Alabama's Depth and Talent Too Much for Furman in Timmons Arena's Re-Opening

When Bob Richey arrived at Furman in 2011 as an assistant coach, the Paladin basketball program and the building it plays its home games in looked and felt a lot different. 

Now 14 years later as the head coach, that vision he once entertained if he was ever one day fortunate enough to be the Furman head coach came to be a reality, as 2,750 fans piled inside the newly refurbished Timmons Arena.

However, Alabama's depth and sheer talent eventually wore down Furman, and the Crimson Tide went on to a 96-71 win inside the newly renovated Timmons Arena before the sellout crowd in attendance.

After scoring 109 points in its exhibition win over Florida State, Alabama's 96 points were part of a well-oiled offensive showcase inside Timmons Arena, as the Crimson Tide finished the evening with four players in double figures, with 12 of the 13 players that entered the game registering a field goal in the contest. 

Leading the way for the Crimson Tide was guard Aden Holloway, as he dropped in 20 points on 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, including connecting on 4-of-9 from three-point land. Holloway also dished out four assists, grabbed two rebounds and posted one steal in 30 minutes of work in the Crimson Tide's second exhibition of the season. The 18-point effort from Holloway follows an impressive 20-point effort against the Seminoles a week-and-a-half ago. 

Joining his backcourt mate in double figures was Labaron Philon, as the preseason first-team All-SEC guard finished with 16 points, connecting on 6-of-10 from the field, including 1-of-3 from three-point range. He was also 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. Philon also dished out a team-leading five assists and snagged three rebounds.

Rounding out the Crimson Tide's double-figure scorers on the day were Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Amari Allen, who added 12 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench for Alabama. 

Furman also finished the afternoon with four players scratching out double-figure scoring efforts, with Charles Johnston charting an impressive double-double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of work. The junior forward finished 5-of-11 from the field and was 2-for-6 from three-point land, while also going 2-for-6 from the line to equal his total. In addition to his 14 and 12, Johnston added two assists and a steal.

Cooper Bowser equaled Johnston for team-high scoring honors for the Paladins, finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds, dished out six assists, blocked two shots and netted a pair of steals in what was an impressive night across the board for the junior forward. Bowser was 6-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 at the line. 

Rounding out the Paladins in double figures in the game were senior guard Tom House and freshman point guard Alex Wilkins, who finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. House came off the bench to connect on 4-of-9 from the field and went 2-for-6 from the line. He was also 1-of-2 at the line and added three rebounds and an assist.

Wilkins scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including a 2-for-7 effort from three, in just 14-and-a-half minutes of action, fouling out with 12-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game. The freshman from Boston also finished the night as one of two Paladins in the positive when it came to the +/- category, as despite his foul troubles, which plagued him the entire night after a tight whistle saddled him with three in the first half, finished at +5 for the game. 

Ben Vander Wal recorded five of the team's of the team's nine total steals, while adding seven points, six rebounds, and two assists, in 30 minutes of court time. 

Clemson transfer Asa Thomas ended the night on the cusp of double figures, finishing with nine points, as he scored all nine in the first half on shots from beyond the arc. He finished 3-of-14 from the field and 3-for-10 from long range. 

Another notable freshman performance came from Collin O'Neal off the bench. The Nashville product looked good in his debut for the Paladins, as he was especially strong on the defensive end of the floor, with an unusual combo of power, strength and athleticism for a true freshman guard. Those attributes made it tough for talented Crimson Tide guards to get downhill easily against him. He finished with four points, two assists, and a steal in 12-and-a-half minutes of work, joining Wilkins as the only other player for the Paladins to end the night in the positive in the +/- category, as the rookie finished +2 to cap a solid debut. 

Alabama finished the night shooting the ball at a 54.0% (34-of-63) clip, including a 34.6% (9-of-26) effort from three-point range. 

Furman connected on just 35.1% () from the field in the first game back in its newly refurbished facility since March 1, 2024. The Paladins also struggled from both three-point range, connecting on just 25.0% (9-of-36), and after making their first three perimeter shots of the game, went just 6-of-33 from long-range the remainder of the afternoon. The more alarming stat, however, is the Paladins went just 10-of-25 from the free throw line, finishing the night at just 40.0% from the charity stripe. 

The Crimson Tide held substantial advantages in points in the paint (50-32) and bench scoring (43-17), while also finishing the contest with advantages in total rebounds (50-38), second-chance points (20-10), fast-break points (14-7) and points off of turnovers (17-13). Alabama also outscored the Paladins from the line (19-10) on just one more free throw attempt (26-25). The Crimson Tide finished the game connecting on 73.1% (19-of-26) from the charity stripe, including going 17-of-18 from the line in the second half. 

How It Happened:

Furman connected on its first three three-pointers to take a 9-0 lead right of the gates in its newly re-imagined venue, however, once the game got settled in, so did the Crimson Tide and by the time the first half reached the midway point, a 9-0 run by Alabama allowed the 2025 Elite Eight qualifier to eventually erase Furman's early flurry and take a 28-20 lead before heading the half with a 48-36 advantage. 

Alabama threatened to further its advantage in the early stages of the second half, taking an 18-point following a pair of made free throws from Latrell Wrightsell Jr., taking a 61-43 lead with just under 15 minutes remaining. Furman charged back quickly with an 8-2 run in a little over a two-minute span, as Charles Johnston's triple with 12:35 remaining got Furman back to within 63-51.

Twelve seconds later, however, Furman's talented freshman point guard Alex Wilkins was whistled for his fifth personal foul, changing the momentum. Coincidentally enough Alabama went on an 11-0 run after that and were never seriously threatened the rest of the night, as a pair of Labaron Philon free throws extended Alabama's lead to 22 (73-51) with 9:07 remaining. 

Takeaways From The First Afternoon in Timmons:

Sunday's exhibition against Alabama was part of a dream realized for Furman basketball and for Paladin fans, which for the better part of the facility's first 27 years in existence (28 seasons), had to endure far more futility than success. 

Over the past 11 seasons, however, Furman basketball under the direction of first Niko Medved (2012-17) and now Bob Richey (2017-present) has seen Furman basketball reach unprecedented sustained success as a perennial league title contender in the Southern Conference. 

The Paladins have won 223 games since the start of the 2015-16 season, including having posted 109-19 record at Timmons Arena from 2015-24. Prior to the 2015-16 season, the Paladins had just 142 wins at Timmons Arena in the previous 18 seasons of existence for the facility, which opened on Dec. 30, 1997, when the Paladins hosted non-Division I and now defunct Northeastern Illinois in the inaugural game.

It was a great afternoon for all involved and it was great to see so many faces from the past in attendance. The afternoon probably went off better than expected from the game operations staff to the atmosphere and a decent showing for Furman for most of the afternoon. There was no shortage of excitement on many levels. 

The interesting thing to see is what the response will be in the home dates to come that don't include opposition on-par with Alabama. In other words, can Furman build a sustained fan presence this season.

Postgame Press Conference

Paladin Positives

--19 offensive rebounds against an elite SEC foe.

--Alex Wilkins lived up to the hype, but in only a limited sample size of 14 minutes. Anxious to see what he does in 25-30 minutes of court time. Furman is a different team offensively with him in the game. 

--Freshmen lived up to expectations, and as Bob Richey alluded to the postgame press conference, it was those five newcomers that saw minutes that had a superior work ethic than the upperclassmen, although for the most part it was a strong effort all around for the Paladins in terms of competing from tip-to-buzzer. Furman's lone to positives on the +/- came from a pair of rookie guards, in Alex Wilkins (+5) and Collin O'Neal (+2)

--Bowser and Johnston excelled under the basket at times, with neither player's effort waning the entire night. For Johnston, a native of Sydney, Australia, who is entering his second season with the program, it was arguably his best performance in a Furman uniform and you could see a definite difference in a 100% healthy Charles Johnston vs. a 75-80% Charles Johnston, which Furman got last season due to back and knee issues. The most notable difference was Johnston's constant activity on the glass, finishing the night with 12 boards. 

--Bowser ended the night with five of his seven rebounds on the offensive end, and a start like this against a good SEC front line has to do wonders for his confidence, as the Paladins prepare to enter the 2025-26 campaign next week. Bowser's six assists show he's developed and enhanced his skill level and it looks as if he has stronger hands than he did a year ago. At times previously in his career, he had trouble catching or coming up with loose balls on occasion as a result of that not having strong enough hands, but that's an initial observation, but so far so good. Bowser finished with just one turnover in 33 minutes of work!

--Furman had just nine total turnovers facing pressure from Alabama for most of the afternoon. Considering the Paladins played with a freshman point guard, who then fouled out, giving way to others like Collin O'Neal and Eddrin Bronson helping share the responsibilities for the rest of the night, the Paladins looked sound at point guard all evening, which was a concern coming into the season with the departure of PJay Smith Jr.

--Johnston and Bowser combined to go 9-of-11 from two-point range.

--Effort and commitment were at high levels all night. Furman played with a lot of pride late when the game was already academic, and throughout the first game and despite the fact that the foe was an elite SEC team, Furman showed an uncanny swagger, which hasn't been evident since Furman won the SoCon in 2022-23. 

--Collin O'Neal's on-ball defense. Alabama's guards couldn't get downhill against his physicality. 

Negatives

--Shooting was not good. Rarely has a Furman team gone 10-of-25 from the line (40%) and connected on just 25.0% from three-point land. Those are not good totals, but it's just game one in a new arena, so maybe some nerves and some being an SEC foe, but the free throws don't get a pass. That has to improve.

--19 offensive rebounds yields only 10 points.

--Surrendering 50 points in the paint is bad if it's a SoCon foe, however, since it's Alabama it's a bit more palatable. On the flip side, there weren't many nights last season when Furman approached 30 points in the paint by a wide margin and the Paladins finished with 32 in this contest against the best front line they'll see all season. 

