SoCon Summer Series 2026: Wofford Looks To Take Title Step In Year Two Under Kevin Giltner

Wofford sophomore guard Chace Whatley (Photo courtesy of Wofford athletics)

 Wofford (19-13, 11-7 SoCon/T-2ND IN sOcOn)    

Year two under Kevin Giltner figures to look a lot different in Spartanburg than it did in year one, but one thing that won't change is Wofford's winning standard, which it re-established in the first season under the leadership of former player and assistant coach Kevin Giltner.

It's weird to think that you'd have to re-establish a winning culture for a Wofford program that had just come off its own title run under the direction of head coach Dwight Perry. Perry, who was rather unceremoniously dispatched due to a minor violation a little over a month out from the season, and the former Wofford head coach has since resurfaced as an assistant on Brook Savage's staff at East Tennessee State.

In some strange world, the 2024-25 season for Wofford probably makes sense to some, however, whatever side of that fence you're on, you can't take away the achievement of winning the conference tournament no matter how lackluster and underwhelming the regular-season might have been. 

Except for the regular-season win at Saint Louis, the non-conference slate for the Terriers and really the conference regular-season slate, save maybe the 19-point win at Furman and a win at ETSU, the regular-season as a whole was forgettable. 

That didn't matter in the SoCon Tournament, as Perry's Terriers reeled off wins over ETSU (W, 79-67), VMI (W, 81-61) and Furman (W, 92-85) in the SoCon Tournament to become the first No. 6 seed to ever cut down the nets at the end of the historic tournament. Perry's Terriers would go on to a decent showing as a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, dropping a 77-62 decision to No. 2 Tennessee in Lexington, KY., to bow out of the tournament.  

It was a quiet off-season until it wasn't in mid-August, which was when the Perry and staff were suspended on paid leave pending an investigation into the allocation of NIL funds and on/off-campus living situations of both freshmen and incoming players from the transfer portal. There is apparently a rule that all first-year students at Wofford must have on-campus housing, and that includes student-athletes. The men's basketball program failed to honor this basic rule, and that ended up being more costly than most would have anticipated. 

At best, it was probably an offense that at worst, garnered a suspension and was definitely not fireable one. But that's just my opinion. 

Is there more to it? Was Director of Athletics Scott Kull looking for a reason to start anew? Those are questions that I can't answer, but what I can tell you is that given the situation, Kevin Giltner was absolutely the perfect hire. 

Giltner had to deal with being a first-time head coach, managing to keep a roster intact and install his vision and tactical schematics in a little over a month's time and Giltner's coaching ability and leadership were very apparent for all to see during the regular-season. The Terriers, who were picked ninth in the preseason, finished tied for second, with an 11-7 league mark, which included a 19-13 overall record. 

Unfortunately, the Terriers probably sputtered to the finish line more than Giltner and staff would have liked, but the flag had been planted and the new era of Wofford basketball under Mike Young's former right-hand man seemed more, positive than when Perry took the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament a year earlier if you can believe it. 

One thing that Giltner's team had last season was an offensive identity,  and that wasn't always apparent when Perry was in charge. With that, Wofford's toughness at times came up short where I think Perry's teams really excelled to a certain extent. Especially when it came to play on the defensive end of the floor, as well as having that desire to rebound. That was seemingly what Wofford did best under Perry. 

While Perry's team was tougher in 2024-25 to the naked eye in some ways, I think it's unfair on the same hand to judge Giltner's team in his first season on the job with such a short time to prepare for the season, and I would be willing to bet that is a much different story in 2026-27 than it was in 2025-26.

The 2026-27 season will involve rebuilding without the three top scorers from a year ago, however, Giltner has assembled quite a recruiting class to go with another talented crop of newcomers for the new season, which feels a little more like his first season in charge, having had a full off-season to recruit and install some of his team winning philosophy.

Wofford sophomore forward Brian Sumpter (photo courtesy of Wofford Athletics)

Portal Losses/Portal Adds and Returners

One thing is for sure; the Terriers will look a lot different offensively. Wofford loses its top three players to major programs, with Kahmare Holmes set to continue his career at DePaul, while both Nils Machowski and Cayden Vasko are set to join both UConn and Central Florida next season. 

That leaves just four core players that were part of the team last season, with only three of those seeing time on the floor, as Cannon Richards sat out the season with an injury, as he saw action in only two contests the entire season. 

The other two core players that return to the fold include both Chace Watley, who acclimated to the  incredibly well in his first season with the Terriers, and he'll be one of the go-to-scorers heading into the season. 

Watley is a player that will see much of what Wofford wants to do built around him next season. The 6-2 guard ended up appearing in all 32 games last season, logging a total of 15 starts and was the first man off the bench in the other 17 games of the season. Led Wofford's freshmen on the roster in scoring, averaging 9.7 PPG and is the leading returning scorer off of last year's team. 

Watley would end up enjoying one of his best games of the season on his Birthday, against ETSU which was Feb. 1, 2026, in a game that had to be moved back due to a snowstorm. Although tip-off time had to be moved back until 7 p.m. EST, and the no spectators were allowed outside of the students already on campus, it didn't phase Watley in the least, as the young guard went on to have one his best performances of the entire season despite the 86-72 setback.

The Minneapolis, MN., native went on to finish the contest with 19 points, as he knocked down 6-of-15 from the field, but was 5-for-9 from two-point range, but struggled overall from the perimeter, going just 1-for-6 from long range. Watley also finished that contest against the Bucs a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Watley finsihed the season connecting on 39.8% (100-of-251) from the field and connected on 30.6% (30-of-98) from three-point range. He finished the season with 15 double-figure scoring performances and will be a candidate for all-conference accolades heading into the 2026-27 season.

Brian Sumpter will most obviously be another focal point of the 2026-27 Terriers, and I think he's going to make quite the jump from year one to year two in the lineup for Wofford. His athleticism is elite, and I look for him to develop into an impactful player this season on both ends of the floor. 

Sumpter is coming off a strong freshman season and should make a clear jump in year two. The rising sophomore from Columbia logged action in 31 games for the Terriers this past season, starting 21 of those contests, and finished the season averaging 6.6 PPG and 4.9 RPG. His best performance of the campaign came in a 21-point, 11-rebound contest in his second-career game against Milwaukee. He also record a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points in Wofford's big 74-70 win in Greenville.

All told, Sumpter finished out the season with eight games in which he scored in double figures, logging double-figure scoring outings against Furman, Samford, and Mercer during a key stretch of games. He also ended up posting 12 points and eight rebounds in the 86-72 home loss to East Tennessee State on Feb. 1.

For the season, Sumpter ended up connecting on an impressive 59.9% (85-of-142) of his shots from the field and his 39 blocks accounted for the fourth-most in school history. Sumpter wasn't a three-point threat in his first season for the Terriers, or at least not yet, as he finished the season connecting on just 16.7% (2-of-12) from long-range last season. Sumpter also finished the campaign connecting at a 61.5% (32-of-52) from the free throw line. 

Sumpter is one of the best athletes on the team, and he reminds me of a young Jalen Slawson at Furman. He has all the tools to go down as one of the greats in Terrier history, should he choose to remain in Spartanburg all four years, which seems less likely in this day and age than ever.

Luke Flynn returns as the most veteran performer on this roster heading into the 2026-27 campaign, and he will be the unquestioned glue guy for the Terriers this coming season, and there was a noticeable affect when Flynn suffered an injury that kept him out for the second half of Southern Conference play.

 

The 6-1, 185-lb guard is entering his junior season and his presence on this team might be the biggest piece to a hopeful championship winning puzzle. He comes off a 2025-26 campaign, which saw him average 5.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG, while shooting 33.8% (26-of-77) from three-point range, while shooting 33.0% (34-of-103) from the field. Flynn started 18 of 21 games for Wofford last season and has totaled 19 starts in 55 games over the course of two seasons in a Terriers uniform.

He finished his sophomore season with four double-figure scoring performances, highlighted by 16 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field, including going 3-for-6 from three-point range in a 94-86 win over Bellarmine. The 16-point effort against the Knights marked a career-high scoring performance for Flynn. For the season, Flynn totaled 119 points, 81 rebounds, 25 assists, 14 steals and one block.

Rounding out the returning Terriers from a year ago, include rising senior guard Davis Miller and junior guard Grayson Collins, as both saw only limited time last season for the Terriers, with Collins logging action in eight games, while Miller finished the season having appeared in six contests.

Black Hills State transfer guard Cameron Lowe 

 

One of the early additions head coach Kevin Giltner and staff were able to bring in from the transfer portal might also turn out to be the most significant addition as a part of what was a solid portal haul.

Cameron Lowe will help immediately offset the losses underneath in the backcourt, and the 6-6, 215-lb redshirt junior will add versatility and size heading into the upcoming campaign. Lowe transferred into the Terriers program from NCAA Division II Black Hills State in South Dakota. 

While at Black Hills State, Lowe was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year following a 2025-26 season, which saw him average 17 PPG, 6.4 RPG and 2.7 APG, as he helped the Yellow Jackets to a 30-5 overall record and an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Division II tournament. In addition to garnering his conference's Player of the Year honor, Lowe was also named an NABC Division II All-American.

He finished the 2025-26 season by scoring in double figures in 29 of 35 games, which included scoring a career-high 31 points in an 85-63 win over Colorado Mesa. In that particular contest, Lowe was able to finish the game a near-flawless 12-of-15 from the field, which included an 70% (7-of-10) shooting night from three-point land. 

Lowe finished the season with 14 games in which he scored 20 or more points this season, including that 31-point performance. He connected on 39.5% (92-of-233) of his three-point field goals in his final season at Black Hills State, while finishing the season with a 47.5% (209-of-440) from the field. 

His ability to score and his size and versatility will key for head coach Kevin Giltner in the coming season.  Lowe is especially in that he can score at all three levels and can post in the paint and score on the low block. He can also play multiple positions, allowing the Terrier coaching staff to have multiple lineup options. 

Lander transfer guard Jacob Daniels

Another potential difference-maker in the backcourt in the 2026-27 season could be 6-0 guard Jacob Daniels, who comes to Wofford from NCAA Division II member Lander, where he helped the Bearcats all the way to the championship game of the Division II NCAA Tournament.

The rising sophomore will have three years of eligibility remaining, and he was an impact player for the Bearcats in his rookie season of playing college basketball, starting 34 of 36 games for Lander and finished second on the team in scoring average, posting 13.6 PPG and 5.6 APG. He also finished the season with a season-high 201 assists, while also pulling down 3.3 RPG. Daniels was named the Peach Belt Freshman of the Year for the 2025-26 season.

He will likely challenge for a significant role at point guard but can also play off the ball and scored in double figures on 29 occasions last season, including scoring 20 or more points on six different times last season. His best performance came in a game against the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Tournament, as he posted 23 points and 10 assists to register a double-double, while also grabbing six rebounds to flirt with a triple-double. 

Daniels was also outstanding on the defensive end of the floor in the 91-81 win, registering three steals. His 23-point performance came as the result of a 9-for-12 shooting outing. He shot an impressive 54.7% (185-of-338) for the season, but struggled as a perimeter shooter, finishing the season at just 28.9% (28-of-97). Daniels also connected at a 70.5% (93-of-132) clip from the free throw line in his only season at Lander, helping the program to its most wins in its history, as the Bearcats finished the 2025-26 season 30-6.

 

Jacksonville transfer guard Chris Arias

Rounding out the key additions made in the backcourt from the transfer portal is 6-6 wing guard Chris Arias, who arrives in Spartanburg following two seasons with the Jacksonville Dolphins in the Atlantic Sun.

The lanky, athletic wing saw action in 30 games in the most recent season for the Dolphins, averaging 7.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG, as well as shooting 36.1% from three-point range (43-of-119), and was a 41.0% (139-of-340) from the field. He was selected to the pre-season All Atlantic Sun team and will be most remembered for his game-winning three-pointer to beat VMI last season in Lexington, which made the SportsCenter Top 10 Plays. 

That three was part of a career afternoon for Arias, who finished with a career-best 24 points in the win. He will be another player that can reliably hit the outside shot for head coach Kevin Giltner's Terriers if called upon to do so in the upcoming season. 

The only addition via the transfer portal to the frontcourt is a pretty big one...literally. UVA-Wise transfer center Evan Ramsey has two seasons of eligibility remaining, and the 7-0, 250-lb native of Abingdon, VA., started all 31 games he logged action in last season for the Terriers, finishing out what was an impressive campaign by averaging 14.1 PPG and 7.8 RPG to go with 57 blocks. 

He is a legitimate rim protector and finished out the 2025-26 season with a pair of six-block games for the Cavaliers. Ramsey was a big reason why the Cavaliers finished with its most wins (20) since making the jump to the NCAA Division II level. Ramsey was a All-SAC First Team selection in 2025-26. 

He will also be an impact player in the paint on both ends for Wofford, as he will contend for a starting spot. 

Ramsey posted his best game of the 2025-26 season in a 91-83 loss to the Trojans, as he posted 24 points and 13 rebounds, as he finished 8-of-13 from the field and was 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. 

All told, Ramsey finished his redshirt sophomore season by posting double-figure scoring efforts in 27 of 31 outings and posted seven double-doubles last season. Ramsey also finished the 2026-27 season connecting on 58.1% (162-of-279) and was a 73% (192-of-264) from the free throw line.

In his redshirt freshman campaign for the Cavaliers, Ramsey averaged a double-double, as he posted 14.5 PPG and 10 RPG en route to garnering All-SAC Second Team plaudits. Like the 2025-26 season, Ramsey proved to be an impact player on the defensive end of the floor in his redshirt freshman campaign, as he blocked 50 shots as a rookie.

Freshman Additions

True freshman big man Cutter Sisk

Much like the 2025-26 signing class for Wofford, the 2026-27 class is one that appears to be, at least on paper, one of the top freshman signing classes in the SoCon once again this season.

Headlining the list of five newcomers is 6-9, 270-lb freshman big man Cutter Sisk out of Hendersonville, Tenn. 

Sisk was the first signee of the current 2026-27 class, as he inked his official letter of intent last November, having already reached the 1,000-pt and 500-rebound plateau before his senior season at Beech High School in Hendersonville, Tenn. 

Sisk was a Class 4A "Mr. Basketball" finalist and a district/region MVP. He led Beech High School to its first state title since 2009, hitting a buzzer-beater against Lebanon in the state title game as a junior, finishing off his junior campaign in dream fashion. 

