Greyson Pritzl and 20 and a half PPG scorer LSU Alexandria transfer E.J. McQuillan!

Robert Morris will have yet another year of fantastic guard play and depth. To join key returners Darius Livingston and Ta'Zir Smith are UMBC transfer Ace Valentine and Nicholls transfer Jalik Dunkley. Valentine is a great all around player averaging 12 PPG, 4 REB, and 4 AST while shooting 38% from deep for the retrievers this past season. Dunkley also put up double figures and added north of 7 rebounds a night and 1 STL. He will also likely play a good amount at the forward spot for the Colonials. They also add Merrimack transfer K.C. Uguwuakazi who is a beast of a defender and on the glass. He should be their primary big man. Another good transfer addition is K.J. Garris Jr. from Cal State Fullerton who shot 42% from 3 last season and is also a solid rebounder. Cooke III and Obenjo also return to this team rounding out a squad that overall has a great mix of returning talent and transfer portal additions along with multiple potential high level freshman including Lukas Sloane and...

Lehigh has 83% returning minutes heading into next season. 4 of those returners were starters and 3 averaged double figures. This includes Hank Alvey who was named an all conference 2nd team member last season and was named the preseason Player of the Year for this season. The Mountain Hawks are also first in Patriot in Projected Effective Experience. It's pretty straightforward to see the talent on this team especially considering the fact that they're coming off a March Madness appearance.