--Furman's defense around the basket needs to improve, as there wasn't enough rim protection and that was the case at points last season. Rim protection is not all blocks; it's weighted heavily in shot deterrence or alteration of shots taken around the basket. Furman didn't deter or alter enough shots around the basket. When freshman guard Collin O'Neal was on the floor, he helped prevent Alabama's guards from getting downhill, which deterred the driving layups the Crimson Tide were getting in time when he wasn't on the floor. So, that's a little piece of it as well, as the two go hand-in-hand in some respects. The issue is also that Alabama shoots a ton of threes and its primary offense in the halfcourt is founded upon dribble penetration to create spacing for its perimeter shooters on kickouts, so some of the "pick your poison" can also be applicable here. That can understandably is hard when it comes to defending a team like that.

Final Observations

--On first appearance, Furman is a little better defensively and on the offensive end, better underneath the basket than they were a year ago. I don't think it's as good of a shooting team (my opinion) upon observation as some of those fans have been accustomed to seeing under coach Richey. I think Furman's two-point offense, however, has the potential to be elite much the same as it was in 2022-23. I don't project this team to be at or near the 400-made three mark at season's end, however, that's not to say this team doesn't have shooting ability because I think they do. 

I guess the biggest takeaways of a positive nature are that this has a chance to be the best frontcourt in the SoCon, while I also would have to say the freshmen class brought in certainly didn't disappoint and will play a big role in Furman's success on both ends of the floor this season (also my opinion). I also have to take into account that some things get skewed because the opponent was Alabama and they are an elite foe, so it's important also for me as well as others to not read too much into this result for that reason alone. 

The dynamics and makeup of this team is a little different. Supremely talented, but not all weighted in one area or another, and with plenty to improve on before league play. I'll give the performance overall a B+ only because the free throw shooting. Otherwise, a pretty solid A- if Furman makes 10 of the 15 it missed. 

Furman's overall performance was about on-par with what I expected and saw nothing to make me think they aren't one of the top two or three teams in the SoCon for the upcoming season. If anything, those preseason notions were only enhanced by the level of performance in certain areas. 

Upcoming

Furman opens the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3, taking on High Point as a part of the Field of 68's Opening Day Marathon Tournament. Tip-off for the Paladins and Panthers is set for 6:30 p.m. EST inside the Rock Hill Events Center in Rock Hill, S.C. The Panthers were an NCAA Tournament participant last season and had arguably the best portal haul of any mid-major program in the country entering the 2025-26 season.

Furman Set To Re-Open Timmons Arena vs. Alabama in Exhibition Matchup Sunday

 

The Game: Furman (0-0) vs. No. 15 Alabama (0-0)

Series: Furman and Alabama will be meeting for the fourth time in the series, with the Crimson Tide holding the 3-0 all-time series edge.

Venue: Timmons Arena (2,750)

Date and Time: Oct. 26, 2025/3 p.m. EST

Setting The Scene: Furman tips off its much-anticipated return to Timmons Arena Sunday afternoon in exhibition action against No. 15 Alabama. The Crimson Tide are the lone power-conference foe the Paladins are slated to face in either the exhibition season or the non-conference slate, as Alabama becomes the first power conference foe the Paladins have faced inside Timmons Arena since hosting Clemson on Nov. 16, 2012. The Paladins were 72-55 losers on that occasion.

The Paladins did face off against eventual Final Four qualifier Auburn almost exactly a year ago in an exhibition clash to kick off the 2024-25 season, as the Paladins ended up dropping an 83-62 contest to the Tigers inside Furman's home away from home--the Bon Secours Wellness Arena--where the Paladins played all their home games for the 2024-25 season while Timmons Arena got its 40-million dollar upgrade. 

Furman is 1-2 all-time against SEC foes inside the friendly confines of Timmons Arena, hosting an SEC foe for the first time in the facility since Dec. 22, 2010, when the Paladins claimed their lone win over an SEC foe on the home hardwood, which was a 91-75 triumph over South Carolina. 

The clash between the Crimson Tide and Paladins will feature two high-octane offenses that love to shoot the three. The Crimson Tide posted 390 made threes last season (10th/12th in the nation at 10.5 made threes per game), shooting them at a 35.3% clip (98th in the nation). Furman closed out the 2024-25 season connecting on 380 triples (5th in the nation/10.9 made threes per game), connecting at a 36.6% clip (48th in the nation).  

To give you an idea of how much the Crimson Tide love the three, they've made 2,144-of-6,214 triples (34.5%) in six seasons under Oats' leadership, including more than 1,000 attempts each of the past three seasons, connecting on 413 in 2023-24, which is second-most in SEC history behind only Auburn's 454 made triples in 2019-20. The Crimson Tide also ranked second in league history in three-point attempts during that same season (11.16 PG).

Under Bob Richey, Furman's love affair with three-point shot is well-advertised, and like coach Nate Oats at Alabama, has the Paladins in the record books in his eight previous seasons at the helm, as the Paladins set the SoCon record for made threes in a single season with 401 triples during the 2021-22 season.

All told, Furman has connected on 2,690-of-7,162 attempts from three-point range over the past eight seasons, which computes to an impressive 37.5% shooting clip over that same span.

SEC Foes Furman Has Faced at Timmons Arena and Results:

Jan. 26, 1998     vs.                                South Carolina         L, 52-79

Dec. 6, 1999       vs.                                 Georgia                       L, 82-86 (OT)

Dec. 22, 2010     vs.                                South Carolina        W,  91-75

Timmons Arena Upgrade:

For more about the Timmons Arena Upgrade, follow the link pasted below. 

Upgraded Timmons Arena joins ranks of state-of-the-art mid-major playing venues | Mid-Major Madness

Looking Back at the Series:

All three previous meetings between the Crimson Tide and Paladins have taken place in Tuscaloosa, with the most recent of those coming during the 2020-21 season, with the Crimson Tide overcoming what was a double-digit deficit at one point to garner what was a thrilling 83-80 win in mid-December of 2020. 

The win for the Crimson Tide came despite trailing by as many as 12 in in the second half, however, the Crimson Tide came roaring back and closed the game with a 22-10 run to help hold off the Paladins 83-80 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. The turning point in the game came when wing Clay Mounce fouled out of the game with 8:12 remaining in the game. 

Mounce had been Furman's offensive spark most of the night, particularly in the first half when the Paladins sizzled from the field to the tune of a 62% shooting clip. Mounce posted 21 points before fouling out of the contest. Mike Bothwell would ultimately lead the Paladins in scoring in the game, posting 23 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field, including a 5-for-11 effort from three-point land. 

Alabama would get a balanced scoring effort in that setback, with Herbert Jones leading the Crimson Tide with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while dishing out four assists. Jaden Shackelford was also solid, chipping in with 13 points and four boards in the home win. 

The Crimson Tide would go on to close out that 2020-21 campaign with a 26-7 record, as UCLA ended the Crimson Tide's historic run at Hinkle Fieldhouse during the NCAA Tournament's "Bubble Tournament" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the Crimson Tide put up a valiant effort, the UCLA Bruins closed out the 98-88 overtime win to move on in the tournament.

Furman's 2020-21 season, which was also shortened due to the pandemic, ended with a 16-9 mark and a 10-5 SoCon mark, as the Paladins, who were the No. 3 seed in the SoCon Tournament in Asheville, would be upset in the opening round of the tournament with VMI downing the Paladins, 91-90, in overtime at the Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville. 

A year earlier, the Crimson Tide also posted an 81-73 win over Furman, despite an outstanding performance from senior guard Jordan Lyons, who poured in 33 points in the road loss for the Paladins. The Paladins couldn't find their shooting touch on this night, however, shooting just 30.9% in the loss at Alabama. 

Lyons' heroic scoring effort kept the Paladins in the game maybe longer than it should have been. Furman would end up going on to close out the 2019-20 season with a 25-7 mark, as the Paladins would be upset in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament by Wofford, 75-67.

The Crimson Tide closed out the 2019-20 season with a 16-15 mark and just an 8-10 ledger in SEC action. All told, the previous two meetings in 2019 and '20 totaled just 375 days between the two meetings. 

The only other meeting came in the Butch Estes era back during the 1986-87 campaign. That early-season clash in Tuscaloosa would see Crimson Tide guard Mark Gottfried drop in 23 points, while forward Jim Farmer added 22 points, as Wimp Sanderson's Crimson Tide blistered the nets from long range in the game, connecting on 12-of-19 attempts from beyond the arc en route to a 96-69 early-season blowout of the Paladins. Shawn Reid's 19 points paced the Paladins in the first-ever clash between the two. 

Previewing The Paladins:

Coming off a 2024-25 season, which saw the Paladins' record exceed expectations with 25 wins and an invitation to the NIT after a 93-85 loss to Wofford in the SoCon Tournament Championship, the Paladins somehow managed to finish on-par with their preseason billing of No. 5 placed on them by the coaches at the league's annual media voting. 

The old saying is, the creme often rises to the top, and that's exactly what happened down the stretch during the 2024-25 season, as after a mid-conference swoon that saw the Paladins encounter some adversity after a 13-1 start to the season, the Paladins starting to trend upwards again heading towards Asheville, reaching the championship game with six-straight wins. 

Furman would eventually run out of gas against Wofford, however, losing the title clash by eight in a game that was especially pleasing to the eyes if you are a fan of good shooting and good offensive execution. Despite the title game loss, the season was considered a huge success. Especially when you consider the Paladins, who are under the direction of Bob Richey (181-82/9th season), had to replace 71% of its scoring from a year earlier entering the 2024-25 campaign. 

When put in perspective, the 25-win season, which ended with a 77-65 NIT opening round loss at North Texas was considered a huge success and the Paladins carried that strong momentum into the off-season. 