Because of his high basketball IQ and tremendous skill as a power forward, Sisk garnered the nickname "Baby Jokic", which is reference to Denver Nuggets star power forward Nikola Jokic of course. After averaging a double-double as a junior, Sisk finished out his final season as a prep averaging 23 PPG and 10 RPG, as he led the Buccaneers to the brink of a second-straight state title, which came up just short in the state quarterfinals, scoring 33 of his team's 52 points in what was a 55-52 loss to Bearden. 

Bearden will offer the perfect complement in the paint to guys like Sumpter and Ramsey, and I think and expect to see Sisk to get some pretty significant playing time in his rookie campaign for the Terriers because of his size and overall strength in the paint.

The other four freshman additions came in the backcourt, with some impressive signees highlighting the newcomers in the backcourt, with Jhett Carter and Jyi Dawkins among those that could join Sisk in making an immediate impact for the Terriers this coming season.

Dawkins had originally committed to play for Western Carolina in the fall, but then decommitted and found his way to Wofford, where he could make an impact with his ability to score at all three levels on the floor.

Dawkins was one of the nation's top scorers in his final two seasons with Ben L. Smith High School in Greensboro, choosing Wofford over other offers from Campbell, North Carolina A&T, UNC Greensboro, and Cleveland State, and he is a three-star recruit. 

He will give the Terriers an athletic combo guard that can score in a variety of different ways, and it sets up for him to be one of the top freshmen in the SoCon next season. His 32.6 PPG last season ranked him 14th nationally in scoring in his final season as a prep. He added 13.1 RPG and 5.2 APG as a senior. He is unequivocally a player that has a chance to be a game-changer for Wofford as soon as the 2026-27 season.

Set to join up alongside Dawkins will be Jhett Carter, who is another 6-5 combo guard that will have a chance to come in and be a difference-maker as well in the backcourt for the Terriers. During his high school career at Hargrave Military Academy, the Titusville, FL., native finished his career with 1,790 points, 814 rebounds, and 238 steals, showing his all-around game. 

Carter is versatile enough to play either a third guard spot, or at small forward. He chose Wofford over offers from East Carolina, Georgia State, Ohio, Albany, Hampton and Holy Cross.  Carter is known for his defensive capabilities and was named All Elite Prep League Defensive Team in each of his final two seasons, as well as being a First-Team All-EPL selection following the 2025-26 campaign.

Jemon Price and Misho Kalinov round out the talented freshman signing class for the Terriers. Price is a 6-2 guard out of Westfield High School in Virginia, garnering 6A State Player of the Year honors as a senior following a 2025-26 season, which saw him average 18.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 2.5 APG and in his senior season, scored 20 or more points nine times on the season, which included a season-high 32-point outing. 

The 6-2 point guard turned in a brilliant high school career at Westfield HS, scoring over 1,200 points in his four-year career, and was named to the Washington D.C. Area Coaches All-Met First Team. Price is a three-star guard and will offer depth at the point guard spot for the Terriers this season, but is versatile enough to play on the wing.

Kalinov will the Terriers an Eastern European Bloc influence, as he comes to Spartanburg all the way from Silistra, Bulgaria, and averaged 16 PPG, 3.6 PPG, and 5.5 APG, starring for BC Botev 2012 in the Bulgarian NBL this past year. He enjoyed his best performance against Balkan Botevgrad, posting a season-high 26 points to go with six assists. Kalinov brings with him to Wofford some major international experience, having competed in the 2025 FIBA U18 EuroBasket League, averaging 8.6 PPG and had a +8.6 efficiency rating. 

Overall, this is an outstanding class of five signees, and if you include the three additions from the transfer portal, the eight overall additions in total marks one of the top signing classes in the SoCon heading into the 2026-27. I had the Terriers ranked fourth out of the 11 teams in the league in my recruiting rankings coming into the summer.

One of the more exciting things announced earlier this week is that Virginia Tech and head coach Mike Young will be returning to Spartanburg and the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for an exhibition matchup in conjunction with Wofford's homecoming weekend festivities, as the game will take place on Friday, Oct. 16, which is a day before Wofford hosts VMI in football for homecoming. 

Wofford Terriers Early outlook for 2026-27                              

Wofford comes off a season that saw the Terriers surprise everyone by finishing the campaign by finishing second after being picked ninth.  The reality of the 2025-26 season we learned is that despite the coaching change, the talent will always translate. 

Plus it was also a huge advantage that Kevin Giltner had with the program, as he is not only an alum, but was also an assistant for Mike Young as assistant for six seasons, while spending six more as Young's assistant at Virginia Tech.

With a year under his belt and having had a full off-season to implement schemes both offensively, as well as on the defensive end, expect the Terriers to once again be among the handful of teams that could contend for a conference title once again this season.

 Terriers Breakdown:                                                                                       

Starters Experience Lost: (6)--G-Kahmare Holmes (26 starts, 19.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG/transferred to Depaul); Nils Machowski (32 starts, 17.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 91 made three-pointers/transferred to UConn); G-Cayden Vasko (32 starts, 10.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 54 made three-pointers/transferred to Central Florida); F/C Rex Stirling (9 starts, 5.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG/transferred to Jacksonville); G--Brendan Rigsbee (5 starts, 4.2 PPG, 1.7 RPG)

Others Lost: (2)-G-Jayden Tyler (5.4 PPG, 1.0 RPG/transferred to Youngstown State); G-Maximo Ortega (3.3 PPG, 1.0 RPG)

Best Returning Player: G-Chace Watley (9.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG)

Potential Breakout Player in 2026-27: F-Brian Sumpter (6.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG)

Best Transfer Portal Get: G/F-Cam Lowe (Black Hills State) or G-Jacob Daniels (Lander)

Potential Glue Guy: G-Luke Flynn (5.7 PPG, 3.9 RPG)

Best Freshman Addition: G-Jyi Dawkins (Ben L. Smith HS/Greensboro, N.C.)

Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A-

SoCon Hoops Summer Series 2026: ETSU Focused and Reloaded for Another Championship Run

ETSU (23-12, 13-5 SoCon/2025-26 SoCon Regular-Season Champions)

Brooks Savage has begun to mould ETSU basketball back into a program that can be and probably will be a perennial Southern Conference title contender as long as he is at the helm. There was a little bit of a concern that he might not be at the end of the 2025-26 season, as he led the Bucs to 23 wins in his third season as the head coach.

Those 23 wins and a regular-season outright SoCon title were enough to begin to see Savage's name surface within some coaching circles, and he was in the mix for the head coaching job at Georgia State before signing an extension through the end of the 2028-29 season back in late April.

The 23 wins were the most for ETSU's basketball program since that historic 2019-20 squad under then head coach Steve Forbes, which won a school-record 30 games, as well as claiming the SoCon tournament title for the second time in a four-year span. That was the goal for the 2025-26 Bucs, however, ETSU would come up just short of making it a third SoCon tourney title and NCAA Tournament appearance since rejoining the league in 2014-15, as Furman was able to post a 76-61 win over Savage's Bucs. 

The 2026-27 championship loss to the Paladins wasn't as much about ETSU necessarily playing that bad, but more about how well Furman played. The Bucs had claimed both regular-season meetings with Furman, which included their first win at Timmons Arena since the 2016-17 season. The Bucs also swept regular-season meetings with Furman and Chattanooga for the first time in program history.

ETSU's hoops tradition is still often a topic of conversation at plenty of Johnson City's most popular watering holes, and while the 23-win campaign in year three was a great start for Savage, as he won 19 in the previous two, the pressure to get back to the Big Dance will only get more, intense now as the fans got a taste of championship success again last season. 

The Bucs will always attract talent because of that tradition and their unique fan support, which rivals the rabidness of Big Blue Nation at Kentucky relative to the SoCon, without some of the antics that pulled by Kentucky fans when the team isn't performing up to expectations. If there is an admirable trait about Bucs fans in comparison to UK's fanbase, it's that they continue to stick behind the team without being critical when things aren't going according to plan. That also makes recruiting a little easier for Savage and staff.

ETSU has won 247 total games since returning to the SoCon in 2014-15, and that includes having won 135 total Southern Conference games, which ranks second in total wins behind only Furman (256 wins) over that same span, while the 135 SoCon wins would rank the Bucs third behind only UNCG (143) and Furman (137) over the past 12 seasons. 

The 247 wins over the past 12 seasons means that the Bucs are on average winning 20.5 games per season since returning to the SoCon hardwood prior to the 2014-15 season. ETSU's basketball program really started its rise in the mid-major ranks in the mid 1980s and that  has continued over about over the better part of the next four decades no matter which conference the Bucs have called home.

Now the Bucs have their sights set on ending up back in the championship game on Monday night in Asheville, seeking a different outcome this time around. With most of the staff back in place, the Bucs have another big opportunity ahead of them in 2026-27. 

As expected in today's age of college basketball, most of that talented cast that helped the Bucs to 23 wins and get back to their title-winning ways this season, has either moved on into the transfer portal or is out of eligibility.

Like Furman, the Bucs had some big losses. Gone is leading scorer Brian Taylor II, who finished off the campaign averaging 14.6 PPG and 3.7 RPG, as well as scoring in double figures in 28 of 34 games for the Bucs in 2025-26, enjoying a season-high 28 points in ETSU's Valentine's Day home loss to Samford. Taylor finished connecting on 34.2% (53-of-152) from three-point range this past season, as well as shooting 46.4% (182-of-392) from the field as a whole. 

Cam Morris III (37 blks, 39 steals), who was the SoCon's Defensive Player of the Year, graduated from ETSU and was the Bucs' best player through the opening half of league play before he seemingly ran out of gas, and was perhaps playing at less than 100%.  Like Taylor, the UMass Lowell transfer is out of eligibility.

That is also the case for Jaylen Smith, who was the SoCon's Sixth Man of the Year and had notable performances off the bench in helping lead the Bucs to come-from-behind wins over both East Tennessee State and North Alabama this past season. Smith originally committed to Kent State and then shortly thereafter re-opened his recruitment and has now ended up at Kansas City (UMKC) out of the Summit League. 

Smith posted a key 13 points off the bench in ETSU's 75-71 overtime win over Furman, while 14 off the bench in a clutch 78-74 win over the Lions, which saw the Bucs overcome as much as a 19-point deficit early in the second half to get the win. 

Smith also posted a season-high 28 points in ETSU's impressive non-conference win over Central Arkansas.  There has been no word on where Smith will land in the portal as of yet with his one year of eligibility remaining. He finished out his only season in the Bucs Blue and Gold averaging 9.1 PPG and 2.6 RPG and also finished the season as a 34.4% (52-of-151) shooter from three-point range. 

The player that did the most for his transfer portal stock with the Bucs this past season was Third-Team All-SoCon performer is Blake Barkley. Barkley was tied for team-high scoring honors this past season, as he finished out the campaign matching Taylor's 14.6 PPG average. 

Barkley also earned SoCon All-Tournament First Team honors for his performance over the duration of three days in Asheville. Barkley spent a year in Johnson City after transferring in from Northwestern prior to the 2025-26 season. 

Maybe the biggest loss heading into the off-season is point guard Al Strothers, who is out of eligibility. In an era when everything is structured towards being transferring for bigger and better perceived opportunities, Strothers is a player that stayed the course and ended up being a major part of ETSU's run to a regular-season title this past season. 

His final campaign ended by seeing him average 4.1 PPG and 2.1 RPG, tying Smith with a team-high 100 assists for the season. Strothers was ETSU's quickest player on the perimeter, as well as being the team's best on-ball defensive player.

So where does this ETSU team go from here? The Bucs have appeared to once again start things off strongly in the portal, securing an outstanding group of both portal and freshman additions as signees for the campaign ahead.

Portal Losses/Portal Adds and Returners:

Retaining players in this day and age has become something of a treasured artform for head coaches throughout mid-major basketball, and though the Bucs lose most of their production and leadership from a year ago, the ones that have stuck around will be among the best to return in the league this coming season. 

In Jordan McCullum, the Bucs have retained at least one player that can be a challenger for Southern Conference Player of the Year candidate heading into his junior season in 2026-27. McCullum had an outstanding first season in the Bucs Blue and Gold, as he started 32 of 34 games and he is ETSU's leading returning scorer from last season, as he averaged 8.3 PPG and 3.7 RPG last season.

McCullum averaged almost 22 minutes-per-game this past season and shot an impressive 53.3% from the field in his first season in Johnson City.  He was also right at 70% from the charity stripe, while shooting just 20.1% from three-point range last season. Head coach Brooks Savage will hope both of those latter shooting averages improve this coming season.

His most significant performance for the Bucs last season came against Chattanooga, as he posted a career-high 24 points at Freedom Hall on Feb. 11. He finished off his first double-double as an ETSU player on Nov. 21, 2025 against Morehead State, as the Harriman, Tenn., product went for 13 points and 14 rebounds against his former school. 

All told, McCullum posted 14 double-figure scoring efforts last season, and his 24-point performance in the mid-February win over Chattanooga was part of a stretch which was McCullum's best of the season, as it capped a string of four-straight double-figure scoring performances.

McCullum's most valuable asset, however, might be his play on the defensive end of the floor, and with his athleticism, was able to rank second on the team in blocks last season, swatting away 31 shots, which was only six behind Cam Morris III, who led the team with 37 swatted shots. 

Brayden Crump and Maki Johnson represent a couple of more players, who saw time last season and like McCullum, could be significant pieces that enhance what could be an even better portal haul than the one procured by Savage and staff last season. Crump suffered a season-ending injury in the non-conference play.

Crump, a transfer in from Elon, saw action in 11 games before suffering his season-ending injury, averaging 6.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG. The 6-8, 220-lb product of Morganton, N.C., shot a solid 50% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc, however, the three-point percentage is probably a little deceiving, as he is probably a little better perimeter shooter than his percentage might indicate. 

Crump is also a decent athlete and had some solid performances prior to the injury that ended his season prematurely, finishing with three double-figure scoring performances prior to suffering his injury, which includes a season-high 15 points in a win over Tusculum. 

Maki Johnson is a player that continues to show his overall development to different areas of his game, and last season, it was a more well-rounded scorer on the offensive end of the floor, as well as really improving his on-ball defense. He's been rewarded for his loyalty and hard work at ETSU, and he's become a fan favorite in Johnson City.

Last season, Johnson averaged 5.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 1.1 SPG in 34 appearances. He finished the season shooting 41.5% from the field, and is a player that will provide the type of veteran leadership that coach Brooks Savage will lean on this season. Johnson is best known for his ability as a three-point marksman, as he shot 38.5% from downtown last season. He finished the season an impressive 52-of-135 from three-point range. His improved play on the defensive end last season will likely lead to even more increased minutes this season and he could even compete for a starting spot.

Those players represent the lone Bucs that return to the fold off of last season's regular-season title winning team. With that said, coach Brooks Savage and staff have put together another portal haul of players that should make the Bucs a force in the SoCon once again in 2026-27, as ETSU should be a team considered as one of the favorites to repeat their regular-season title of a year ago, along with being a very candidate to be among the few teams that could potentially cut down the nets in Asheville come early March.

One of the top additions from the transfer portal for ETSU heading into the 2026-27 season is 6-9 forward Marqus Marion, who comes to the Bucs from Winston-Salem, where he was most recently with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons playing for former Bucs head coach Steve Forbes.

Marion is the type of player that head coach Brooks Savage hopes can have a similar impact to that of Blake Barkley last season. After redshirting his first season in Winston-Salem, Marion was able to find time in 20 games last season for the Demon Deacons, recording more than 240 minutes off the bench for Wake Forest.

In early-season matchups against both Morehead State and Michigan, Marion showed his power and athleticism as an effective rebounding presence on both ends of the floor, as he collected six boards in each of those contests. 

The Skovlunde, Denmark product not only brings a high basketball IQ and good athleticism to the front court, he also brings the skill level and shooting ability into the fold that seemingly all Europeans bring into the fold, which he combines with the good old American athleticism part of it. 

In his first season with the Demon Deacons back in 2023-24, Marion saw action in 21 games as a first-year player, showing the kind promise and potential that could make him a regular with the Demon Deacons. In many ways, Marion's arrival and ultimate falling out of favor as a player had less to do with his talent, and more to do with the portal craze not leaving room on the roster nor the time spent to develop him into the complete ACC frontcourt player that he might could have become given the time spent to develop his complete game. 

However, that's become something less likely to happen at the highest level of college basketball now, which is why you see many guys going to a smaller mid-major to hone and develop their skills before moving into the big-time level of college basketball. 

Marion's time at Wake was more bad timing than anyhting else, and that's why ETSU will no doubt benefit from having a guy like him in the fold. Much like Barkley, he'll be given free reign and against lesser talent in the SoCon, should also develop an offensive profile similar to Barkley's. I'd argue even that Marion's arrival might even dare I say see the Bucs be slightly better at power forward this season than with Barkley at the position last season. 

His best performance during his first season in Winston-Salem came in a game against Georgia, as he posted five points and eight rebounds in what turned out to be a heartbreaking 80-77 loss in Athens. He averaged 11 MPG in his first season at Wake Forest.

Prior to his arrival at Wake Forest, Marion was four-star prospect coming out of Skolvunde, Denmark according to On3, as well as being a Top 50 power forward prospect according to 247Sports.  He garnered a silver medal with the U18 Danish National Team at the FIBA Division B European Championship in the summer of 2022.

Set to join Marion in the front court out of the transfer portal for the Bucs next season is Wingate transfer Kendall Campbell. The 6-8, 230-lb senior will be a load underneath the basket. Campbell was only at Wingate for one season, having spent both of his previous two seasons just up the road at Elon. 

In his junior campaign at Wingate in 2025-26, Campbell was one of only two players to start all 29 games, finishing out the season by averaging 12 PPG and 4.7 RPG, while shooting 55.8% from the field in 26.2 MPG. Campbell also proved to be a solid threat from three-point range, finishing out the campaign shooting an impressive 36.2% from three-point range.

 In his previous two seasons at Elon, Campbell logged action in a combined 58 games where he would start only three games in two seasons for the Phoenix. His best performance in two seasons with Elon came during the 2023-24 campaign against Radford, as he posted a season-high 15 points against the Highlanders.

Another wing that could figure into the front court or in the backcourt because of his major versatility is 6-6 Tyran Mason out of UT-Arlington, who is an addition that Savage thinks could have a breakout season in the Bucs rotation in 2026-27. Mason spent the previous two seasons at Arlington and prior to that, spent the 2024-25 campaign at North Texas. 

In his one season at Arlington in 2025-26, Mason ended up averaging 6.5 PPG and 3.6 RPG as one of the top players off the bench for the Mavericks. He saw time in all 32 games last season for the Mavericks, averaging 18.5 minutes-per-game off the bench. He would finish the campaign by shooting a solid 47.7% from the field, including a 31.7% from three-point land. He also shot 68.6% from the charity stripe last season. 

Mason posted seven double-figure scoring efforts in his sophomore season with the Mavericks and posted a career-high 20 points in just 28 minutes against Utah Valley in what was an 81-60 loss in early February in Orem. Mason narrowly missed a double-double in the regular-season finale against Abilene Chrstian, as he finished that contest with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds.  

In his rookie campaign at North Texas in 2024-25, Mason saw action in only four games as a true freshman with the Mean Green.

The talented wing guard/small forward will have two years of eligibility remaining in Johnson City if he chooses to remain a Buc for his senior season. 

With the likes of McCullum and Crump returning for ETSU next season, the task wasn't as tall for Savage and staff to find front court production and depth to go with it like the Bucs have had to do each of the past two seasons. In fact, there was more of a concentration on the backcourt, and scoring production and depth from the portal in this particular haul for the Bucs.

While Johnson returns, Jaylen Smith, Brian Taylor II, Gabe Sisk, Milton Matthews III and Allen Strothers have all moved on in the portal of have graduated with no eligibility left.  In Savage's first season at the helm in 2023-24, he procured a pair of guards that would end up putting the Bucs in a position to win the SoCon title on Monday night in Asheville, despite heading into the tournament as the No. 7 seed. 

Quimari Peterson, who would go on to garner the SoCon Player of the Year honor in 2024-25, teamed with Ebby Asamoah (Delaware) and the scoring exploits and shooting ability of each would end up being enough to help the Bucs go on a run to the title game before running out of gas in the title game following a valiant effort in what was a 76-69 loss to top seed Samford.

In much the same way that Asamoah and Peterson would shine as guards in Savage's first star backcourt tandem in that inaugural portal haul to Johnson City back in 2023-24, there are some players within the most recent haul of players from the portal that could produce similarly big numbers in 2026-27.

New ETSU Guard Jayden Cooper

One of those key scoring additions is 6-2 guard Jayden Cooper out of South Alabama, where he was one of the key players for head coach Richie Riley's Jaguars. The Pike Road, AL., product will have one season of eligibility remaining and he would end up starting 31 of 33 outings for the Jaguars last season, and ended up filling out several different categories, including averaging in double figures, posting 11.6 PPG to go along with 2.6 RPG, 1.0 APG and 1.1 SPG.

Cooper is a player that gets it done on both ends of the floor, excelling as an offensive scorer on one end, while being impactful on the defensive end of the floor. Cooper will be a guy that comes in and will be a factor on the defensive end right away as one of ETSU's best on-ball defenders in 2026-27. 

With the Jaguars last season, Cooper ended up connecting on 41.2% of his shots from the field and was second on the team with 55 made threes. 

Another thing to like about adding a guy like Cooper into the fold is that he's been in a program that has been a winning one, in South Alabama, as the Jaguars have back-to-back 21-win seasons. The Jaguars were even NIT participants this past season at the expense of an ETSU team that many felt, including myself, should have been in that particular NCAA sanctioned tournament. 

Cooper will be a guy looked instantly to provide for ETSU as an offensive threat in the backcourt for ETSU next season. In Cooper's first season at South Alabama, he averaged just 3.8 PPG and recorded a pair of double-figure scoring performances, which included a season-high 17 points and four rebounds against Troy. 

He actually started his career at NCAA Division II Faulkner, where he would show his talents right away during the 2023-24 campaign, as he was voted as the Southern States Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, while also garnering first-team all-conference honors. In his rookie campaign, the Pike Road, AL product averaged 20.7 PPG, highlighted by a career-high 39-point effort against Dalton State.

BJ Ward (Southeast Missouri State), DeCarl Payne (John A. Logan JUCO), and Trevor Hennig (Weber State) round out an impressive transfer portal haul for the Bucs in the backcourt. Ward is a 6-0, 195-lb senior that is the latest talent to come from SEMO to the Southern Conference, joining Teddy Washington Jr. from last season, who transferred into the Mocs program after helping the Redhawks to a remarkable turnaround story only to fall short in the OVC title game against SIU-Edwardsville. 

Like Washington, Ward is another potential impact player in the SoCon, and at least I would imagine from coach Brooks Savage's perspective, he is a player that can be a game-changer for ETSU right away on both ends of the floor. 

During the 2025-26 season at SEMO, Ward was one of two Redhawks that started all 33 games and finished the season averaging 10.9 PPG and 2.1 RPG, while distributing the basketball especially well, contributing 3.7 assists-per-game. His 122 assists on the season ended up ranking him fifth in the OVC last season, while his 3.7 helpers-per-game ranked him sixth in the league. 

A native of St. Louis, MO, Ward finished the season shooting 38.9% from the field per game, while connecting on 50-of-143 from long range last season, which was good enough for a 35.0% shooting clip for the season from long-range.He connected on 101 threes each of the past two seasons for the Redhawks, and totaled 105 threes made in three seasons in Cape Girardeau. 

In his junior season with the Redhawks just last season, Ward ended up enjoying his best game of the season in a big win over Western Illinois, finishing not far from triple-double territory, with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Ward also had 21 points against Morehead State, while finishing with 20 points against SIU Edwardsville. 

All told, Ward scored in double figures in 18 starts last season, garnering second-team All-OVC recognition. In three seasons in Cape Girardeau, Ward logged action in 95 games, which included making 67 starts. 

A player that could be set to join both Ward and Cooper as a viable scoring threat in the backcourt for ETSU this coming season is Weber State transfer shooting guard Trevor Hennig. The 6-4, 185-lb junior will have two years of eligibility remaining at ETSU after arriving from Ogden, Utah and the Weber State basketball program.

Speaking of Weber State, Hennig comes from one of the most decorated basketball programs in the Big Sky Conference, as the Wildcats have totaled 16 NCAA Tournament appearances in their history, with Hennig essentially moving from one program with a reputable conference title winning tradition to another.

Like Ward and Cooper, Hennig is a player that comes to Johnson City off a campaign which saw him average in double figures in the previous backcourt he was a part of, as Hennig averaged 10.0 PPG and saw action in 26 games, with seven starts, helping the Wildcats to a 16-16 mark as a sophomore in 2025-26.

In the 2025-26 season opener against West Coast Baptist, Hennig got his sophomore season off to a strong start, posting 20 points in what was a 92-point (130-38) win. He also finished the season with a trio of 19-point scoring efforts, which came in games against Utah Tech, Utah State and Montana State. All told, Hennig finished his sophomore season in Ogden with a total of 13 double-figure scoring efforts.

In his rookie season as a Wildcat back in 2024-25, Hennig played in all 34 games, which included starting the final 11, averaging 7.8 PPG, totaling 15 double-figure scoring efforts, which included 12 in Big Sky play. He shot 47.8% from the field last season, including 30% from three-point land on 18-for-60 shooting from long-range. In two seasons at Weber State, Hennig connected on 40 threes, shooting them at a 30.8% (40-of-130) clip.

DeCarl Payne rounds out the portal additions for the Bucs in the backcourt, as he came to Johnson City from John A Logan College, which is a program that ETSU is most familiar with, having procured talents like Devontavius Payne and Quimari Peterson to name a couple of the more prominent ones. 

In fact, Payne is part of a direct lineage to play at ETSU from John A. Logan, where his older brother Devonatavius Payne actually helped the Bucs to the 2016-17 Southern Conference Tournament crown. Payne hopes to become the latest of the greats in Johnson City to come from that particular program to play at ETSU.

Payne might have a chance to exceed what even his older brother was able to do in Johnson City in the very near future, where he will have two years of eligibility remaining. During his sophomore season at John A. Logan, Payne garnered All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference honors, playing in 29 games, which included nine starts.

Payne finished out his sophomore season averaging in double figures, posting 10.6 PPG and 2.2 RPG for the Region 24 runners-up. He finished his sophomore campaign connecting on 42% of his shots from the field, including 39% from three-point land and ended up making 46 of his long-range efforts last season. Payne also proved to be an excellent shooter from the charity stripe last season, connecting on 84% of his shots from the free throw line. 

In his freshman campaign with the Vols, he logged action in 32 games, including 11 starts and averaged 9.6 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 1.5 APG, shooting 47% from the field and 40% from three-point range, having made 40 triples.

Payne does a little bit of everything well, and he's a guy that you can't leave open from three, as he has an outstanding shot selection and shot discipline from long range. Those types can be the toughest kinds to guard from the perimeter. 

Freshman Additions:

There will be a healthy mix of both freshmen and portal additions during the 2026-27 season for ETSU. Just like the recruiting from the portal, the Bucs put more emphasis on the backcourt than the front court, bringing in two newcomers at the guard spots, in Colte Busse and Ben Maller, while Elton Smith is the lone big man to join the program. If you included freshman guard Maddox Huff, who redshirted last season, there are three young, viable options in the backcourt to give ETSU some quality young depth.

ETSU has recruited a lot from the portal under Brooks Savage in his first three seasons as the head coach, but with the foundation and groundwork laid for a successful and sustainable winning culture, Savage and staff can now start to feed that culture by recruiting from the high school ranks. 

As a whole last season, Freshmen classes around the league played a larger role than maybe they ever have, and it's a new trend among mid-majors to play that young talent as early as possible, but it can prove to be a two-edged sabre, as many of the freshmen that played such a vital role at places like Furman, Western Carolina, Wofford and UNCG last season, they ended up transferring out to bigger programs for much more money. With that said, most coaches around the league will tell you that it's absolutely a chance you have to take.

ETSU isn't a stranger to this even before the transfer portal. Pretty much everyone remembers a guy like DamarI Monsanto and how important he was to ETSU's squad back during the 2020-21 season. As a redshirt freshman, Monsanto absolutely took the league by storm, as he averaged 10.6 PPG and shot better 45% from three-point range as a freshman. After Jason Shay was unceremoniously fired at the end of the season, Monsanto moved on to Wake Forest with Shay. He might have stayed had Shay not been let go.