Personnel Preview:

Nick Anderson (14.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 96 3PT FGs) and PJay Smith Jr. (17.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 111 3PT FGs), who accounted for 207 of the team’s 380 three-point field goals last season, have both moved on. Big man Garrett Hien (7.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 27 3PT FGs), who was a 1,000-point scorer in his career for the Paladins, and one of the most important players in the history of Furman basketball for his two made free throws, steal and assist to JP Pegues in the final seconds in the 68-67 NCAA Tournament win over Virginia three years ago, has also moved on.

The other piece that brought a defensive presence and mature leadership off the bench for Furman a year ago was Tyrese Hughey (1.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG), as Furman is down to only a couple of remaining players that were a part of its 2023 championship team of three years ago. Wing forward Tommy Humphries (0.7 PPG, 0.3 RPG) struggled to find his way into Furman’s rotation and opted to transfer back to his home state to play for Summit League power St. Thomas.

Many believed that selecting a point guard was the intended strategy during the off-season, and at first, Richey also expressed agreement on Furman’s postgame show after the Paladins’ 75-64 first-round defeat to North Texas. He would obviously change his thinking over the course of about a month.

"Well you get in that portal and it's like...a little bit of a needle in a haystack and you've got to find somebody that fits your place and you've got to somebody that fits your program and you've got to find somebody that you feel like is leaving for the right reasons and so you get in there and the funnel gets really tight really quickly and then you have to figure out who you can afford so then you got to say well you've probably go best player because there is only so many options and so are you going to take a less talented guy that might not fit you as well to get the quote unquote position you need and when we had the opportunity to get Asa [Thomas] it was just one of those situations where you know coming from Clemson...you know Brad [Brownell] and I have some similar values and we're good friends," head coach Bob Richey said at SoCon Media Day in early October.

"We recruited Asa in high school and he can really shoot it and knows how to cut and knows how to play and then you have to ask yourself do we need a point or do we need to replace shooting...point guard in today's game and we're playing 94-feet offense and we're just trying to get the ball out of the net and go play...So we've taken two two-guards and turned them into all-conference point guards," Richey added.

Richey’s Offensive Innovation

Though Furman won 25 games last season, it still finished fifth in SoCon and did hit a lull in the middle portion of conference play. While Furman’s offense and shooters against uncommon opponents was something it had great success with, racing to a 13-1 start, including a 12-1 non-conference record, when the Paladins got in league against the good coaches that make up the league, there was a game-plan that seemed to work early on.

Part of Furman’s philosophy under Richey has been trying to always have five perimeter threats on the floor, and in most seasons, that has not necessarily always been easy, but it’s always made Furman so hard to account for defensively.

Aside from their offensive actions, which seem like QB progressions in that each action has four or five options that the Paladins can go to if an opponent shuts down one, is Furman has shot the ball maybe as well as it ever has from three over the past eight seasons under Richey, which included setting a single-season SoCon record with 401 triples in the 2021-22 campaign. 

Furman's 37.5% shooting clip over from three over that same span shows the offensive spacing and innovative creativity of Richey's offensive system--a Princeton style on five red bulls--as well as his ability to continuously plug-in good shooters year after year. It's a huge reason suffered little effect from losing over 70% of its scoring from the 2023-24 squad last season. There were shooters on the floor at a high rate for as long as they could be out there without becoming a defensive or rebounding liability.

While Furman had two of its best shooters from three in eight seasons under Richey, in Smith and Anderson, it also had guys like Cooper Bowser, Ben Vander Wal and Garrett Hien that were basically minimal perimeter threats at best, with only Hien really factoring in as a potential long-range threat, and outside of his sophomore season, had struggled to hit from long-range with great efficiency.

So the strategy from the opposition in the SoCon was to play off Furman shooters by a process known as “painting”, which meant it could more closely keep tabs on Anderson and Smith at all times with the luxury of an extra defender by playing off Furman’s non-shooters.

Richey's innovative offensive strategy that used Vander Wal as the quarterback and free screener for both Anderson and Smith down the stretch was nothing short of brilliant because it didn't allow teams to just play off Vander Wal like they had done when Furman took a bit of a tumble in the standings, and it forced the opposition to have get out and engage Vander Wal in some manner with a defender. It was a move that kept teams from essentially having an extra player defensively as it had off-set the balance by making it a 4v5 game before when playing off Vander Wal

Those changes led to a major turnaround for Furman basketball during the 2024-25, as the Paladins would win six-straight games, which included the very team they would lose to in the championship--the Wofford Terriers--to reach the championship game.

Eight letterwinners, including a pair of starters, in Ben Vander Wal (5.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG) and Cooper Bowser (8.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 57 BLKs)  have built of plenty of equity playing for the Paladins, and the duo enters the season as Furman’s two most veteran players. Vander Wal is the last remaining holdover from the team that won the 2022-23 SoCon crown and has played in 100 games for the Paladins heading into his final season, as well as logging 34 starts.

If there were an award for the league’s best “glue guy” heading into the season it would likely go to Vander Wal, as he does all the little things right for the Paladins.

Bowser is a player that seems primed for a breakout season. The junior is coming off a season where he started to emerge as a more consistent scoring threat around the basket, and at 6-11 with great length, as well as being a freak athlete, he is Furman’s leading returning scorer from a year ago. His length and athleticism started to become a problem for the opposition last season, so expect him to make a huge leap.

Bowser was one of two Paladins selected to the preseason all-conference team, with sharp-shooting Tom House (7.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 54 3PT FGs). House is a microwave perimeter shooter, meaning that if he gets hot, he can string together points in a hurry. He put up 21 points in Furman’s first tournament win over Samford and scored a season-high of 26 points in a mid-February win over Mercer. House’s 54 three-point field goals last season rank as the most returning three-pointers on the club, and he shot a blistering 40.6% (54-of-133) from long-range. Interestingly, House shot 56% from three and averaged over 11 PPG in Furman’s final seven games of the season.

One of the more intriguing players on Furman’s roster last season was Charles Johnston (5.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 33 3PT FGs), and his progression over the course of the off-season has been notable, according to Richey, especially as a true post player. Johnston spent most of his first season with the ‘Dins as a primary perimeter threat, but now he’s put on some more muscle and dedicated the off-season to becoming more of a low-post threat. Also, Johnston is a sneaky good post defender, and that will be another aspect of his game to watch this season.

More importantly, having both Bowser and Johnston in the lineup at the same time, will allow the Paladins to go with two 6-11 guys on the court at the same time. Johnston shot 38.8% (33-of-85) from three-point range last season, and it’s almost impossible to think that the big man from Australia has played only six years of organized basketball.

Finally, guys like Davis Molnar (3.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG) and Mason Smith (2.9 PPG, 1.7 RPG) are a couple of guys that Richey hopes to see continued progression with this season. For Molnar, he started to be a difference maker in some games, with Furman’s home win over Samford in the first of three meetings between the two coming to mind, providing a crucial inbounds pass to Bowser late in the game, which was not an easy pass against heavy pressure. Molnar saw action in 33 games last season, averaging almost 11 minutes per game.

The real x-factor for the Paladins this season might be Clemson transfer Asa Thomas (Clemson/Lake Forest, Ill) who red-shirted his freshman season and then battled injuries throughout the 2024-25 season while with the Tigers and didn’t see much action. When he entered the portal, the Paladins went after him, forgoing their initial plans to get a point guard. Thomas was available and too talented to pass up. 

His ability as a shooter will complement the skill-set Vander Wal already brings to the position. His shooting ability just makes Furman different on the wing than they were last year, and more like they have been in past seasons with guys like Noah Gurley (2018-21) and Daniel Fowler (2014-18) in terms of having that type of scoring versatility.

While the frontcourt is much more the settled piece of the team, the backcourt is somewhat of a concern or maybe a question mark might be the better way of putting it.

Eddrin Bronson (5.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG) is the latest two-guard to make the move to the point guard spot under Richey, joining both Smith and Pegues in that regard.  Bronson was already one of the best defensive players on the team last season, and if his offensive game has progressed in the off-season like most believe that it has, it could be case of Furman turning a potential question mark into an advantage much the same way it did when it moved both JP Pegues and PJay Smith Jr. from the two-guard spot into two different seasons and both turned in all-conference campaigns. He showed glimpses of what he could do as a shooter, leading Furman with 14 points in the road loss to No. 1 Kansas, while topping that previous career-high by posting 15 points in the Paladins’ opening round NIT loss at North Texas. He went a combined 7-of-13 (53.8%) from three in those two games, but shot

Bronson is being pushed this preseason by as four-star recruit and 6-5-point guard Alex Wilkins (Brooks School/Mattapan, MA). Wilkins’ game is unlike any Furman has had at any point under Richey or even his predecessor at the quarterback of Furman’s diverse offensive scheme, and that is having a player that is a smooth ball-handler and elite passer on the offensive end combined with the length and athleticism to be a real asset on the defensive end. Wilkins will play a lot and may even end up being the starter for Furman. That’s not to diminish Bronson in any way, who will be playing a new position this season and is a dynamic player in his own right, but rather a testament to just how talented Wilkins is. Adding credibility to that claim is the fact that Wilkins received 33 offers from NCAA Division I programs before settling upon Furman.

Wilkins isn’t the only freshman that the Paladins added either, as Furman found its next big-time 6-5 backcourt talent from much closer to home, in South Carolina “Mr. Basketball” and state leading scorer (35.1 PPG), in Abijah Franklin (Wren HS/Greenville, S.C.). While his status for playing this season—whether he redshirts or plays—remains up in the air, one thing is undeniable and that is his raw ability as a scorer at all three levels.