One of the unique players to watch this season for the Bucs is likely the player that decided to redshirt last season--Huff--who has a chance to be an absolute impact player next season for ETSU. Huff enjoyed a standout career at Harlan County High School in Baxter, KY. 

To give you an idea of how good Huff is, he was the first player from Harlan County High School to be selected to play in the Kentucky-Indiana series, and he comes to ETSU off a final season as a prep basketball that saw him average 29.4 PPG and 7.9 RPG, leading the Black Bears to a 25-9 overall record and a third-straight district title as a senior.

For his efforts in his senior campaign at Harlan County, Huff garnered 13th Region Player of the Year honors by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches. Huff can flat out shoot the basketball, and that, if anything, could give him his greatest chance to garner a spot in Savage's rotation as soon as the 2025-26 season.

In a state known for good shooters, Huff led them all, as he finished out his senior campaign by leading the Bluegrass State in total made three-pointers, knocking down 151 triples in his final campaign as a prep.

Another especially impressive freshman coming into the ETSU program that the Savage and the ETSU staff are excited about is 6-4 guard Colt Busse, who is another impressive freshman talent the Bucs staff signed back in mid-November.

Busse comes from a great region of basketball talent, as he arrives from Baltimore, MD, after starring at at Archbishop Spalding in Severn, MD last season. The combo guard has excellent ball handling ability to go along with his proficiency as a shooter. 

Busse helped Archbishop Spalding to a 20-14 record this past season. Busse finished his senior campaign with 73 made threes, accounting for a majority of his 115 made field goals last season. Busse has a chance to be a real impact player and will join Huff and Johnson as three primary perimeter threats for ETSU in the coming season. 

Another combo guard to join the ETSU program for the upcoming 2026-27 basketball season is Ben Maller, who comes to Johnson City all the way from Mountain View, CA. The 6-4, 204-lb prepped at Prolific Prep in South Florida in 2025-26 where he played for head coach Ryan Bernardi. Prior to his time in South Florida, Maller was a three-year letterwinner at Mountain View High School. Maller played multiple sports during his prep career and is yet another player that can be plugged in to a game and affect it with his shooting ability.

The final addition to the roster during the offseason is talented freshman power forward Elton Smith, who joins the Bucs program from Columbia, S.C. and spent a year prepping at Dynamic Prep and OTE FaZe in Irving, TX., under head coach and former NBA big man Jermaine O'Neal before finding his way to ETSU. He averaged 5.1 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 13.8 MPG off the bench for Overtime Elite.

In his high school career at Cardinal Newman HS in Columbia, Smith was a two-time SCISA All-State selection, as well as being a 4A two-time All Region 1 performer. He helped Cardinal Newman to the 4A State title. 

ETSU Bucs Early Outlook for 2026-27                                                    

The Bucs have enough talent, at least on paper, to be a serious contender for a Southern Conference title once again this season, and will enter the conference slate as one of the favorites to win what would be a second-straight Southern Conference regular-season title.

The Bucs will be a little different in makeup once again this season, as it will be a team that will be stacked with most of its scoring talent and shooting prowess in the backcourt. The Bucs will rely on the veteran leadership of newcomers BJ Ward (SEMO) and Jayden Cooper (South Alabama). 

Much like the Bucs had last season with Brian Taylor II and Jaylen Smith, in Ward and Cooper, the Bucs will have both scoring ability, as well as perimeter shooting ability.  Ward and Cooper are also dynamic off the dribble, and both can be three-level scorers.

The x-factor might well be DeCarl Payne due to his ability both off the dribble and as a shooter. Payne is a guy that could also prove beneficial as a perimeter defender this season. That is something that will always be a hallmark of ETSU teams under Savage, and that is their ability defensively, especially pushing effective bigs off the block in the low-post, as well as guarding the three-point line, as Savage knows that the three-point shot is a way of life for most teams in the Southern Conference.

Offensive shouldn't be a problem with this new roster of players, and as with any new crop, it will be the defensive buy in that will ultimately determine where this team ends up, but Savage and staff have stockpiled enough talent to win the league once again this season.

One of the biggest takeways for me in observance of how ETSU and Brooks Savage himself were different last season was the character of his team and the players really seemed to embrace playing for one another. In those three years after Forbes left and before Savage took over, there was a lot of individual basketball being played in Johnson City, and it showed with what was allowed to transpire off the court, and that translated to how the game was played on the floor.

Since Savage, he has assembled an outstanding staff, which now includes more head coaching experience, with former Wofford head coach Dwight Perry joining former New Orleans head coach Chris Arkenburg, who was already on staff, and that has set the culture right in Johnson City.

This season, it was more apparent than ever that a culture of faith and commitment was different in Johnson City than it had been in previous seasons, and it even had an effect on head coach Brooks Savage, who got choked up speaking about this very thing after ETSU's dramatic come-from-behind win over Western Carolina in the SoCon Tournament this past March.  

The humility by coach Savage in that moment for the head coach to speak about that was a different side of Savage that few of us had witnessed, and it also was extension of and evidence of just how good the culture is in Johnson City. 

Bucs Breakdown:                                                                                                   

Starters Lost: (4/5)--PG-Brian Taylor II (14.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 53 made threes, 35% from 3pt range/out of eligibility); Cam Morris III (13.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG/SoCon Defensive Player of the Year/out of eligibility); Blake Barkley (14.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 59% FG PCT/Transferred to Grand Canyon); Allen Strothers (4.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 2.9 APG, 2.1 SPG/out of eligibility)

Others Lost: (4)--G--Jaylen Smith (9.1 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2.6 RPG, 1.3 APG, 52 made threes/transferred to Kansas City); G--Milton Matthews III (4.0 PPG, 1.4 RPG/out of eligibility); G/F--Gabe Sisk (3.4 PPG, 2.3 RPG/transferred to Malone); F--Isaiah Sutherland (3.5 PPG, 1.8 RPG/transferred to Wisconsin-Green Bay)

Best Returning Player: F-Jordan McCullum  (8.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG)

Potential Breakout Player in 2026-27: Brayden Crump (6.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG)

Best Transfer Portal Get: G-BJ Ward (SEMO) or F-Marqus Marion (Wake Forest)

Potential Glue Guy: G-Maki Johnson (5.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG)

Best Freshman Addition: F-Elton Smith (Cardinal Newman HS/Columbia, S.C.)

Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A

SoCon Hoops Summer Series 2026: Furman's Portal Haul Tops The New 11-Team SoCon

With the transfer portal now over, it's time to look at the overall recruiting hauls at each of the now 11 Southern Conference programs after the dust as settled. There will be some teams that add late commitments, but the majority of what is going to happen has already transpired. It's at least enough of a canvas cast out by each coaching staff to give us a good idea of what the overall talent level will be for each team heading into 2026-27.

With 75 players having decided to move on from the Southern Conference and into the transfer portal, never before has the league been faced with more of a collective loss of production off of each roster, and that has forced coaches to begin the off-season process a little later than in the past.

It's nothing new to the league, which saw 68 move on from last season and the year before, 63. The trend is getting higher, and that's something that has become an epidemic throughout the landscape of college basketball this season. In case you were wondering, according to the analytic service Evan Maya, the Southern Conference ranked fifth in the number of outgoing transfers among 31 conferences from this past season.

There will also be a new member of the Southern Conference this season, as Tennessee Tech (13-18, 8-12 in OVC/9th Place in OVC) is slated to become the 11th Southern Conference member next season, and it will become official on July 2, 2026.

With that said, Tennessee Tech throughout its history as an athletics program, has been known more for its success on the college football gridiron than anything it has done on the college basketball hardwood. The Golden Eagles' football program was able to break through and win the OVC-Big South on the gridiron, which saw them qualify for the FCS football playoffs for the first since 2011 and for just the second time in school history, winning a school-record 11 games last season under second-year head coach Bobby Wilder.

If that was a successful experiment and went as well as it did, why not basketball? After what was a pretty dismal 2025-26 season, which saw the Golden Eagles stumble to just a 13-18 mark, including just an 8-12 mark and a ninth-place finish under the direction of seventh year head John Pelphrey, Director of Athletics Casey Fox decided to shake things up one more time, firing Pelphrey and bringing in one of the up-and-coming coaches in college basketball, in Tobin Anderson. 

The ninth-place spot in the standings meant that the Golden Eagles missed the OVC Tournament. A year earlier, Pelphrey had helped guide TTU to a fifth-place finish only to lose their opening game of the OVC Tournament to No. 8 UT Martin (L, 70-67).

Anderson spent last season as an assistant at South Florida where he was instrumental in helping the Bulls make an NCAA Tournament appearance by winning the regular-season and tournament in the American Athletic Conference and finished off the campaign with a 25-9 overall record, including a 15-3 regular-season conference mark in the American Athletic Conference.

Anderson is most remembered for his achievements during his time as the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson, leading the Patriots to the second-ever No. 16 seed over a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as FDU would end up upsetting No. 1 seed Purdue, 63-58, in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. 

Anderson was then hired at Iona, where he spent just two seasons before getting unceremoniously fired as the program's head coach after somehow not meeting expectations in such a short time. He posted a 33-34 record in two seasons at the helm in New Rochelle, NY.

Staying in the state of Tennessee, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Chattanooga Mocs, which was arguably the most disappointing team in the league this past season. The Mocs looked nothing like a preseason favorite--with or without injuries.

How could the reigning SoCon regular-season champions and NIT Champions have fallen such a far distance in just a short time. The short answer is this: Injuries aside, the Mocs lacked the type of connection we're accustomed to seeing under Dan Earl-coached teams. Injuries had a major effect on the balance of the team all-around last season, as frontcourt injury after frontcourt injury meant having to remove the redshirt from talented forward Josh Bowman (3.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG), forcing him into action much earlier than he likely anticipated in his UTC career.

With season-ending injuries to Sean Cusano (4.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG/only played in 6 games), Sebastian Hartmann (7.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG/only played in 7 games), and nagging injuries to Latif Diouf (4.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG) and Collin Mullholland (7.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG) severely limiting the front court, as it meant that almost the entire offensive and rebounding load had to be almost exclusively handled by Bowman and Makai Richards (3.4 PPG. 3.1 RPG).

That led to some rather appalling rebounding numbers this past season, and a stark decline in almost every statistically measurable stat underneath the basket from a 2024-25 season, which even without Frank Champion in the opening portion and latter thirds of the season, was still both efficient and rebounded the ball extremely well en route to a school-record 29 wins. 

Guys like Garrison Keeslar, Cusano, Mulholland, Richards and even Bash Wieland (even though he was a wing guard) were clutch and especially good on the backboards during that awesome NIT run.

In 2024-25, Chattanooga ranked 135th in defensive rebounding percentage (29.0%), which is actually pretty good. In 2025-26, the Mocs finished the season ranked 240th in that same category, allowing teams to get 31.7% of the rebounds on their offensive end of the floor. That was due in large measure to the lack of overall size and depth at the disposal of Earl and staff. That left the team very much out of balance, with most nights having to rely on a steady diet of talented guards to make perimeter shots to ultimately get wins.

Add to that, with the injuries that had mounted, there was no central figure in that Earl diverse motion offense and by that I mean the fulcrum--a passing big in the high-post--that could make you pay as a shooter or with a perfectly timed backdoor pass for a layup. There was in essence no Frank Champion, Jan Zidek, or Jake Stephens to rely on in that role, with Mulholland having seen a majority of his season compromised due to pain limitations. 

With that said, it led to things going south in a hurry in 2025-26. The good news is that most of that bad mojo has either graduated or moved on to the portal. Mulholland and Hartmann moved to the portal, while Richards is out of eligibility. Bowman and Cusano will be the lone returning bigs for the Mocs in 2026-27.

The backcourt issues weren't on the offensive end, but rather more of a defensive issue. Teams had easy access to the paint more often than not because of Chattanooga's lack of defensive focus. Outside of Teddy Washington Jr., the Mocs played perimeter defense at spots in most games, but far too often they were leaving an undermanned and oftentimes outmanned Mocs team in the low-post exposed and at the mercy of opposing bigs, and that would cause issues throughout the season. 

The good news is  that, for better or worse, most of that talent has moved elsewhere in the portal. The most notable loss in the backcourt from this past season is obviously Jordan Frison, who ended up being UTC's best portal "get" by far from the 2025-26 season.

Frison is now the latest guard from the SoCon ranks to join the Wichita State program, as he follows in the footsteps of former ETSU guard and 2025 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year Karon Boyd, as well as former All-SoCon guard and UNCG Spartan Kenyon Giles. 

Both Boyd and Giles had huge success this past season in Wichita, as Boyd started all 36 games and averaged 10.9 PPG and 5.8 RPG, while Giles finished out his campaign at WSU as the single-season record-holder for three pointers made (125), attempted (331), threes made per-game (3.47) and threes attempted per game (7.0), as well as finishing the season leading the Shockers in scoring at 19.1 PPG.

It's safe to say that the Shockers head coach--Paul Mills--likely sees a lot of the same in Frison. Despite UTC's struggles on the defensive end of the floor,  Frison was a player that had the kind of offensive capabilities to take over a game in the same way that Giles provided last season  for the Mocs. 

Frison finished out his one season at UTC by garnering Third-Team All-SoCon honors last season for the Mocs after leading UTC at 16.4 PPG, while also adding 3.3 RPG and a team-leading last season. He finished out his one season in the Scenic City by posting 25 double-figure scoring performances in the 29 total games he suited up for the Mocs this past season. 

He garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors in the final week of the regular-season, as he put the cherry on top of that performance with a career-high 33 points in the regular-season finale, 86-79, win over VMI. 

Like Giles, Frison also shot the ball well from three-point range, which was another reason that the Shockers came calling with checkbook ready. In his one season with Chattanooga, Frison connected on a blistering 45.1% (46-of-102) from three-point land. I see Frison being an instant offensive impact player for the Shockers in 2026-27.

Other losses include a pair of grad transfers, in Teddy Washington Jr (9.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG) and Jikari Johnson (7.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG), with neither player living up to maybe some of the preseason expectations that were bestowed upon each. Fair or unfair, that is one of the realities of getting paid, as your work is more there to be readily scrutinized.  

Billy Smith (9.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG) showed flashes in his final season of his playing career with Chattanooga, as did Brennan Watkins (10.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 45.6% from 3pt range), but both were a bit of a liability on the defensive end of the floor, especially when the opposition had especially athletic guards and wings. 