With players like Devin Sibley (Karns HS/Knoxville, TN), JP Pegues (Hillsborough HS/Nashville TN) and most recently PJay Smith Jr. (LaVergne, TN/Lee University/Goodpasture Christian School) all hailing from Tennessee, the next potentially special talent with a link to Volunteer State is 6-3 guard Collin O’Neal (Montgomery Bell Academy/Nashville, TN) out of Montgomery Bell Academy, where he established himself as a three-star prospect according 247 and Rivals, and an all-state and all-region honoree as a senior. O’Neal is a player that should see some time this season, as Richey mentioned that three of Furman’s five starters would be featured in the rotation this season. He is one of the best athletes on the roster, and his elite skill level and defensive tenacity should be reasons as to why he will see the floor rather than redshirting this season for the Paladins.

The final two additions to the latest recruiting class for Furman are 6-6 wing Cole Bowser (DeMatha Catholic, Bowie MD) and 6-9 power forward Owen Ritger (Marist School/Atlanta, GA), that will give the front court some added depth. 

It's my prediction that one of these two players stands the most likely chance to redshirt from this class, but both come into the Furman program with an eye on playing right away and will have the opportunity to do so. In fact, there's also the chance that all five could play as soon as the 2025-26 season. 

Cole Bowser is of course Cooper Bowser's little brother, and he comes to Furman from DeMatha Catholic, as he will unite season with his brother, and both will look to join some other great brother tandems to have starred in the league in its rich history, including guys like identical twins Ramon and Damon Williams in the late 1980s at VMI.

Bowser chose Furman among eight offers from others like Bryant, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Towson and George Washington to name a few of those. The 6-6 small forward is athletic and an outstanding defender, which will give him a chance to play this coming season. He's also versatile but excels as a long-range threat. 

Ritger is another player that is versatile, and the 6-9 power forward gives Furman a true four in the paint, rather than having to develop a five into four, which the Paladins have had to do in recent seasons. His ability as a rebounder as well as a shooter from beyond the arc will give the Paladins plenty of ability to stretch the floor when he's in the lineup.  

The final addition is 5-10 point guard Gunnar Lewis (Christ Presbyterian Academy/Nashville, TN), who is a great shooter and joined the program as a point guard out of Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville. His ability as a shooter makes him a unique add for the Paladins as a walk-on, which also means he could see time in the Furman backcourt at some point in his career.

Crimson Tide Personnel Preview:

Alabama has already played one official exhibition game, as the Crimson Tide were able to score what was a narrow 109-105 win over Florida State in a game played at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. 

In the win over the Seminoles, the Crimson Tide had a pair of players exceed the 20-point scoring plateau, as point guard Labaron Philon Jr. posted 28 points, while wing guard Aden Holloway added 20, as the Crimson Tide once again showcased an offensive tempo and style that almost was seamless at times in what was a thrilling game and impressive win to open the exhibition season. 

Head coach Nate Oats (145-63/entering 7th year at Alabama) enters his seventh season as the head basketball coach in Tuscaloosa, leading a Crimson Tide team off a 28-9 record of a year ago, and has a young, but talented unit that not only expects to contend for the SEC crown once again this season, but also the national championship, despite the loss of four starters, including the likes of both sharp-shooter Mark Sears (18.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 5.1 APG) and forward Grant Nelson (11.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG) as well as wing guard Chris Youngblood (10.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG/38.8% 3pt FG%), who all played important roles in Alabama's success over the past couple of seasons, helping lead the Crimson Tide to the 2024 Final Four and the 2025 Elite Eight. 

Oats is an offensive innovator, which was apparent from his days back as a mid-major coach himself at Buffalo. Since taking over as the head coach of Crimson Tide basketball program prior to the 2019-20 season, he's had Alabama in the mix for a title in the SEC nearly every season. Since taking over six years ago, no team has won more SEC games than the Tide have, posting 75 league wins over that span. 

Over the past five seasons alone, the Crimson Tide have won 129 games, which ranks seventh-most in the country during that span. In terms of style of play, it's different from Furman and maybe even a gear that Furman head coach Bob Richey would likely also admire in terms of the dynamics of, as the Crimson Tide posted an average of 75.3 possessions-per-game per adjusted opponent last season, which was one of the highest in the country. 

The Crimson Tide's 90.9 scoring average per game last season was the highest in the country

That trio accounts for three of four starters that must be replaced heading into the 2025-26 campaign. The other starter that must be accounted for is 6-11 rim protector Clifford Omoruyi (7.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG).

That said, the lone returning starters--point guard Labaron Philon Jr. (Preseason 1st Team All-SEC/10.6 PPG and 3.8 APG in 2024-25) is one of the top players in the SEC and is a big reason the Crimson Tide once again find themselves highly fancied in the SEC preseason media and coaches polls, as he will team with Aden Holloway (Preseason 3rd Team All-SEC/11.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG), which will help form one of the top backcourts in the SEC this coming season.  Holloway was not a starter a year ago after transferring in from Auburn, however, he proved to be an instrumental piece coming off the bench for Oats' team a year ago. 

Along with Auburn star Tahaad Pettiford, Labaron Philon Jr. was easily one of the best freshmen guards in the country last season. Philon saw action in all 37 games for the Crimson Tide last season, making 29 starts, while averaging 10.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG, while dishing out nearly four assists (3.8 APG) in his first season with the program. 

Philon Jr. finished the season ranking eighth in the league in assists and was fourth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.2). His 1.4 steals-per-game also serves notice to his well-rounded game on both ends of the floor. 

Holloway is the Crimson Tide's point guard, and he's a guy that pushes the tempo for Alabama. In fact, the Tide finished the 2024-25 season leading the country in scoring average (90.7 PPG). He was one of the best shooters on a team that shot a solid 35.3% from long-range a year ago, as he connected on 41.2% (87-of-211) from long-range a year ago. His 87 triples in his first season with the Tide ranked him second on the team behind Mark Sears, who connected on 90 last season.

The third guard in that talented backcourt trio for the Crimson Tide will likely be 6-5 Jalil Bethea (7.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.2 APG at University of Miami), who transferred into the program from Miami. However, Bethea did not play in the 109-105 exhibition win against Florida State a week-and-a-half ago, and no reason was provided as to why, so we'll assume he was hindered by a minor injury.  Bethea was a consensus top five star coming out of high school two years ago, having played at Archbishop Wood High School in Philadelphia.

The guard that ended up taking Bethea's place in the lineup against the Seminoles was one of the five letterwinners returning from a year ago, and one of the four key reserves in Alabama's run to a 28-win season and Elite Eight appearance last season is Houston Mallette (3.2 PPG, 2.2 RPG in 2024-25). 

The 6-5 guard was battling some knee injury issues when he arrived in Tuscaloosa to play for the Crimson Tide last summer. Mallette suffered a season-ending injury just six games into his 2024-25 season following coach Oats' decision to burn the Pepperdine transfer's intended redshirt due to an Achilles tear to Crimson Tide graduate senior guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (11.5 PPG in 2023-24). 

However, Mallette is now 100% healthy and could be a difference maker as another hired three-point assassin for Oats' club in 2025-26. He spent three seasons at Pepperdine prior to matriculating to Tuscaloosa, scoring 1,295 points with the Waves. 

Mallette is another three-point marksman that the Crimson Tide is able to roll out on the floor, and he's made a strong 37.7% (197-of-522) threes in his career with both the Crimson Tide and the Waves, which is interesting when you consider has career path should maybe track to meteorology after his pro basketball career concludes. 

Mallette posted 13 points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 2-for-7 effort from three, and was 7-for-8 from the line in the exhibition win over the 'Noles. He added seven rebounds and a pair of assists to what was a well-rounded performance.

In the frontcourt, the guys to keep an eye on are 6-10 power forward Taylor Bol Bowen (8.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.5 BPG at Florida State in 2024-25) and 7-0 sophomore center Aiden Sherrell (3.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG in 2024-25). Sherrell has progressed along nicely and has a huge upside moving forward, posting four points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks in the exhibition win over the Seminoles.

Bol Bowen headlines what should be a talented frontcourt for the Crimson Tide in 2025-26, featuring both plenty of skill and overall athleticism. What Bol Bowen provides is versatility. He possesses the rare combination low-post scoring with his athleticism, as well as being a three-point marksmen as a big man and could prove to the toughest defensive assignment for opponents when facing off against Alabama in the upcoming season. He shot 41.4% () from long-range a year ago, which is ridiculous to be 6-10.

Bol Bowen excelled in the ACC last season, as his length gave foes problems most nights. In a lot of respects, the ACC and SoCon have more commonalities when it comes to how post players play and how they are built than the SEC and SoCon. It's a whole new ballgame in the SEC, as literally every team has a notable rim protector, which Bowen will obviously be asked to do. In the win over his former team, even the fact that Luke Loucks had a good idea of the scouting report, the Seminoles couldn't prevent Bol Bowen from connecting on 4-of-5 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 from long-range, as he finished the night with 14 points, three rebounds, a block and an assist. 

Six-foot-ten sophomore Keitenn Bristow (11.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.4 APG at Tarelton State in 2024-25), 6-8 true freshman forward Amari Allen (4-star recruit and No. 2 player in the state of Wisconsin according to On3/Ashwaunenon HS/Green Bay, WI) and 6-6 true freshman wing guard Davion Hannah (4-star recruit/Link Academy/Milwaukee, WI) are some talented reserves to keep an eye on for the Crimson Tide on Sunday.

2025-26 Southern Conference Basketball Preview (Part 4-of-4 of summer Recruiting Updates)

2025-26 Southern Conference Basketball Preview

Furman Senior Forward Ben VanderWal

Projected Order of Finish

1.    Furman

2.    Chattanooga

3.    East Tennessee State

4.    VMI

5.    Samford

6.    Western Carolina

7.    UNC Greensboro

8.    Mercer

9.    Wofford

10.  The Citadel

2025-26 SoCon Superlatives:

Player of the Year: G-Ricky Bradley Jr. (VMI)

Newcomer of the Year: G-Teddy Washington (Chattanooga)

Freshman of the Year: G-Alex Wilkins (Furman)

Defensive Player of the Year: Cooper Bowser (Furman)

Best Dunker: Brian Taylor II (East Tennessee State)

Best Pure Shooter: TJ Johnson (VMI)

Best Glue Guy: Ben VanderWal (Furman)

Best On-ball defender: AJ Clark (VMI)

Best Passer: Tan Yildizoglu (VMI)

All-SoCon First Team:

G--Marcus Kell (Western Carolina)

G--Teddy Washington Jr. (Chattanooga)

G--Ricky Bradley Jr. (VMI)

F--Cooper Bowser (Furman)

F--TJ Johnson (VMI)

All-SoCon Second Team

G--Jaylen Smith (ETSU)

G--Donald Whitehead Jr. (UNCG)

G-Jikari Johnson (Chattanooga)

G/F--Asa Thomas (Furman)

C--Collin Mulholland (Chattanooga)

All-SoCon Third Team

F-Christian Moore (The Citadel)

G--Milton Matthews II (ETSU)

G--Maki Johnson (ETSU)

G--Zaire Williams (Mercer)

F--Dylan Faulkner (Samford)

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NCAA Tournament Projection: Furman

NIT Projection: Chattanooga and ETSU

Sleepers: VMI, Samford and Western Carolina

SoCon Basketball Combined Overall Records Since the Start of the 2015-16 Season:

1. Furman                223-108

2. UNC Greensboro                                                       218-112

3. East Tennessee State                                               208-121

4. Chattanooga                                                              203-127

5. Wofford                                                                        188-137

6. Samford                                                                      170-148

7. Mercer                                                                           159-165

8. Western Carolina                                                      134-182

9. The Citadel                                                                  103-204

10. VMI                                                                                  99-211

SoCon Basketball Combined League Records Since the Start of the 2015-16 Season:

1. UNC Greensboro             128-52

2. Furman                                                     124-53

3. East Tennessee State                                               114-63

4. Wofford                                                                    108-71

5. Chattanooga                       87 -73

6. Mercer                                                                      75-85

7. Samford                                                                    70-85

8. Western Carolina                                                      66-95

9. VMI              37-121

10. The Citadel                      35-125

Previewing 2025-26:

Chattanooga’s (29-9, 15-3 SoCon/2025 Regular-Season Champions and '25 NIT Champions) triumph last March in the land that the movie Hoosiers made famous for a coach that hails from the Hoosier State is nothing short of a Hollywood script coming to life before our very eyes. However, the Mocs’ 91-89 overtime win over UC Santa Barbara was evidence of just how much the Southern Conference had grown in recent years, and fittingly, it was the league’s most successful program that would end up cutting the nets down at Hinlkle Field House to claim the league’s milestone first-ever NCAA sanctioned national tournament trophy.

The Mocs, however, became the first No. 1 seed not to win the Southern Conference Tournament title since 2017, when No. 3 East Tennessee State knocked off No. 1 UNC Greensboro in the SoCon title game. That's because the Mocs were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament by Furman, 80-77, in the semifinals at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville last March. 

It caused only temporary heartbreak for the 12-time tournament champions in what has been a high-stakes matchup in the tournament between the two programs in tournament play over the past few seasons, as it gave the Mocs a legitimate chance to make a deep run in the second-most prestigious March Madness Tournament--The NIT. 

With each passing off-season in this new era of college athletics, media folks that cover the league on a yearly basis seemingly ask ourselves the same question about the same time each fall…What will the league do for an encore this year? I have come to realize the strength of Southern Conference hoops only has a little to do with the players that represent each program, and much to do with the coaches that lead the 10 teams that call this league home.

According to KenPom, the SoCon ranked 11th nationally at season’s end, and the league just continues to sustain itself as one of the premier conferences in mid-major basketball.

With everyone having been captivated by Chattanooga’s run that started in early March and ended in early April, it was almost as if fans of the league forgot about the team that had actually cut down the nets as the 2025 Southern Conference Tournament at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, as Wofford downed Furman, 93-85, in the SoCon Championship game in Asheville to collect its sixth SoCon Tourney title in 15 years, becoming the first-ever No. 6 seed to win the title in the 

While the Mocs stand a great chance of repeating their SoCon regular-season title run of a year ago, the team that actually represented the SoCon in the NCAA Tournament—Wofford— almost didn’t have enough players to put on the floor for the season when news broke less than two months before the season the tip-off of the 2025-26 season.

According to sources, there was an act of insubordination on the part of Wofford head coach Dwight Perry and Associate head coach Tysor Anderson, forcing the school to make an almost immediate move as a result. 

The players were reinstated, and it keeps Wofford from having to forfeit the 2025-26 season, which would have also been unprecedented to have a reigning SoCon champion and NCAA Tournament participant not be able to defend their title. As a result as Perry’s firing, the Wofford administration moved quickly to find his replacement and installed former player and assistant Kevin Giltner as the head coach on Sept. 21, 2025.

In direct contrast to how it ended for Perry, Chattanooga’s Dan Earl signed a six-year contract extension following a 2024-25 season, which saw the Mocs win a program record 29 games and make a magical run through the NIT to win the title. It was the first time SoCon had won an NCAA sanctioned national title of a sort on the hardwood.

Chattanooga would go through Middle Tennessee State (W, 109-103 OT), Dayton (W, 87-72), Bradley (W, 67-65), Loyola Chicago (W, 80-73) and UC Irvine (W, 85-84 OT) to win the title. However, like Wofford, the Mocs have plenty to replace when it comes to personnel lost and that, including a dynamic backcourt, which included players like Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, as the Mocs featured the most dynamic backcourt in the Southern Conference last season. 

Most of the hopes to build on last season’s run hinges upon the fact that the Mocs have one of the top big men in basketball returning, in Collin Mulholland. Mulholland is also a threat to shoot it from the perimeter, making him a nightmare assignment for defending big me, who will have to chase him out to the perimeter. If you look to Earl’s track record as a developer of big men, there’s no doubting that he can develop them into the type of player that can be the fulcrum of his motion offense, which is essentially what he was able to do with Jake Stephens. 

Mulholland isn’t the only returning big man either, as skilled performers like Latif Diouf and Sean Cusano can both distribute, as well as be effective scorers in the paint, while Cusano has the ability to be an effective threat from long range. 

Makai Richards, who transferred in from Fresno State prior to last season, and he was tough and rugged as a scorer in the paint for the Mocs. Richards is the workhorse in the paint, and he appeared in 37 of Chattanooga’s 38 games last season and should see his minutes go up this season after playing almost 10 minutes per game last season. 

Most of the portal work done by the Chattanooga Mocs staff in mining the transfer portal was trying to find scoring punch to try and replace Bohham and Huff. They got one of the more unique commitments in mid-major basketball, with the signing of Jikari Johnson in the backcourt, which has excelled at every level of basketball except the NCAA Division I level. He will get that chance this season. 

Set to be a potential starter at one of the wing spots is Billy Smith, who transferred in from Bellarrmine. Marking the second season in a row that the Mocs have procured a player out of that institution, joining  Bash Wieland as players to hail from that program. Smith, a 6-7 wing, will add some immediate scoring potential for the Mocs, as he will add not only the ability to score inside the paint, but also is an outstanding perimeter threat. Smith was also among the top scorers in the Atlantic Sun last season, averaging 14.9 PPG. 

Another impact player for the Mocs will be Teddy Washington Jr., who will be especially an asset on the defensive end of the floor. 

The final piece to the puzzle that figures to play a major role for the Mocs in the 2025-26 season is 6-6 wing forward Sebastian Hartman, who comes to Chattanooga from Germany, where he was a member of the U-18 German national team, and he could be a player that makes an impact because of his toughness and scoring ability. He is also the "glue guy" that could end up filling a role similar to that of Garrison Keeslar last season, although he's even more of an offensive threat. 

At point guard, the Mocs added a pair of capable veterans in Brennan Watkins, who was recruited by Earl at VMI and transferred into Chattanooga from Marshall. Frison is a real versatile scoring threat, shooting better than 45% from three-point range in his final season at Pittsburg State, while also possessing the quickness and ability to create for himself off the dribble. 

This season, Furman (25-10, 11-7/5th in SoCon in 2024-25) will have to have that, "next man up" attitude once again, as the Paladins will have to replace their top two scorers from the 2024-25 and overall, in PJay Smith Jr. (17.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.9 APG) and Nick Anderson (14.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 2.3 APG), however, it was far different a situation at this point in the late spring a year ago than it is currently.  Those two were the key cogs for a team that surprised everyone to win 25 games a year ago. 

The sharp-shooting guard duo connected on 207 of the team's league-leading 380 triples last season, or just over half the team's three-point field goals, connecting on a combined 54.4% of Furman's made three-pointers. The Paladins finished the season ranking sixth in the country in threes made-per-game (10.9) and finished the 2025 SoCon Tournament by making 42 triples in three games, which was just one off of Chattanooga's tournament record of 43 made threes in the 2023 edition, which it did over the course of four games.

There is far less worry this summer, as there are more answers returning than questions to be asked and glib assumptions of doom and gloom to be made. While there is some question in terms of perimeter scoring, it's a far cry from losing 70.8% of production like head coach Bob Richey and staff were faced with doing last off-season. 

Time and time again, however, Furman under Richey has defied logic when losing top players and veterans to graduation or the portal. However, after returning plenty of talent from a team that won the 2022-23 title, the Paladins finished well below expectation, finishing fifth in the league and just 17-16 overall. 

That led to most picking the Paladins low last season, however, fifth turned out to be right when it came to the projected finish within the Southern Conference. But most wouldn't have had the Paladins winning 25 games or knocking regular-season champion and eventual NIT champion Chattanooga out of the SoCon Tournament in the semifinals. However, Furman's demise would come in the final three minutes of the SoCon Tournament in Asheville, letting the title slip through its fingers with a 92-85 loss to Wofford in the title game.