The good news for Mocs fans is the return of Tate Darner (9.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG), who had an outstanding season running the point guard spot for Chattanooga, and he will be joined in the backcourt by Houston Holland (2.0 PPG, 1.6 RPG), who really established himself as another of UTC's more reliable three-point specialists. Cusano returns in the frontcourt, while big things are expected out of redshirt freshman guard Zach Bleshoy, who missed the season with an injury. 

Collin Mulholland just couldn't deal with his pain issues, and it was hard for him to ever find the rhythm he had a year ago. His basketball career will continue in the Mountain West, as he has joined the Utah State Aggies.  Sebastian Hartmann has moved on as well and will suit up for Kansas City next season. The Kangaroos play in the Summit League. 

Both Southern Conference champion Furman and runner-up East Tennessee State appear to have once again had especially strong hauls, while others like newcomer Tennessee Tech, The Citadel, Mercer and Wofford appear to have put together a good mix of both freshmen signees and portal additions that should help make them competitive with the top of the league once again.

UNCG was able to retain Dionte Neal, who originally re-opened his recruitment after Mike Jones was fired, and has now since re-committed to UNCG. The Spartans had maybe the most turnover of any team in the league after the coaching change, with Chane Bynum being the only player that remained on the Spartans' roster following the coaching transition.

Pretty much all of UNCG's outgoing talents like KJ Younger and Justin Neely now have new homes, while new head coach Jerrod Haase has likely been the most busy of any of the coaches in the league of late bringing in new guys. 

While the ones mentioned above have had more or less positive recruiting hauls on paper, programs like Western Carolina, Chattanooga and Samford have brought in classes that, for the most part, haven't moved the needle all that much, although at all three places there are excellent tacticians leading each, and with the developmental piece playing such a big role at all three, even though some of the signings might not have the wow factor initially, that will come later on after they get acclimated into these respective systems. 

Here's is an overview of some of the portal gets along with an early outlook for the league, and an in-depth look at Furman's recruiting haul and what returns for Bob Richey's Paladins in 2026-27. I will be doing this for all 11 SoCon teams this season. I hope you will enjoy these throughout the off-season as we impatiently await the start of another SoCon hoops season. My hope is that these will get you through the off-season. I know I will need something to get me through. Enjoy

A Sampling of the Significant SoCon Production Lost To Portal:

G--Alex Wilkins (Furman--to--Kentucky)

G--Kahmare Holmes (Wofford-to-Depaul)

G--Nils Machowski (Wofford-to-UConn)

F--Cayden Vasko (Wofford-to-Central Florida)

G--Baraka Okojie (Mercer-to-George Mason)

C--Armani Mighty (Mercer--to--Pitt)

F--Justin Neely (UNCG--to--Colorado)

G--KJ Younger (UNCG--to--Texas State)

F--Christian Moore (The Citadel--to--Butler)

G--Linus Holmstrom (VMI--to--Youngstown State)

G--Cord Stansberry (Western Carolina--to--Missouri)

G--Tahlan Pettway (Western Carolina--to--UNC Wilmington)

F--Marcus Kell (Western Carolina--to--Furman)

Ranking The SoCon Portal Hauls/Freshman Recruiting Classes

1. Furman (22-13/10-8 SoCon/6th/SoCon Tournament Champions)

    Top Portal Find: F-Marcus Kell (Western Carolina)

    Top Freshman: G-Jerrin Samuel (Winder-Barrow HS/Winder, GA)

    Biggest Portal Loss: PG-Alex Wilkins (Kentucky)

    Best Returning Player: G-Abijah Franklin 

2. Tennessee Tech (13-18, 8-12 OVC/9th in OVC)

    Top Portal Find: G-Trent Mosquera (LeMoyne)

    Top Freshman: PG-Kamai Samuels (Putnam Science Academy/Montreal, Canada)

    Biggest Portal Loss: PF--JaJuan Nicholls (Southern Utah)

    Best Returning Player:  F-Mekhi Turner--or--G Ty Owens

3. East Tennessee State (23-11/13-5 SoCon/1st/Regular-Season SoCon Champions)

    Top Portal Find:  PF--Marqus Marion (Wake Forest)

    Top Freshman:  G-Colt Busse (Archbishop Spaulding HS/Baltimore, MD)

    Biggest Portal Loss: F Blake Barkley (Grand Canyon University)

    Best Returning Player: F-Jordan McCullum 

4. Wofford (19-13, 11-7 SoCon/2nd)

        Top Portal Find: PG Jacob Daniels (Lander)

        Top Freshman Recruit: G-Jyi Dawkins (Ben L Smith HS)

        Biggest Portal Loss: G-Kahmare Holmes (DePaul)

        Best Returning Player: F-Brian Sumpter or G-Chace Watley

5. Mercer (19-13, 11-7 SoCon/4th)

        Top Portal Find: SG--Dawson Barr (Embry Riddle)

        Top Freshman Recruit: PF-Dimitrije Kovacevic (Kosarkaski klub Beograd/Doboj, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

        Biggest Portal Loss: C-Armani Mighty (Pitt)/PG--Baraka Okojie (George Mason)

        Best Returning Player: G-Quinton Perkins II

6. Chattanooga (13-18, 8-10 SoCon/8th)

        Top Portal Find: SF-Anthony Swift (Nebraska-Kearney)/PF-Tyler Houser (Delaware)

        Top Freshman Recruit: PG-Christian Matos (Sunrise Christian Academy)

        Biggest Portal Loss: PG--Jordan Frison (Wichita State)

        Best Returning Player: PG-Tate Darner

7. UNCG (15-19, 9-9 SoCon/7th)

    Top Portal Find: G-Brock Mishak (West Texas A&M)

    Top Freshman Recruit: G-Dionte Neal (Reidsville HS)

    Biggest Portal Loss: F-Justin Neely (Colorado)

    Best Returning Player: F-Chane Bynum

8. Samford (18-14, 11-7 SoCon/3rd)

    Top Portal Find: PG--Brandon Fussell (Montevallo)

    Top Freshman Recruit: C-Lawson Lee (Battle Ground Academy)

    Biggest Portal Loss: F--Dylan Faulkner (Clemson)

    Best Returning Player: F-Cade Norris

9. Western Carolina (15-16, 10-8 SoCon/5th)

    Top Portal Find: PF--Isaiah Manning (Sam Houston State)

    Top Freshman Recruit: PG--Jacob Zhu (Calvary Christian Academy)

    Biggest Portal Loss: F-Marcus Kell (Furman)/G-Cord Stansberry (Missouri)

    Best Returning Player: F/C Samuel Dada

    

10. The Citadel (11-22, 7-11 SoCon/9th)

        Top Portal Find: G--Marcus Banks (Shepherd)

        Top Freshman Recruit: PG-Ja'Yon Alexander (SPIRE Academy)

        Biggest Portal Loss: F-Christian Moore (Butler)

        Best Returning Player: F-Kenyan Davis

11. VMI (6-26, 1-17 SoCon/10th)

    Top Portal Find:  None Signed

    Top Freshman Recruit: PG--Trap Johnson (Belton High School)

    Biggest Portal Loss: SG--Linus Holmstrom (Youngstown State)

    Best Returning Player: F--TJ Johnson/G--Rickey Bradley Jr.

An Early Look at 2026-27

It's hard to get an overall ranking for how I think the order of finish will go as of yet, but I would expect the way I have them ranked in the recruiting at the beginning of the summer to be similar to how I would have those teams in the preseason, though not entirely. 

While I like Tennessee Tech's recruiting haul--both freshmen and portal finds--I don't think they are the team I would pick second in the league. At least not at this point. I do think the Golden Eagles are headed for a top five finish in the league standings if I had to guess. 

With that said, I will give an uneducated guess as to how I think it will all shake out when it comes to favorites to win the regular-season, as well as in Asheville. Remember, for the first time ever we have had No. 6 seeds punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament in Asheville. Both Wofford and Furman more shockingly finished the regular-season in sixth spot than it was shocking for either team to win the tournament. Both teams had the talent and the experience to do so each of the past two years.   Below is the top six order I have for the league in 2026-27.

1. Furman--Paladins have lost a lot but still return enough talent to be a factor even if most of their portal "gets" and freshman recruits are missed. I'd venture to guess that should the Paladins be able to avoid injuries this season, they'll be the favorite to not only win the regular season, but also to repeat the feat in Asheville in 2026-27. Furman made some early noise in the portal when it secured the services of All-SoCon forward Marcus Kell to be one of the newest Paladins in 2026-27. Ironically, it was Kell that was celebrated on the final day of the regular season in Cullowhee, as WCU blistered Furman, 86-67, which provided the Paladins all the motivation they needed to then turn around and be successful in Asheville the very next weekend. 

2. East Tennessee State--With coaching turnover being more a thing at the mid-major level now more than ever, expect Brooks Savage have the Bucs back in the mix once again this coming season after having led the Bucs to title game appearances in two of his three seasons as head coach, while assembling a dominant Bucs team throughout much of the 2025-26 regular-season, as he would lead ETSU to its first SoCon regular-season crown since Steve Forbes' final campaign in Johnson City in 2019-20. ETSU will have one of the top players returning in the league, in Jordan McCullum, who will be an early candidate for preseason SoCon Player of the Year. Adding a little more intrigue to the mix is the fact that Savage hired former Wofford head coach Dwight Perry as an assistant for the upcoming season. 

3. Wofford--Kevin Giltner heads into his second season as the head coach of Wofford's program with a little more peace of mind and time to implement more of his plan after having to take over in such a whirlwind last season. He lost much of a class that he didn't recruit, but one that he helped develop and mold in a conference title contender in year one after the Terriers had been picked to finish ninth by the league's nine other head coaches. Wofford not only had one a pair of the top portal signees last season, in Nils Machowski and Cayden Vasko, who have both moved on to power six programs, but the Terriers also had one of the top freshman signing classes, thanks to the league tourney title a year earlier. With that said, two of Wofford's most prized freshmen return, in guard Chace Watley and the always exciting Brian Sumpter, who is a 6-7 forward that plays above the rim.

4.  Samford--Lennie Acuff is the type of coach that you expect to have his team in the mix for a conference title each year he decides to coach before eventually retiring on his terms in Homewood. It took some time to get things going, but when they got going, it was dynamic and the Bulldogs became a team that, under Acuff, no one wanted to face in the tournament in Asheville. 

After starting the season 3-6, the Bulldogs won eight of their final nine games to capture the No. 3 seed. Though the Bulldogs lost to Furman for the second year in a row in the tournament, many felt that the Bulldogs would have won the tournament if Furman had not. With that said, there is a rebuilding project in Homewood, starting with figuring out how to replace a dynamic duo as prolific as both guard Jadin Booth and forward Dylan Faulkner were. 

That project will likely revolve around one of the more versatile wing forwards returning to the league for the 2026-27 season, in Cade Norris. Others like forwards Judson Bjornstad and big man Will Shaver will give the Bulldogs at least something to work with in the paint in terms of returnees. 

5. Mercer--A coach that seemingly has made the case for his own versatility in both the X's and O's department, as well as navigating all things transfer portal-related is Mercer's Ryan Ridder. Ridder led the Bears to their best season and highest finish in the SoCon since the 2019-20 season, and that included leading the Bears to a 14-1 mark at Hawkins Arena last season. 

He had to replace Ahmad Robinson and reliable big man Alex Holt after the 2024-25 season and then not only replaced them, but reloaded with even better talent in the form of Baraka Okojie and Armani Mighty this past season, and that led the Bears to the doorstep of a 20-win campaign. 

Quinton Perkins II returns off a season that saw him average 8.9 PPG in his first season after coming on board from Indian Hills CC.  With the addition of prolific shooting guard Dawson Barr from Embry-Riddle, expect the Bears to once again have among the most dynamic backcourts in the SoCon.

6. Tennessee Tech--For a program that hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 1963, the dedication to win now and not later in a more accomplished league is certainly something notable. But the Golden Eagles aren't coming to the SoCon to ease into their new surroundings, they're arriving with a loud warning signal to the rest of the league. 

It started with the hiring of Tobin Anderson by Casey Fox, who has been on the job a little less than a year as the new AD in Cookeville.  This has a chance to be an impactful hire for Fox, who could put a stamp on his career at Tennessee Tech as a part of his legacy whenever he moves on, and like Fox, Anderson has approached his new job with the same type of gusto and enthusiasm. 

Despite losing its top three scorers, Anderson has attacked the portal and brought in one of the top hauls on paper at least. The crown jewel that might be a player to build around is 6-4 shooting guard Trent Mosquera, who averaged 13.5 PPG last season this past season, garnering Second-Team All-NEC honors.

7. Chattanooga--We know Dan Earl can coach, but last season, injuries and some misses in the portal led to a dramatic decline. The rebuild isn't likely going to come overnight. The Mocs have looked mostly to Europe to find the answers, as well as finding another AWOL VMI Keydet along the way, as head coach Dan Earl looks to tap the secret reserves one last time by bringing in Tyler Houser, who won't play until next season.  

Howser spent a couple seasons, averaging 14.2 PPG and 5.4 RPG in the most recent one before having it cut short due to injury. Tate Darner and Zach Bleshoy will give the Mocs a solid shooting tandem in the backcourt, while Josh Bowman will look to develop his overall game beside Sean Cusano, who will be the veteran leader underneath in 2026-27 with the departures of Collin Mulholland (Utah State) and Makai Richards (no more eligibility).

8. The Citadel--The Citadel has some momentum and despite losing arguably their three best players, in wing forwards Christian Moore and Sola Adebisi, as well as Braxton Williams in the backcourt, the Bulldogs have entered the transfer portal with the momentum of last season's strong late stretch, bringing in three former SoCon guards, in Marcus Banks (former WCU Catamount), Eddrin Bronson (former Furman Paladins guard) and Chase Cormier (former Wofford Terrier). The Citadel set a record for overtime wins (4) this past season, as well as winning posting its most SoCon wins--7--since the 2009-10 season. There is reason to believe that, if this Bulldogs team stays healthy, they could be a dangerous team in Asheville next March.

9. Western Carolina--It has to be discouraging to be a head coach at Western Carolina. It was hard enough for Jason Gray or Mark Prosser to keep players in Cullowhee without NIL money as an influencer to leave town, but without the promise of big-time bucks that other programs in the Catamounts' own league can offer, it's hard to keep the best players around for enough time to grow the program in a meaningful way. 

Kerwin Bell has encountered the same issue as WCU's football coach but managed to put a winning product out the past four seasons and one that is knocking at the door of a SoCon title. While WCU football is looking for its first SoCon title in 46 seasons in the SoCon, if the Catamounts were to break through and win one under Craft, it would mark the second title in program history. The only time WCU has been to the NCAA Tournament came in 1996, as WCU celebrated the 30-year anniversary of that feat just this past season. 

Marcus Kell (Furman), Cord Stansberry (Missouri), Abdul Fanta-Kabba (Denver)and Tahlan Pettway (UNC Wilmington) have all moved on, and if that wasn't bad enough, talented shooting guard Jyi Dawkins decommitted from Western Carolina and committed to Wofford last month. 

The good news is the "Nigerian Nightmare", Samuel Dada is back, and his size and athleticism is a solid piece to build around in the paint for Craft and staff. 

10.  VMI--Following 15 wins and a seventh-place finish in the league a year ago, VMI and head coach Andrew Wilson underwent a season that could best be described as one of the most bizarre in program history, with SoCon Player of the Year and league leading returning leading scorer Rickey Bradley Jr. not even playing a game. 

That would essentially force TJ Johnson to most of the work, alongside talented shooter Linus Holmstrom (Youngstown State) and erratic, but talented point guard Tan Yildizoglu running the show as the point guard. Only TJ Johnson remains, however, both Bradley and veteran defensive force AJ Clark have announced they would be returning for the 2026-27 season, giving VMI fans a morsel of hope.

11. UNCG--The Jerod Haase era is ready to begin at UNCG, although there is some real concern among Spartans supporters that it might also coincide by a descent back into the doldrums of the SoCon cellar, which is where Wes Miller spent half his time as coach trying to dig out of the mess left by Mike Dement over the course of his five years in charge. Miller built a sustainable product before leaving for Cincinnati, and while Mike Jones might not have been the right choice, when Miller left, as there were plenty of capable Miller assistants ready to help sustain the program, Jones certainly was a good hire and a good basketball coach, nonetheless. 

After winning 20 games in three out of five seasons, UNCG's 0-4 performance in Asheville was too much to stomach for new Director of Athletics Brian Mackin, who was well-acquainted with friend Jerod Haase during the time the two spent together at UAB. 

Haase was hired after a two-year hiatus following being fired at Stanford in 2024, and the best thing he has done so far is getting one of the top guards in the southeast--Dionte Neal--to recommit to UNCG after initially decommitting. The two-sport star is an instant impact player in the SoCon. He won't have much help, however, and say what you want to about Jones, but the program was going to be in a better spot under his leadership off a promising run in the tournament than it will be starting over under Haase. That's too hard to do at a place like UNCG...At least in the immediate. Just ask Wes Miller.

Breaking Down the Defending SoCon Champions

1. Furman (22-13, 10-8 SoCon/6th in reg season/Tourney Champs)

Portal Losses/Portal Adds and Returners: Furman had some significant losses due the graduation and most directly, the transfer portal, with freshman phenom point guard Alex Wilkins (Kentucky) and center Cooper Bowser (Arkansas) both ending up at SEC schools, and guys like Tom House, Charles Johnston and Ben Vander Wal having moved on as a result of graduation. 

Bob Richey has gone out and put together what appears to be another solid class from the transfer portal, as he looks to sustain the Paladins' success off a championship season, despite having some significant departures.

The Paladins put together quite the postseason run last March, which culminated with Furman cutting down the nets for the second time in a four-year span, as the Paladins knocked off ETSU, 76-61 in the SoCon Tournament title matchup, as Furman played in the championship game on Monday night for the fourth time in the past five seasons. 

The 2025-26 Paladins were drastically different from the Furman team that the Paladins put out on the floor for the 2025 title tilt against Wofford, with the most notable change being how much better Furman was on the defensive end of the floor. The Paladins ranked just behind ETSU as the best defensive team in the conference in 2025-26, and that was enough to get Furman to where they had hoped to be last season, which was with a title trophy in hand and a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

However, that wasn't to be, as Wofford scored 92 points in a 92-85 win over the Paladins, and the Terriers became the first No. 6 seed in league history to become league tourney title winners. Furman, which gave up a season-high 92 points in that 2025 loss to the Terriers, vowed it would improve defensively, and the first move was to go out and make some key hires to ensure that would be the case. 

Coach Richey brought in Joe Pierre II as one of several key off-season acquisitions to the sidelines for the Paladins. Clint Karlsson and Koty Kimble were also brought on staff, as Karlsson worked with big men and Kimble handled scouting and helped with coordinating the Furman offense. Pat Estepp was essentially the associate head coach for Furman, with Chad Warner having moved on to Niko Medved's first-ever staff at Minnesota. 

Furman had a lot of continuity back for the 2025-26 season, but didn't have its two best scorers, in PJay Smith Jr. and Nick Anderson, who were both out of eligibility after having been Furman's two top scorers having moved on. 

The Paladins turned the defense around, and despite the injuries that plagued the 'Dins throughout the season combined with the Paladins started a true freshman point guard for the first time under the direction of head coach Bob Richey, Furman found a way to capture finish up with a 22-13 record, which included a 10-8 mark in league play, as the Paladins became the second-ever No. 6 seed to claim a Southern Conference regular-season title. Furman even put up a solid fight as the No. 15 seed against No. 2 UConn in the NCAA Tournament before dropping what was an 82-71 contest to the eventual national runner-up.

The one harsh reality that might be facing both Furman and the Southern Conference in the immediate future is the fact that with the expansion of the tournament to 76 teams, the SoCon might be one of the mid-major leagues shoehorned out of the tournament as a result of the final 12 spots in the big dance now being determined with a play-in round. If the same format had been applied to the 2026 NCAA Tournament, then the Paladins would have had to have beaten Siena in a battle of No. 16 seeds for the right to play Florida. 

With that said, there is always the hope that the league as a whole is better so that whomever the league champion is doesn't have to worry about such a scenario. However, the odds of that actually happening seem to be less now than they ever have been.

Furman did some things differently than we are accustomed to seeing them do in order to be able to finish out the season the way they wanted to. The Paladins weren't a great three-point shooting team but were overall a solid offensive basketball team. 

According to KenPom, the Paladins finished fifth overall in the league in total offensive efficiency (108.3), while completing the campaign finishing second in overall defensive efficiency (109.6).

As far as the Paladins shooting the ball from the perimeter, the Paladins finished the 2025-26 season having connected on 311 threes in 35 games, shooting them at just a 32.8% (311-of-947) clip over the course of the season. 

However, while the Paladins struggled as a whole from deep in 2025-26, it was only how they shot it in Asheville that mattered. For the second-straight season, the Paladins were on fire from deep over the course of three games in the Harrah's Cherokee Center, knocking down a combined 30-of-67 in the tournament, which converts to an impressive 44.7% clip over the course of those three games. 

Despite losing six regulars from last year's roster, the Paladins appear to be the early favorite heading into the 2026-27 season as well. Furman lost a generational talent in freshman phenom Alex Wilkins. The 6-5 point guard from Mattapan, MA., was arguably the best freshman player to suit up in the league since Davidson's Stephen Curry back during the 2005-06 season. 

Wilkins is coming off a season which saw him set a new freshman scoring record (622 pts) and was able to lead the Paladins in scoring average 17.8 PPG and assists average 4.7 APG, as he was able to lead the Paladins to a second title in four years with his play at the point guard spot. 

His 21-point effort against UConn in the NCAA Tournament allowed Wilkins to expand his horizons even further, which is why Wilkins will be on the Kentucky Wildcats' roster next season. With Eddrin Bronson (5.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG) opting to enter the transfer portal to continue his career at The Citadel, as he will be eligible immediately after graduating Furman this past spring. 

With that in mind, Furman's staff went to the portal and got a reliable point guard that they had known about in the recruiting process initially, bringing in Luka Toews from Boston College. Interestingly, Toews spent his first two seasons of his collegiate career as a point guard at Boston College, and he comes out of the same AAU program as Alex Wilkins, which is the Middlesex Magic. 

The 6-1, 190-lb guard originally hails from Tokyo, Japan, and he will be given the reins of Furman's unique motion offense next season, as he is what coach Bob Richey calls a "natural fit" for the point guard role, with his feel for the game and his ability to shoot the three-ball. 

In his two seasons with the Eagles, Toews averaged 4.2 PPG and 1.8 assists-per-game over 53 contests in two seasons, including shooting a solid 36.8% from three-point land. After seeing action in 24 games off the bench during the 2024-25 season, Toews found himself more involved last season at Boston College, as he logged action in a total of 29 games, which included making 20 starts and averaged 6.3 PPG and 1.6 RPG, while issuing out 2.2 APG. 

He also shot nearly 40% from three-point land this past season, as he knocked down 31-of-79 shots from long-range, which converts to a strong 39.2% from three-point land. He finished the season with eight games in double figures last season at Boston College.

Toews enjoyed his best performance with the Eagles this past season against Fairleigh Dickinson, as he scored a career-best 21 points in a win, while registering 14 points and dished out eight assists in ACC play in a win over Florida State. Toews was selected to represent the Japanese National Team in the 2025 Nippon Cup last summer. 

Toews is part of a growing trend across college basketball, which has seen international players coming to the United States to continue their basketball career. For Furman, Toews became the second player with a background that extends well beyond the United States, and he isn't the only one in this current recruiting haul. 

Toews joins Charles Johnston, who recently graduated and spent two years as a big part of Furman's program, helping the Paladins secure a title this past March. Johnston, who was from Sydney,  Australia, helped the Paladins to win 47 games over the past two seasons. 

Unlike Wilkins, who was a superior talent that got a chance to start right away, as he would overcome the learning curve with some mistakes along the way, Toews brings experience and a better shooting ability from the perimeter than Wilkins had into the starting role next season. However, it's also a trade-off in that Furman won't have the size or quickness off the dribble, as well as quite ability to get to the hoop in Toews, which Wilkins gave the Paladins last season if the play broke down.

While Toews addresses the problem as a result of losses at point guard, the Paladins also must figure out starting anew underneath the basket, where all three starters--Ben Vander Wal, Cooper Bowser and the aforementioned Johnston have found new homes or have graduated. 

Western Carolina transfer forward Marcus Kell

The most significant piece to losing those three underneath the basket is the fact that the Paladins lose some of that big-time size, which saw the Paladins rank as the sixth-tallest team in college basketball last season, and allowed them to be competitive with a big-time program like UConn in the NCAA Tournament--at least in theory. 

As a team, Furman finished out the 2025-26 season ranking third in the league in total rebounding average (37.5 RPG), while ranking second in defensive rebound average (26.9 DRPG) and fourth in offensive rebounding average (10.7 ORPG). 

With that in mind, Furman's next strategic move was to figure out the next piece of the puzzle next season in the paint. 

The good news for the Paladins was the fact that while Cooper Bowser decided to move on to Arkansas after improving each of his three seasons as Furman's center, his brother Cole Bowser, who wasn't even supposed to play this past season but would be forced into action due to the injury issues for the Paladins last season. 

The younger Bowser also proved to be a major piece of Furman's championship puzzle during the 2025-26 season, as he finished out the season by logging action in 20 total games, which included making six starts. 

The 6-6, 200-lb rising sophomore, who posted a career-best 13 points and 13 rebounds in a road win at UNCG last season, also shot the ball pretty well from the perimeter as a pick-and-pop guy, connecting on 36% (14-of-39) from long-range last season. Bowser will be in line to start at that wing guard/small forward spot that Ben Vander Wal occupied last season. While the Paladins will miss Vander Wal's defense and rebounding ability on both ends, the trade-off is what I think Bowser will end up giving the Paladins on the offensive end of the floor, most notably as a perimeter threat.

That left the Paladins staff needing to address the four and five positions in the portal, which they do effectively. First, the staff made quite the splash by procuring Marcus Kell () from Western Carolina into the fold as a graduate transfer, which will make him eligible to play right away for Furman next season. Kell is quite the pull for Furman's basketball program, and he is a guy that was originally looked at in the recruiting process by the Paladin coaching staff.

It comes with a bit of irony that Furman played at Western Carolina on what was Marcus Kell's recognized senior day at WCU, as he likely had made his plans known that he would be transferring with a year of eligibility remaining. That likely didn't go unnoticed by the Paladin coaching staff. The Catamounts went on to hand Furman its second-worst margin of defeat of the season, as well as its worst in Southern Conference play, as the Catamounts completed the regular-season sweep of Furman, with an 86-67 win in Cullowhee.

Furman would learn a great deal from that loss on the final day of the regular-season and would be able to use that loss to Kell's Catamounts as fuel heading into the SoCon Tournament in Asheville. Now, it will be Kell joining up with Furman and wearing a different shade of Purple, as the Paladins look to defend their SoCon crown during the 2026-27 season. 

Over the past couple of seasons, Kell's play would become somewhat of a modern phenomenon in Cullowhee, as under Craft's care, the Fort Mill, S.C., product would end up developing into an all-conference basketball player.

Ironically, it was a game against Furman in early February of 2025 that would see Kell burst onto the scene for WCU.  In that game, which ended up being an overtime loss to the Paladins, Kell finished off a strong performance by scoring 29 points, connecting on 8-of-17 shots from the field, which included a 5-for-9 effort from three-point land in what was a game played at nearby Bob Jones University, as Furman played all its games away from Timmons Arena during the 2024-25 season due to a renovation project. 

Despite the disappointment of a losing to the Paladins, that would help birth the legend of Marcus Kell in the hills of Western North Carolina, as he went from being a little-used puzzle piece under Justin Gray to being a relied upon scoring threat and all-conference caliber player under Craft's leadership. 

Kell would finish out the season with impressive numbers, as he would start 16 of 30 games for the Catamounts during the 2024-25 season, as well as posting double-figure scoring performances in each of his final 12 games of the season. In fact, he would register 14 of his 16 double-figure scoring games in Southern Conference play, with his signature performance coming on two weeks after his 29-point effort in the 84-75 overtime loss to Furman. He would end up playing a career-high 38 minutes for WCU in the nine-point setback. 