That has especially fueled Furman's hunger during the off-season, and with it, a good nucleus of veteran leadership was an element that gave off-season preparations a similar feel as those during the spring and summer of 2022, which of course, saw the Paladins go on to win the Southern Conference crown and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 43 years. 

Underneath the basket, forward Ben VandwerWal and center Cooper Bowser lead the way. If there was an award for Best "Glue Guy" in the SoCon, it might very well go to VanderWal, while Bowser, who paced the SoCon with 57 blocks last season, would be my preseason SoCon Defensive Player of the Year. 

Maybe the biggest improvement and a player that see his game ascend to an even higher level in the paint this fall is 6-11 Aussie Charles Johnston, who was solid in his first season with the 'Dins. The Cal State Monterrey Bay transfer averaged 5.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG off the bench a year ago, but turned in a 25-point performance in an early season win over Jacksonville, as well as providing some clutch shooting for the Paladins in the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville. Johnston was also a 38.8% (25-of-37) from three-point land last season.

In conference play, the guy usually charged with providing a needed spark at key moments in games last season was Davis Molnar. Good things always seemed to happen when Molnar was in the lineup, and he was particularly key in a late January home win over league favorite Samford, with a clutch inbounds pass at the end of the game against heavy pressure put on by Bucky McMillan's Bulldogs. 

Furman didn't need much from the transfer portal, however, what head coach Bob Richey and staff did manage to do was lure a player that will have an immediate impact, in Clemson transfer wing forward Asa Thomas. 

Like VanderWal, Thomas hails from the Land of Lincoln and has a chance to become the latest success story to really shine at Furman in recent years from the state of Illinois. It really started during the past decade with Hinsdale, Ill., native Matt Rafferty, who would eventually go on to have a career worthy of being a Furman Basketball Hall-of-Famer sometime in the future I would imagine. 

Thomas is very much a player that fits the Furman profile when it comes to locating a player that can shoot the three, offers scoring versatility and is solid defensively. Thomas is 6-7, 200 lbs and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Thomas originally came to Clemson from Lake Forest, Ill., as a three-star prospect two years ago with what appeared to be a bright future ahead in the Clemson shade of Orange rather than the one worn by his home state institution Illinois, however, Thomas' 2023-24 season would be cut way short due to having to have shoulder surgery.

During his high school career, Thomas ended setting a record for three-pointers made in both a career (295) and in one season (98), as well as ranking second in Lake Forest High School, finishing his career with an impressive 1,746 career points. Thomas' shooting ability from long range will be a nice compliment to the skill-set that VanderWal brings to the table.  If he can stay healthy, he gives Furman one more added scoring option underneath. 

Adding leadership in the backcourt will be sharpshooting guard Tom House and redshirt sophomore Eddirin Bronson, who is ready for a breakout year. 

House's ability to shoot the basketball was especially evident late in the season, as he posted some big games in the lineup towards the latter portion of the 2024-25 season, particularly against Mercer in mid-February and the Paladins' SoCon Tournament opener against Samford--games in which Tom House scored 26 and 21 points--and shot the cover off the basketball. He combined to go 12-of-16 from beyond the arc. 

For the season, House averaged 7.1 PPG and 2.6 RPG, while shooting 40.6% (54-of-133) from three-point range. House solved his confidence issues with that career-high 26-point effort against Mercer changed House's season entirely. Early in the season, when a shot or two wouldn't fall, House was reluctant to keep shooting. That all changed with that late season win over Mercer.

House will be a player that will see a big role increase this coming season, as he will be looked to as one of the Paladins' main scorers, as well being their primary deep threat.  He will also be challenged to be a leader on both ends of the floor, as well as being one off the court. It has the potential to be a big season for House and one that, if things go well, could yield SoCon all-league plaudits at the end of the journey. 

The same could be said of Bronson, who will not only see his role increase, but he will see his position change altogether, as he moves to take over the point guard spot for the Paladins this coming season. 

While his offense struggled at times last season, due in large part to a preseason foot injury that required surgery and kept him from making the full impact as an offensive threat that he might have made, he would certainly make up for that on the defensive end of the floor. He made one of the biggest plays of the season in Furman's semifinal win over Chattanooga, as his steal  of a UTC inbounds pass with 15 seconds remaining helped the Paladins put the finishing touches on an 80-77 overtime semifinal win over the Mocs.

Bronson was the one Furman player that the Kansas fans gained an especially respect for throughout the contest, but particularly in the opening half of that game and towards latter portions of the frame when Bronson got on a roll shooting the basketball, which even caused Jayhawks head coach Bill Self to at one point with about six minutes remaining in the half call a timeout with the Jayhawks clinging to a one-point, 27-26, lead with 6:23 remaining in the opening 20 minutes of basketball. 

For the game, Bronson would finish the contest with a then career-best 14 points, as he finished 4-for-10 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point range in the game.  In Furman's 75-64 opening round NIT loss at North Texas, Bronson played some point guard, finishing the night a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and that included a 3-for-3 from long-range, as he led the Paladins with 15 points. 

In addition to Furman's seven returning players and one portal addition, the Paladins signed one of the top freshman classes in mid-major basketball, and those players will have an immediate impact this season. 

The Paladins signed local product Abijah Franklin out of Wren High School in nearby Powdersville, S.C., who led the Palmetto State in scoring as a senior and was "Mr. Basketball" as well as 6-4 guard Alex Wilkins, who had over 30 NCAA Division I offers and a four star recruit. He comes to Furman from the Brooks School in Boston, Mass. 

Wing forward Cole Bowser and another star product from the state of Tennessee, in Colin O'Neal, could all see action this season. Bowser, the brother of Cooper Bowser, is a three-star recruit out of the prestigious DeMatha Catholic.

Adding even more excitement to the Furman basketball program entering the 2025-26 season is the fact that the Paladins will be playing in the brand spanking new Timmons Arena, which underwent a
40-million dollar upgrade last season, while the Paladins played their home games in the palatial Bon Secours Wellness Arena.  

The Paladins will give the new place a grand opening by hosting Alabama in the opening game in the facility, which is slated for Oct. 26 in what will be a charity exhibition game. The game is already listed as a sellout.

While Furman plays no power conference foes in the 2025-26 season, there are a number of highly anticipated matchups against other mid-major programs. The Paladins will face off against High Point in the Field of 68's Opening Day Marathon, which is slated to take place at the Rock Hill Civic Center in Rock Hill, S.C. on Monday, Nov. 3, to open the season.

Other intriguing clashes include a Nov. 7 clash against reigning Sun Belt Champion and NCAA Tournament participant Troy and will take on perennial Missouri Valley Conference power North Iowa in Cedar Falls on Nov. 14. The one game the Paladins will play in the SoCon-A-SUN Challenge will be on Nov. 23 against Queens. The Paladins will also take part in the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, facing off against Richmond on Nov. 27 at the Disney Sports Complex in Kissimmee, FL. 

If Furman and Chattanooga are the favorites, the team right on their proverbial heels is East Tennessee State(19-13, 12-6/3rd in SoCon in 2024-25), but like Furman, the Bucs have to replace major production in the way of scoring, rebounding and on the defensive end of the floor, with the graduation of Jaden Seymour and with Quimari Peterson transferring to the University of Washington and Karon Boyd having transferred to Wichita State. The Bucs join both regular-season champion Chattanooga and tournament champion Wofford in having to replace all five starters from a year ago. 

The Bucs must also replace DJ Hughes and the team's best shooter, John Buggs III, which helped the Bucs finish third in the league last season. Injuries in the stretch run of February really put a lot more on Peterson, who was eventually selected as the SoCon's Player of the Year. 

While third-year head coach Brooks Savage isn't one to make excuses, last season it could be argued that at least the lack of having much of bench was at least part of the early exit in Asheville, as the Bucs were thoroughly beaten in pretty much every hustle category in what was a disappointing 72-60 quarterfinal round loss to Wofford.

Savage and the Bucs have had the off-season to add depth to make sure than when March 2026 rolls around, there won't be any questions about depth should one or two players go down due to unfortunate injuries. In reality, another reason for the Bucs' struggles last season is the three big men the Bucs acquired from the portal did not pan out. It is sometimes that way with big men.

The 6-4 shooting guard out of Huntington, WVa, provided silencer after silencer to a crowd decked out in neon yellow shirts, as he connected on 3-of-11 from three-point range and added three crucial steals on the defensive end, finishing with a key 11 points in what would be a 65-60 road win over the league-leading Bulldogs. Johnson's performance was the difference in what is arguably the biggest win of the Brooks Savage era to this point. Johnson was one of three Bucs in double figures in the win over the defending champion Bulldogs.

Johnson's 11-point effort against Samford was one of seven double-figure scoring performances last season, and it included a season and career-high 18-point performance in the second meeting with the Bulldogs 20 days later in Johnson City in what was another impressive win for the Bucs, as ETSU sent the defending league champions back to Birmingham with a 66-59 loss. As for Johnson, he was once again one of three ETSU players in double figures, finishing his signature career performance to this point by going 4-for-9 from three-point range, as well as going 6-for-8 from the line in the win. 

All told, Johnson finished the 2024-25 season by seeing action in all 32 games, including making six starts, as he finished the season averaging 5.9 PPG and 2.1 RPG, while shooting a solid 35.5% (59-of-166) from three-point land last season. Johnson is both ETSU's leading returning scorer and best returning three-point marksman. 

Now it's on to the tremendous haul brought in from the transfer portal for the Bucs. A total off 11 newcomers will be a part of ETSU's roster next season, with 10 of the 11 being transfers, while the Bucs also have also added one high school signee. 

The Bucs really made more of a concerted effort to not only add talent, but complimentary talent in both the backcourt and frontcourt. While the Bucs went out signed guard talent last season, in John Buggs III and Curt Lewis, it was more a concerted effort by Savage and staff to add size, scoring ability and depth to the frontcourt. None of those frontcourt signees ended up panning out to fill the role they were originally brought in to fill.