Against eventual regular-season league champion Chattanooga, Kell would put together another outstanding scoring performance, netting what was and still is a career-high 31 points in what was a narrow 91-86 setback in the Scenic City. In that contest, Kell would finish off the game by scoring his 31 points on 11-of-23 shooting from the field, which included a 4-for-7 effort from three-point land. The performance probably should have been enough to garner him a third-consecutive SoCon Player of the Week accolade. 

In his 12-straight games in double figures to close the season, Kell scored 217 of his total 352 points for the 2024-25 season, and scored 244 of his total of 352 points for the season against SoCon opposition. He finished his redshirt sophomore season averaging 11.7 PPG and posted 5.5 RPG. He averaged an impressive 14.7 PPG in league games and his 44 threes on the season ranked him fourth on the Catamounts team, while shooting a team-best 38% (44-of-116) from three-point range of regularly used players. His 164 rebounds in 2024-25 ranked him second on the team.

The 2025-26 season would see more accolades come Kell's way as a result of what he was able to do in his breakthrough campaign. His attitude, work ethic and commitment were ultimately what helped him really become a foundational and sustaining player for Tim Craft in his first two seasons at WCU. In many ways, Kell should be given the credit for helping Craft salvage and begin to build something in Cullowhee.

In his final season in Cullowhee, Kell would help the Catamounts to a seven-win improvement and to the doorstep of a Southern Conference championship game. In his final season with the Catamounts, Kell would end up averaging 13.6 PPG and finishing up averaging 4.8 RPG. However, his shooting from long-range wasn't as accurate during his final season in Cullowhee, as he would finish out the 2025-26 season, with one less three-pointer made (43), while shooting 29 more threes (145) than he did last season.

Kell figures to factor in at Furman as Johnston's replacement at the four spot. Furman will be a tad better offensively with Kell, given he's a better perimeter threat and more of a three-level scorer than Johnston was, but the rebounding and defensive trade-offs are pretty even in all honesty. Chuck was probably better on the glass collectively on both ends of the floor, but Kell was awesome offensively on the glass in each of the past three seasons for the Catamounts, so there might be a slight upgrade for Furman in terms of what they are getting on the offensive glass in Kell. 

Replacing Cooper Bowser might have been the toughest position to both evaluate and find for the Furman staff, which was also influx at the end of the season. Ultimately, Furman has shown a couple of changes in philosophy in terms of what we have seen with the past two recruiting classes, and that is Furman has been able to find guys a little closer to home; while also finding ones that exceed the borders of the United States.

Furman added Jordan Butler out of South Carolina. The 7-1 center will give the Paladins even more size than what they had with either the 6-11 Charles Johnston or the 6-11 Cooper Bowser, and it will also give the Paladins an outside shooting element once again. Butler runs well and has the potential to add a rim protection element to the fold, especially both twin towers from a year ago.

Butler also returns to his hometown, as he played his high school basketball at nearby Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, and the 7-0 center hails from Mauldin, S.C.  Butler's two stops prior to Furman were at Missouri and South Carolina, where he struggled to find a proper fit at a pair of programs that have spent most of their time rebuilding in the always-tough SEC. Butler spent three seasons at both Mizzou and with South Carolina, as he was with the Tigers for two seasons and South Carolina for one, as he won just 33 games during that span. 

There is some good news and that is the fact that the program he joins--Furman--has won 62 games over that same span, almost doubling both South Carolina and Missouri's win totals over the same span.  The big man will have a chance to step in right away and be a potential impact player.

In recent seasons, we've seen some big men transfer down from higher levels and into the SoCon to go on to put together successful turnaround stories, with the most recent of those being a guy like Armani Mighty from Mercer. After averaging 0.8 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 5.1 MPG over 51-career games at Boston College, and spending a season injured at Central Michigan, Mighty decided it was time for a change of scenery and he transferred to a place and into a league where he could have almost an immediate impact on the hardwood. 

During his one season at Mercer, Mighty garnered All-SoCon second-team honors and finished out the season with an impressive 16 double-doubles. Mighty's 16 double-doubles also ranked second in the league, with 10 of those coming in SoCon play, which also ranked second. Replacing a player like Mighty underneath will be a tough undertaking for Ridder and staff, and it's arguably tougher than even having to replace Okojie at point guard. 

Few will forget the performance delivered by Mighty in Mercer's 77-67 win at VMI in mid-January. The 6-10 native of Toronto, Ontario finished with 18 points and 25 rebounds. That was a monstrous performance by Mighty ranked as the top rebounding performance by any player in the league all season, and it set a new Cameron Hall record for most rebounds ever, surpassing former Bears forward Calvin Henry's record mark of 22 boards inside the same facility, which was set on Dec. 9, 2006.

Mighty isn't the only one that has had that type of effect in the Southern Conference in the recent past, with guys like former ETSU transfer Jalen Haynes (transferred in from Virginia Tech prior to the 2022-23 season),  The Citadel's Quentin-Millora Brown (transferred in from Vanderbilt prior to the 2023-24 season) and Wofford's BJ Mack (transferred in from South Florida prior to the 2020-21 season) all making notable impacts at their respective destinations. 

Butler will have that kind of potential with his one season of eligibility remaining with the Paladins. Like Mighty, Butler doesn't have an extensive track record of notable work on the hardwood during his whirlwind three seasons spent at both Mizzou and South Carolina. In the 2025-26 season, he finished up seeing action in 25 games with the Gamecocks, averaging 2.8 PPG and 1.8 RPG, respectively. Butler played for his father during his time at Christ Church, and his sister also played at South Carolina. 

One element that he will give the Paladins that maybe Bowser didn't possess as much will be a mid-range game, as well as the ability to step out and be a threat from long-range, which is much like Johnston was able to do for the past couple of seasons for the Paladins.

Mighty's 16 double-doubles also ranked second in the league, with 10 of those coming in SoCon play, which also ranked second. Replacing a player like Mighty underneath will be a tough undertaking for Ridder and staff, and it's arguably tougher than even having to replace Okojie at point guard. 

Army transfer Jaxson Bell

The final pickup out of the transfer portal for the Paladins heading into the 2026-27 season is Army transfer and combo guard Jaxson Bell.  The good thing about the addition of Bell is that he has the ability to play both wing guard, as well as the point guard spot. 

Bell spent the past couple of seasons playing for the Black Knights, and like Butler, didn't find much success playing in the Patriot League for a program that has never made an NCAA Tournament appearance. 

Thanks to new assistant coach hire and former prolific three-point shooter Jordan Lyons, who was recently hired as an assistant by head coach Bob Richey off Navy's staff where he was each of the past two seasons, the Paladins were able to secure the services of Bell for the 2026-27 season. Bell posted 17 points in a late-season game against the Midshipmen. 

The 2024-25 season wasn't bad, as Bell helped the Mids to a 17-16 mark, however, saw action in only three games in his freshman season in West Point, averaging 1.0 PPG and 0.7 RPG. Though Army wasn't very good during his sophomore season, finishing just 11-21 overall and just 5-13 in Patriot League play, it would be Bell that would see his individual flourish. 

The combo guard would log action in 30 total games, which included eight starts and ended up ranking second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.2 PPG and 5.0 RPG. The 6-2 guard reached double figures in 20 out of 30 games he logged action in this past season, while registering two double-doubles on the season. 

One of the stats that likely stuck out to both Lyons and head coach Bob Richey was the fact that Bell was Army's most accomplished three-point threat this past season, connecting on 35.9% of his shots from downtown. 

All told, Bell finished the 2025-26 season knocking down 52-of-145 shots from long-range, and was also an especially impressive free throw shooter, having finished the season shooting 81.0% (93-of-115) from the charity stripe.

Bell was at his best over the latter portion of the season for the Black Knights, as he averaged 14.9 PPG and 5.3 RPG over the final seven games of the campaign. The cherry on top of that strong finish to the end of the season for Indianapolis, IN., product was a 22-point effort against Lafayette in an 82-77 loss to end the regular-season. 

The super sophomore poured in his 22 points on an 8-of-12 shooting performance, which included a 3-for-5 effort from long range. Bell scored a career-high 24 points just before Christmas in what was a thrilling 95-85 overtime win over Binghamton. In that contest, Bell shot 66.7% (6-of-9) from the field and 71.4% (5-for-7) from three-point range. He also totaled an impressive six rebounds in the home win two days before Christmas. 

Bell will add another scoring piece in the backcourt, with the Paladins all the sudden having some nice options, and that's not even including the incoming freshmen expected to make an immediate impact next season. 

While the staff loves his ability to shoot and to score from all three levels on the floor, it's his overall strength at 211 lbs, as well as his ability as an excellent rebounding guard on both ends of the floor that gives Furman an even added luxury. Bell will likely find himself as one of Furman's best rebounding guards of the Bob Richey era. 

Overall, this group of four players from the transfer portal adds scoring, rebounding, size and maturity. The next step will be getting this group in order as a cohesive defensive unit. The good news about the current additions is the fact that with at least three of those additions.

As far as what returns for the Paladins, there are seven players returning to the fold from 2025-26, with six of those expected to all factor into the plans this season. Several of those players expect to make some big jumps in terms of overall production.

A trio of those that are expected to blossom into all-conference caliber players in just their second respective seasons in the program are both combo guards Abijah Franklin and Collin O'Neal, as well as small forward Cole Bowser. Both have some pretty big-time potential. Though head coach Bob Richey hasn't made direct comparisons between Franklin and former Paladin legend Mike Bothwell (2019-23), the type of trajectory that the local product Franklin is on is similar to that of Bothwell. 

There are some comparisons there, too. Both were elite scorers as preps prior to their arrival at Furman, and both started to show glimpses of at points during their rookie seasons at Furman. For Franklin, it was ability as a defensive player that allowed him to see plenty of time in key moments for Bob Richey's Paladins in 2025-26. 

His efforts at slowing Samford guard and SoCon Player of the Year Jadin Booth in Furman's 86-81 quarterfinal win over the Bulldogs were most notable, and his offensive play in a pair of games against Wofford this season, which included a career-high 14 points in the 74-70 home loss to the Terriers in January was notable. 

Richey will expect Franklin to make that big jump in year two, which has been prevalent with so many guards he's coached in his nine seasons at the helm of the Furman program.  The Wren High School product finished out his true freshman campaign showing plenty of improvement as a shooter. He went 11-of-26 (42.3%) from three-point range during league play after having started the season just 3-for-21 (14.2%) from long-range. 

Look for Franklin's perimeter jumper to see even more improvement in the 2026-27 season, as I look for him to be one of Furman's more feared perimeter shooters and overall offensive threats. Think of the jump that Kahmare Holmes made from his first season at Wofford until his sophomore season at Wofford, and I see that similar type of transformation in Franklin for the Paladins. 

With his 6-5 frame, Franklin was already one of the more athletic players on Furman's roster this past season, and with some added muscle, he can be a real presence at multiple positions and will have a sound understanding of Furman's motion offensive intricacies in year two. 

A nasty run-in with the flu bug ultimately kept Franklin out of the lineup for four games, which bridged January and February, and it took a few games for him to fully get back into playing shape and into rhythm. By the time the Paladins arrived in Asheville for the SoCon Tournament, however, Franklin was ready to provide some key play on both ends to help the Paladins reach their ultimate goal. 

Collin O'Neal was on a similar trajectory as that of Franklin in his rookie season with the Paladins, which saw him moving at a more rapid pace of improvement and acclimation to the college game than even that of Franklin. However, a knee injury in early December in a home win over Harvard through that journey off course, and even though he worked his way back to return in a little under two months, it was no surprise he never really reached the level of play he was at prior to the injury.

With an off-season to fully undergo therapy, O'Neal is another player that will look to take a big step forward in his sophomore campaign in 2026-27. 

The 6-4 guard out of Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN., is the latest gem found by the Paladin coaching staff in that part of Tennessee, as he joins the likes of PJay Smith and JP Pegues before him. 

O'Neal is strong, and like Franklin a good on-ball defender, as well as being extremely athletic. It will be interesting to see if O'Neal is as explosive athletically as he was prior to the injury last season, as he was tentative to really show the full extent of that athleticism he has been blessed with upon his return following his injury last season.

With that said, it was also probably a wise move by O'Neal to not try and risk another injury in his rookie campaign. Paladin Nation really got a chance to see some good stuff from the freshman guard from the outset of the season, as he played well in Furman's exhibition loss to Alabama to officially reopen Timmons Arena. Things really began to come together for him during Furman's Thanksgiving Tournament in Orlando as part of "Imagination Bracket" in the ESPNEvents Tournament, which saw him get on a heater and go 4-of-4 from three-point range in the opening half of Furman's 72-65 championship game loss to eventual NIT runner-up Illinois State, as he finished with a career-high 12 points.

With his confidence starting to really blossom, O'Neal posted nine points the next time out in a road win at Elon before having posted seven points in the opening half of a game against Harvard before leaving with a knee injury.  He finished the season averaging 5.1 PPG and 5.5 RPG, while shooting 36% (14-of-39) from three-point range.

The third of the four freshmen slated to return for the 2026-27 season wasn't even expecting to play in the 2025-26 season, however, had Cole Bowser redshirted the season, I am pretty sure Furman would not have ended up cutting down the nets in Asheville like they were able to do. 

The 6-6, 200-lb wing out of DeMatha Catholic showed he is a completely different type of player than his brother Cooper, but every bit as tenacious athletically and on the defensive end of the floor. The younger Bowser was a pick-and-pop guy, and he was especially efficient as a three-point threat from either of the corners.

The rising sophomore from Bowie, MD, logged action in 20 games last season, which included making six starts. 

Sophomore wing forward Cole Bowser

His first of those six came in a crucial early-season test at reigning regular-season champion Chattanooga. 

It looked like a stroke of genius from head coach Bob Richey to remove the redshirt at that very moment, as Bowser finished off a strong performance by posting six points and a team-best 13 rebounds, as the Paladins claimed a big 78-67 road win over the Mocs to help off-set their first league loss at home against Western Carolina. 

Bowser's ability to shoot the three along with his athleticism and ability on the defensive end of the floor will be two added bonuses next season. Like O'Neal and Franklin, it's an expectation that Bowser will be an added offensive weapon and potential double figures scorer. He can play either wing guard or small forward, which looks like the most adequate fit for him with the graduation of Ben Vander Wal.

Vander Wal's graduation leaves the door open for the Paladins to find a new guy to fill the role of "glue guy" and two that could very well fall right into that category in the 2026-27 season are forwards Davis Molnar and Mason Smith. 