Savage's third major haul from the transfer portal appears to be one that, at least on paper, looks like not only the most talented, but one that most fits the identity of what Savage is truly trying to establish, which is all about building a team that dictates the rules of engagement on both ends, picking points in the game to run but not playing fast as an identity, while being a team continues to be an defensively elite unit. 

Savage's first two teams as the head coach have lived up on the defensive end of the floor, however, on the offensive end, the Bucs have shown flashes but nothing like the consistency and versatility that Savage wants, which was something he was able to get out of his teams under Forbes as the offensive coordinator at Wake Forest. This mix of players brought in by Savage and staff looks more on par with the type of team identity he wants in Johnson City and the type of identity he had in Winston-Salem as the Demon Deacons' offensive coordinator.

One of the several additions expected to make a big splash this season is 6-8 small forward Cam Morris III, who comes to ETSU from UMass-Lowell. The graduate transfer is athletic with a high-motor and is not only an impressive presence on the defensive end but was a reliable scorer in the post for the River Hawks in four seasons. In 88 games at UMass-Lowell, Morris III saw action in 88 total games, logging 44 starts, while averaging 8.6 PPG and 5.0 RPG.

This past season, Morris started 26 of 27 games for UMass-Lowell and posted 8.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG, averaging 23.7 minutes-per-game. ]

Joining Morris as not only a player that will come in and start right away, but could be one of the leading producers on the offensive end of the floor is sharp-shooting guard Milton Matthews out of Florida A&M. 

The 6-3 shooting guard comes in having connected on at least 100 three-point field goals in each of his previous three seasons at actually started his career at NAIA St. Thomas University in Florida before making his way to Tallahassee and the NCAA Division I level to play for the Rattlers. 

No matter the level, Matthews has been a problem as a perimeter threat and scorer. The District Heights, MD., product was on Savage's radar long before he arrived at ETSU, and for Savage, who hails from Baltimore, it was a player that comes from his home state and probably gives him a little sense of satisfaction knowing that he has potentially someone to discuss Baltimore Orioles baseball--his other major passion when he isn't coaching--with during the season. 

As for Matthews and his time at FAMU during the 2024-25 season, he averaged an impressive 14.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.7 APG, while shooting a blistering 41.6% from three-point range.  He also shot a strong 81.0% from the free throw line in a total of 28 games last season. To sum up his ability as a three-point threat, Matthews connected on five or more threes in a games 22 times in 87 games he suited up for both Florida A&M and NAIA St. Thomas during the previous three seasons. 

In 59 games at NAIA St. Thomas, he scored 1,101 points, which equates to an impressive 18.7 PPG scoring average, while shooting a over 40% from three-point land. He also connected at an impressive 83.7% from the charity stripe. 

Simply put, Matthews is a bucket and he's a playmaker. He's the closest thing to cloning John Buggs III that ETSU could possibly hope for, and he is the type of player that gives Savage some options, thanks in large part to his versatility as a scorer and distributor. While Matthews is an elite perimeter threat, it's not who he is as an offensive threat, but rather just the primary strength in a toolbox full of offensive scoring versatility. Expect Matthews to be among the SoCon's top newcomers in 2025-26.=

Former 1-A Tennessee "Mr. Basketball" and 6-8 forward Jordan McCullum and is the only one of the current recruiting haul brought in by ETSU to actually come from the Volunteer State. The Harriman, TN., played his prep basketball at both Harriman High School and Huntington Prep in Huntington, WVa, which also produced ETSU sharp-shooter Maki Johnson. McCullum played his sophomore and senior seasons at Harriman, while playing his junior campaign at Huntington Prep. 

Coming out of high school, McCollum was a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports and was considered a top prospect in West Virginia in the 2024 class before opting to return to Tennessee for his senior season. McCullum would make the most of his return home, as he garnered the Tennessee Sports Writer's Association 1-A "Mr. Basketball" award in 2024, leading the Harriman Blue Devils to an impressive 27-3 record.

Prior to coming to ETSU, McCullum spent one season at Murray State where he played in five games, posting eight and a pair of rebounds. He will have three years of eligibility remaining for the Bucs. He will add depth and athleticism in the paint, which is something seriously lacking last season for ETSU, and in the end, attrition forced more guys to play outside of their role, and for guys like Jaden Seymour, it forced them to take on more minutes and that ended up proving costly by the end of the season. 

Another frontcourt player the Bucs can look forward to being a potential major producer as a low-post scorer this coming season is 6-8 forward and Northwestern transfer Blake Barkley. The redshirt sophomore will have two years of eligibility remaining. 

Barkley is a tough, hard-nosed player that knows he's way around the basket and that's what originally made him an original recruit that was so popular among Big Ten programs.

Barkley became is another West Virginia native, having played his prep basketball at Putnam Science Academy where he was a three-star prospect as a power forward. He played 12 minutes as a redshirt freshman last season, posting four points and four rebounds. Barkley will provide good depth at power forward, which was a definite need coming into the season.

One of the more highly thought of recruits that will make his new home in Johnson City this coming season will be Brian Taylor II, who comes to ETSU from SIU-Edwardsville, and the 6-4 guard comes to the tri-cities with one season of eligibility remaining. 

Taylor, who is maybe the most athletic "get" for Savage and staff from the transfer portal, turned in what would be considered a breakout campaign for the Cougars, as he finished up the season averaging 11.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 2.9 APG. 

Taylor II will have a big role to fill for the Bucs, as he will be replacing 2024-25 Southern Conference Player of the Year Quimari Peterson at the point guard position for the upcoming season. 

In addition what he did as a scorer, Taylor II was also a 49% shooter from the field and was an outstanding 45% shooter from three-point range last season. He was also a solid 73% shooter from the charity stripe for the Cougars last season. 

Another intangible brings to the ETSU roster this season is the experience of having played in the NCAA Tournament last season, as he helped SIU-Edwardsville to a 22-12 mark last season, as the Cougars took on the top-seeded Houston Cougars in the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Regional last March. The Cougars, who dropped a 78-40 contest to the eventual national runner-up, were able to point their ticket to the Big Dance after posting a 69-48 win over top seeded SEMO in the OVC Championship game. 

In that OVC Championship game, Brian Taylor II finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, one assist and two turnovers in 29 minutes of work.

The first announced addition from the transfer portal made by Savage and staff was North Florida transfer Jaylen Smith, who will add depth at point guard and will have two years of elibility remaining upon his arrival in Johnson City. The Ocoee, FL., native finished out his sophomore season with the Ospreys in strong fashion, averaging 11.4 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 1.3 SPG, as he was able to be a factor on both ends for the Ospreys last season.

Smith finished out his sophomore campaign leading the Atlantic Sun in both assists-per-game and total assists (181), while also ranking 29th and 31st, respectively, in both of the categories mentioned above. His 181 helpers this past season ranked as the sixth-most in a single-season in program history, while he totaled 259 total assists in just two seasons with the Ospreys.

During his final season with the Ospreys, Smith connected on 34.9% (62-of-179) from three-point land. North Florida's 409 made three-point field goals this past season led the nation, which was just ahead of Cal Poly's 403 made triples. Smith's solid shooting touch from long-range will also be beneficial to the Bucs, who showed awesome improvement as a team from the perimeter last season, as opposed to Savage's rookie season as head coach in the 2023-24 season.

Smith was an A-Sun All-Freshman selection two years ago, averaging 6.5 PPG , 2.4 APG and 1.4 APG, starting 16 games for the Ospreys during the 2023-24 campaign. All told, in two seasons as the primary starter for UNF at point guard, Smith averaged 8.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG and 4.0 APG, including a 1.98 assist-to-turnover ratio and 102 made threes, which included a 32% career clip from long-range.

Rounding out the recruiting haul from the transfer portal is Brayden Crump from Elon, who joined ETSU in mid-May. The 6-8 forward is a player that the Bucs saw up close and personal this past season, as the Bucs posted a lopsided 84-58 win over the former SoCon member a week before Christmas last season. Crump would log 23 minutes off the bench at forward for Elon in that loss to ETSU, posting six points and nine rebounds. 

Like Morris, who transferred in from UMass-Lowell, the biggest asset that Crump will add to ETSU's heading into the 2024-25 season is his ability on the backboards. As a reserve this past season for CAA member Elon, Crump averaged 4.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 15.7 minutes-per-game off the bench for the Phoenix. 

Crump, who will have three seasons of eligibilitiy remaining, redshirted his first season at Elon before logging his first time as a part of the rotation off the Phoenix bench in the 2024-25 campaign. He made appearances in a total of 31 games as a reserve for Elon, connecting on 45.4% from the field, 22.2% from the charity stripe, and 70.7% from the free throw line. 

Prior to signing his NLI to play for Elon, the 6-8 forward from Morganton, N.C., played his prep basketball at Winston-Salem Christian.

Overall, Savage and his staff appear to have gone out and secured one of the top transfer portal signing classes in the SoCon heading into the 2025-26 season. One interesting alteration to Savage's portal recruiting as opposed to his previous two seasons is that he didn't go after a 6-10 or 6-11 center to bring into the fold.

While Jadyn Parker ended up being an absolute gem of a player on the defensive end in his one season at ETSU after coming north from Jacksonville and UNF, he was at times a liability in the post because of his lack of mid-range shot and overall comfortability in the post and around the basket.

Last season, the Bucs brought in 6-10 Davion Bradford and 6-11 Roosevelt Wheeler were brought in, as was 6-9 true freshman Brandon Crawford, with redshirt freshman David Meriweather, which was a part of Savage's first recruiting class, already on the roster and that sent the message that the Bucs were after size and wanted to be big.