Both Molnar and Smith were part of that unfortunate injury bug that bit the Paladins last season, as both went down with season-ending knee injuries. Molnar didn't even play one second of the season, as he went down with his season-ending knee injury in Furman's 96-71 exhibition game loss to Alabama in late October. 

Molnar has been a part of a pair of Furman teams that have won a ring, while having not actually played in either the 2022-23 or 2025-26 seasons. If he can successfully help the Paladins to another title this season, it would mark the first time since the early-mid 1970s that a Paladin has been a part of three championship teams. 

It was an unfortunate blow for Molnar, who had worked his way into being an expected significant role player as a part of Furman's 8-9 man rotation heading into the season. Known as one of the hardest workers in Furman's entire lineup, the Fayetteville, N.C., product was coming off a 2024-25 season that saw him start to become a regular energy-type "glue guy" off the bench for the Paladins. 

Furman redshirt senior forward Davis Molnar

The 6-6, 215-lb redshirt senior is the last remaining member of that 2022-23 title winning team for the Paladins, and though he didn't see time last season, he's likely to be in the mix for some major playing time once again in the upcoming season.

During the 2024-25 campaign, Molnar finished off a solid campaign in which he saw action in 33 games, averaging a little over ten-and-a-half minutes per game.  Molnar came up big in several games for the Paladins during the 2024-25 season, scoring a season-high nine points in Furman's narrow 73-70 home win over East Tennessee State. 

Molnar was also key off the bench in Furman's home win over Samford, scoring only one field goal on a steal and layup on the other end, as that play would be the catalyst of an in-game turnaround for the Paladins, sparking some needed momentum just before the midway point of the second half in what would turn out to be a 75-73 home win for the 'Dins. 

With just under 11 minutes left, Molnar intercepted a errant pass from Josh Holloway to increase Furman's lead back to 12, at 56-44. Some clutch play on the defensive end to go with four rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench helped pave the way to a narrow escape for Furman.

One of the things that I'll be looking to see from Molnar this season will be if he can see a continued improvement on his outside shot. In 53 career games for the Paladins, the redshirt senior is just 6-for-30 (20.0%) from three-point land. If he can do that, it will make him even a more versatile threat off the bench for Furman this season. I look for Molnar to be one of the most improved players as a part of the rotation.

Another player that figures to compete to be a part of Bob Richey's 8-9-man rotation in 2026-27 will be Mason Smith, who logged action in seven games this past season before seeing his season prematurely cut short due to a season-ending knee injury suffered in Furman's 74-70 home loss to Wofford. 

Mason Smith is a player that originally committed to Mercer, but opted to switch his allegiances to Furman following the firing of Greg Gary.

It's taken some time, but Smith, who is entering his third season in the program, appears to finally have worked his way into a regular-spot in the rotation. 

With so many injuries hitting the Paladins at one time during the 2025-26 season, there was a window of about three games for Smith to show how much he was gaining in confidence and how much he was finally noticing and stepping into his role within the rotation before the unfortunate injury against the Terriers occurred. The way Smith had started that mid-January afternoon against the Terriers, it looked as though the Huntersville, N.C., product might have been on his way to a career afternoon.

With Smith's growth in confidence, he was playing with a spark on both ends that seemingly ignited the rest of the team. Much like Molnar, Smith could be an energy guy for the Paladins in the 2026-27 season, as he appears to have found his niche on the team after taking about a year-and-a-half and some injuries to help make one for his spot in the rotation.

Coach Richey has certainly not forgotten what Smith was able to do over a small sample size last season. In games against Wofford and Samford combined last season, Smith snagged 14 rebounds and was 4-for-8 from three-point range before the injury against Wofford cut his season short. Smith's 11 rebounds in Furman's 77-73 win at Samford were every bit as important as Alex Wilkins' 28 points. 

Smith has seen action in 24 games through his first two seasons with the Paladins. He undoubtedly would have played a key role last season down the stretch in conference play had his season not been cut short due to the knee injury.

With his lanky frame, Smith is deceptively athletic. He's tough to keep off the offensive glass for that reason, and his sneaky athleticism is something that stood out for me about his game last season in limited floor time. In some ways, Smith has similar elements to his game to that of former Furman standout wing guard/forward Clay Mounce (2016-21). 

The final piece to puzzle returning for Furman heading into next season might be 6-9 rising sophomore Owen Ritger. Ritger was very much a work in progress last season, but the 6-9 rising sophomore from Atlanta saw enough time last season to get a taste of the college game.

Ritger has several areas to work on, with needing to add some strength and work on his footwork as an offensive player in the post being the most notable two things I noticed last season.

Ritger has good arch on his shot and can shoot both the mid-range and long-range jumper, which is something that coach Richey loves to find in his big men. Ritger has potential to break into the regular rotation in 2026-27, but he will need to add some strength and muscle to his frame. 

That said, he has a good enough jump shot and jump hook to be an effective low-post scorer for the Paladins in the future, but not sure if that will be next season or in his final two seasons, however. 

Ritger is going to be very good down the road, but whether its at Furman or not, I think by the time he enters his final two seasons as a college basketball player, Ritger will be an all-conference caliber post should he opt to stay at the mid-major level, whether that is at Furman or elsewhere.

Freshman Additions: 

Dating back to his time as a young assistant at Charleston Southern, Furman's Bob Richey has been able to find some top scoring talent. From guys like Saah Nimley and Jamarrio Warren at CSU to guys like Stephen Croone, Devin Sibley, Jordan Lyons and Alex Wilkins as both an assistant and head coach at Furman, Richey's eye for guard talent and shooting ability is unmatched.

It would be hard to imagine the Paladins finding a player that could match the one that had the opportunity to move on to Kentucky after just one season in the program, in Alex Wilkins, and yet here we are where that could potentially be the case with the two incoming signees, in both 6-5 combo guard Jerrin Samuel and 6-2 point guard Cam Elwer slated to suit up for the Paladins next season.

Samuel is a scorer that can play multiple guard spots on the floor and is rated as the top shooting guard in the state of Georgia. The all-state performer is coming off a senior campaign which saw him average 27.3 PPG, 12.4 PPG, 2.6 APG and he chose to continue his basketball career at Furman among his 25 offers, while also receiving interest from power five programs like Tennessee and Virginia Tech among several others. Samuel chose Furman over the likes of mid-major power programs like Bradley, Ohio, Northern Iowa, Tulane, Yale, Liberty and Chattanooga to name just a few. 

Samuel scored 1,963 points in his career at Winder-Barrow High School, which ranks second in program history,  and he will factor into the rotation immediately, likely as a backup behind either Cole Bowser or Abijah Franklin, with Army transfer Jaxson Bell expected to be the backup at the other wing guard/small forward spot. He was a first-team Class 5A All-State selection in the Peach State as a senior, as well as being a finalist for "Mr. Basketball" in the state of Georgia. 

Samuel will be one of the more athletic players on Furman's roster upon his arrival to play for the Paladins next season, as he was a multi-sport athlete during his time at Winder-Barrow, where he was also an outstanding performer in track and field, as well as being a scholar in the classroom, as noted by offers by both Harvard and Yale during his recruitment.

What Samuel is on the basketball floor is an elite level three level scorer that could very well have the same trajectory as that of Alex Wilkins. 

While he won't be playing the point guard spot, Samuel should be in line to play a major role for the Paladins next season, and is a combination of being an extremely accurate perimeter and mid-range shooter, a creator off the dribble, with the athleticism to humble a defender on the way to or at the rim, however,  his biggest strength as a player may actually be his elite rebounding ability.  

He shot better than 40% from three-point range in his career, and is on par with some of the most accurate three-point threats in recent memory, including PJay Smith Jr., Nick Anderson, and Alex Hunter.

Samuel is one of the most underrated mid-major recruits heading into the 2026-27 season, which is why he could see his star rise as soon as his rookie season in Greenville. Unlike Wilkins, however, I don't think he will start immediately, but it might be only a matter of time before he starts seeing major minutes. 

While Samuel is a big-time commitment, Cam Elwer's addition to the fold for Furman will only add to the already well-established narrative of shooters that want to play for head coach Bob Richey.

The 6-2 point guard out of St. John High School in Delphos, OH., is a three-star recruit and like Samuel, will have a chance to contribute right away. He played a smaller level than what Samuel did during his prep career, however, Furman has had plenty of success finding guards that could shoot it and score it out of this part of Ohio, with Mike Bothwell, Geoff Beans and Jon Davis III being the most notable that come to mind almost immediately. 

To give you an idea of just how prolific a scorer Elwer was during his time at Delphos, he finished his career ranked sixth all-time in state history in points scored, surpassing some guy named LeBron James out of Akron along the way with (2,768) career points at season's end. 

He ended the 2025-26 season averaging 29.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 4.4 APG. His 29.3 PPG scoring average was ranked 57th in the nation according to MaxPreps, and was also ranked 36th among seniors around the country in scoring average. 

Also according to MaxPreps, Elwer was fourth nationally per 32 minutes in points per game and was ranked as the fifth-best player in the state of Ohio.

Elwer's ability to score points and score them in a hurry were evident throughout his prep career at Delphos, dropping a school record 53 points in a game as a senior, and comprehensively, was a three-time All-State selection in Ohio, helping his prep program St. John to a four-year mark of an incredible 91-14, including a 29-0 mark as a senior. He was the runner-up for Mr. Basketball in the state of Ohio in his junior and senior campaigns. 

The final freshman signee for Furman is also its most recent one, as 6-9 power forward Nikos Koulsianis committed to Furman in early May out of the famed Montverde Academy in Florida. 

Originally a native of the Czech Republic, the 6-9 forward comes to Furman with a highly-skilled overall game, with perimeter shooting ability combined with good ball-handling ability, as well as being a good distributor for all positions on the floor.  What will give him the potential to see the floor right away though? 

Khoulisianis' ability as a rim protector on the defensive end, as well as his ability to shoot the three are two areas that will get him on the floor sooner rather than later. With his skill level being what it is, his progression and understanding of Furman's complex offensive scheme is the biggest obstacle for the young U18 Czechia National Team member to overcome because it's definitely not an issue of talent or lack thereof.

Early Outlook for 2026-27

With success comes departures in both personnel and on the bench, which is a problem that Bob Richey would welcome with each passing season if things are going to continue to go this well. With that said, it's been a case of the "rich" getting "richer" when it comes to acquiring talent. Richey told the SoCon to hold his beer last season when he found Alex Wilkins to replace PJay Smith Jr. 

He also told them to hold his beer following a dismal 17-16 season in 2023-24 when he went and got the likes of Nick Anderson, Tom House and Charles Johnston from the portal after losing the likes of JP Pegues, Alex Williams and Marcus Foster from a program that fell well below expectations in defending its 2022-23 SoCon title. Both Johnston and House proved instrumental in helping Furman cut down the nets for the second time in four seasons in Asheville. 

It's no accident that Richey and staff were going to have a tough hill to climb this season, losing both Alex Wilkins and Cooper Bowser to SEC programs, while Tom House, Charles Johnston and Ben Vander Wal are out of eligibility. Heck, even Eddrin Bronson went his seperate way, transferring out to stay in the league to play at The Citadel, where he will be eligible immediately.

Not only did Furman lose players, it also lost coaches. Joe Pierre II joined Kyle Getter's staff at Cal Baptist, while Kotie Kimble departed for Thad Matta's staff at Butler after only one season, and Klint Carlson returned to his alma mater Northern Iowa, joining Kyle Green's staff in Cedar Falls. 

That left the door open for Jordan Lyons to make his return to Furman, as the legendary player for Niko Medved and then Richey from 2016-20 is an NCAA all-time record holder for made threes in a game, tying two other players with 15 made threes in a game, which he did as a junior in 2018-19. He served as a grad assistant on the Furman staff in 2022-23, helping the Paladins to garner a SoCon title ring for the first time in 43 years. 

Lyons then followed that up by joining Navy's staff to garner experience for a couple of years, which included helping the Midshipmen to an outright Patriot League regular-season title for the first time in 29 years, as well as helping Navy qualify for an NIT appearance. Now he's ready to return with a more involved role on Richey's staff.

Lyons is one of two announced additions to the Furman staff so far in the off-season, with Riley Conroy being the other. Conroy, who is the son of current The Citadel head coach Ed Conroy, and he joins the Furman staff from Richie Riley's staff at South Alabama where he has spent the previous three seasons as an assistant.  Conroy helped the Jaguars to back-to-back 21-win seasons and an NIT appearance this past season, while the 2024-25 season, he was part of a staff that secured a share of its first Sun Belt title since the 2008 campaign.

As for Furman's personnel additions, the Paladins might have done as well as they ever have on the recruiting trail, combining talent from the portal with returning talent, as well as the trio of freshmen signed so far, with two of those having been secured back in early November.

There hasn't been a repeat SoCon title winner since Wofford won consecutive crowns in 2014 and '15, but the early returns are strong for Furman to repeat its title run of a year ago, as well as claiming its third time in five seasons. 

Starters Lost: (5/6)--PG-Alex Wilkins (17.8 PPG, 4.7 APG/transferred to Kentucky); C--Cooper Bowser (13.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 76.6 FG%/transferred to Arkansas); F--Ben Vander Wal (7.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 25 steals, 17 blocks/out of eligibility); G--Asa Thomas (11.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 38.2% 3pt shooter/transferred to Illinois-Chicago); F--Charles Johnston (9.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 11 double-doubles/out of eligibility); Tom House (8.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 52 made threes/out of eligibility)

Others Lost: (1)--Ed Bronson (5.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG/transferred to The Citadel)

Best Returning Player: G-Abijah Franklin (4.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG)--or--F-Cole Bowser (5.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG)--or--G-Collin O'Neal (2.9 PPG, 1.4 RPG)

Potential Breakout Player in 2026-27: F--Mason Smith (3.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG)

Best Transfer Portal Get:  F-Marcus Kell (Western Carolina)

Potential Glue Guy: F-Davis Molnar (DNP in 2025-26, missed season with lower body injury)

Best Freshman Addition: G-Jerrin Samuel (Winder, GA/Winder-Barrow HS)

Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A+

Coming Soon...

Be sure to check back in a few weeks, as mid-major madness takes a look inside the newest member of the Southern Conference--Tennessee Tech--as I hope to be able to catch up with new head coach Tobin Anderson to discuss his outstanding recruiting class.