With a high success rate for finding bigs that could come in and produce from the transfer portal and  JUCO ranks, as well as from the high school ranks in the recent past in Savage's time as an assistant under Steve Forbes from 2015-2020, ETSU made the most of developing bigs like Tevin Glass, Hanner Mosquera-Perreira, Lucas N'Guessan, and Mladen Armus, who had been brought in and developed into quality big men. 

There were far more success stories than ones like ended up being the fate of promising big men that didn't pan out in the past, like Octavion Corley, were far more the exception than the rule. However, the recent trend of bringing in those 6-9-to-7-0 centers that had already made a couple of stops along the way turned out to be more of a trend that Savage and staff couldn't afford to chance for another season, and that is each situation in which the Bucs brought in size around the basket, what ETSU actually got was under-developed and largely athletically-challenged big men that proved to be more of a net negative.

This time, the Bucs staff targeted smaller, more athletic power forwards and added depth at that position, swapping out the size/offensive development projects for the proven and more athletic commodities. As far finding guard talent, that has always been a strength for Savage as evidenced by guys like 2024-25 SoCon MVP Quimari Peterson, or 2016 SoCon Tournament MVP Greg Pryor during his time as an assistant at Chattanooga.

While there isn't a proven scorer on the roster, Bucs fans should be excited about this new crop of portal talent brought in by Savage and his staff. 

Only one true freshman has been brought in by head coach Brook Savage for the 2025-26 season, and that signing was announced in late November of 2024 and it's a signing that has Savage excited for the immediate future of the Bucs backcourt.

On Nov. 20, 2024, the signing of 6-3, 190-lb guard Maddox Huff was announced on the ETSU website. The native of Baxter, KY., gives the Bucs another player that has a winning edge and personality to the team, as he helped lead the Harlan County to a state title as a junior and back to the championship game during his senior season. 

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.

As far as ETSU's schedule is concerned, there will be a homecoming of sorts in the one exhibition game the Bucs are slated to play in the 2025-26 season, as Wake Forest will pay a visit to Freedom Hall on Oct. 27 for an intriguing charity exhibition clash. Other than that, the Bucs have a decent schedule filled with some solid mid-majors. The Dec. 2 trip to perennial Atlantic 10 power Dayton is one of those games most have circled on the calendar, as is the lone game against a Power four conference program, as the Bucs will visit the Dean Dome on Dec. 16 to face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Preseason SoCon Player of the Year Ricky Bradley (photo courtesy of VMI athletics)

While the top three looks to be pretty cut-and-dry when it comes to the 2025-26 season in the SoCon, if there's a team that could upset that balance, it could be the VMI (15-19, 7-11/7th in SoCon in 2024-25) Keydets. 

Fourth-year head coach Andrew Wilson and the Keydets were no fluke semifinalist a year ago, and despite only one really big key loss, the Keydets return more of their scoring than anyone else in the SoCon.

While some will laud VMI's offense and quicker tempo as the reason for their turnaround last season, much of it I think actually had to do with its performance on the defensive end of the floor. The Keydets finished out the 2024-25 season ranking 

You can't put a price on continuity, and that's exactly why the Keydets should prove to be a problem in the Southern Conference this coming season. One of the things that head coach Andrew Wilson has finally been able to do is get players to buy in to what he is building in Lexington, and it's pretty neat to see. So when the Keydets knocked off UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Tournament by a score of 64-57 at the Harrah's Cherokee Center last March, it certainly was not a fluke. 

The lone real key departure for the Keydets from a year ago is Augustinas Kiudulas, who was VMI's second-leading scorer (15.2 PPG) and finished as the team's leading rebounder (6.3 RPG). 

Kiudulas was a SoCon All-Tournament selection and he finished the season with five double-doubles and started 29 games for VMI last season. The biggest impact felt will be rebounding even more than what he gave VMI as an offensive presence, as he ranked fifth in the league in offensive rebounds-per-game (2.4).

So what did the Keydets bring in from the transfer portal during the offseason? One of the pickups appeared to have been 7-0 center Dhiakuei "DK" Manyiel Dut, however, six days after his verbal commitment he decided to transfer for to California. 

Dut would have helped ease the loss of big man Cyprian Hyde, and perhaps a late summer addition in the middle is already in the works.  

In keeping with the international theme, however, Wilson was able to add a Georgian to his roster, and no not the state about 350 miles south, though the Peach State is a cultural melting pot for both European as well as other nationalities, but I am talking here about the former Soviet satellite state. 

True freshman Alexander Daushvili comes to VMI from the capital city of Tbilisi and the Guivy Zaldastanishivili American Academy. He is a walk-on recruit that will add some needed size underneath the basket. 

With scoring machine Rickey Bradley Jr. (16.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.8 APG) returning in the backcourt, as well as pure shooter TJ Johnson (12.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 36.5% 3pt FG%), who is among the most versatile big men in the SoCon, the Keydets could be the team that crashes the party and finishes in the top three this season. And as we saw last season, it can be anyone's tournament in Asheville. 

Bradley and Johnson are two of the top three-point shooters in the league and the two combined to knock down 147 of the team's 303 three-point field goals last season, as the duo connected on a combined to connect on 36.7% (147-of-400) from three-point land last season. Both Bradley and Johnson accounted for nearly half of the team's trifectas alone last season, as they combined to connect on 48.4% of the team's total of 303 made three-pointers last season. 

But while both are a problem as elite perimeter shooters for the opposition, it's only part of each player's overall game, excelling as an skilled all-around perfomer in the paint. 

While Bradley and Johnson can provide the scoring and shooting for VMI, the real engine of this Keydets team is made up by point guard Tan Yildizoglu (8.3 PPG, 3.3 APG).

Yildizoglu wasn't exactly what you would call a three-point assassin last season, as he connected on just 19.7% (15-for-76) from beyond the arc last season, although he has worked on his shot during the off-season. The real elite level play that Yildizoglu brings, though, is his ability to penetrate and create off the dribble, ultimately making the Keydets even more dangerous when he penetrates into the paint than when he opts for a mid-range our perimeter jumper. 

Yildizoglu brings a European panache to the VMI backcourt, and that makes the Keydets different than most teams in the level, and that's primarily because of his skill level with the ball is on a different level.

Turkey, however, isn't the lone country represented in the Keydets backcourt heading into the 2025-26 season, as Linus Holmstrom is also back and looking to build upon a solid first season in Lexington. The 6-3 sophomore from Stockholm, Sweden, is a player that like Yildizoglu, has suited up for his country on the biggest of stages, and though still young, isn't phased by the things that most younger American players are this day and age.

Holmstrom broke into the lineup and was right at home from the outset of the 2024-25 season and he suffered some minor injuries and an illness during SoCon play, but he still managed to be a solid contributing scorer off the bench for VMI, and was not at all bashful when it came to shooting the three last season. In fact, the native Swede, who is also a member of the U19 national team, finished the season having posted a solid 34% shooting effort from three-point range (52-of-154) and his 52 were third-best on the team.

Another key cog returning to the backcourt for the Keydets in 2025-26 is also arguably the league's top returning on-ball defender, in rising 6-4 junior AJ Clark. The Suffolk, VA., native was a SoCon All-Defensive Team selection last season, as well as finishing the season ranking second in steals-per-game, averaging 1.9 SPG, while also ranking fifth overall in blocks-per-game average, posting 0.9 BPG in 2024-25. 

The third category in which Clark finished ranking in the Top 10 in the SoCon last season is field goal percentage, completing the 2024-25 campaign ranking 10th in that particular category, knocking down shots at a 54.9% clip. 

Clark enjoyed an outstanding performance in an early SoCon home loss to Mercer, recording a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. He also posted a career-high five blocks in a late-season home loss to Samford. He posted five steals on two occasions last season, which came in an early February home loss to East Tennessee State and a Dec. 7 home loss to Queens.  

In addition to his defensive numbers, Clark added 4.9 PPG and 4.5 RPG, with 21 starts in 34 games. Clark had off-season foot surgery, however, should be 100% healthy when the 2025-26 season rolls around. 

Clark will again be a defensive enforcer for Wilson, and he might actually be the most valuable player returning for VMI for the upcoming campaign because of his ability on that end. Clark has already established himself as one of the top on-ball defenders in the SoCon and should be considered elite when it comes to how he defends in all of mid-major basketball. He has had off-season surgery to repair a minor issue and should be a 100% healthy this season, which is a luxury he didn't enjoy a year ago. 

The VMI backcourt has plenty of depth. It's a far cry from where the team was when Wilson arrived back in the spring of 2022, and into the 2022-23 season. In no practice during that season did the Keydets have enough players to practice due to the amount of injuries the team had. 

Guys like Walker Andrews (5.5 PPG, 0.5 RPG) and freshman Mario Tatum will add depth. Andrews is a solid perimeter threat, while Tatum comes to VMI as a highly touted performer.

Two key returnees that provided support as mostly reserves off the bench for head coach Andrew Wilson last season are both 6-8 forward Kaden Stuckey (5.5 PPG, 0.5 RPG) and 6-5 guard Jaylen Pazon (3.3 PPG, 1.4 RPG).  

Both will be rising sophomores heading into the 2025-26 season. Stuckey saw action in all 34 games for VMI during his freshman season, logging a total of 13 starts and finished averaging 3.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 12.8 minutes-per-game during his rookie season.

Stuckey is a good athlete that will continue to make improvements to his game on the offensive end this season, and when he can stay out of foul trouble, is excellent on the defensive end of the floor. He finished his rookie season with 15 blocks and 10 steals.  

Offensively, he recorded his first-career double-double in a win over non-Division I Regent, posting 11 points and 10 boards, while posting a season and career-high 12 points in a late-November game against George Washington. He finished the season with a 53.1% field goal percentage, which ranked 12th overall in the SoCon.

Pazon saw action in 19 games during his rookie campaign, enjoying his best performance of the season in a lopsided loss at Chattanooga, which saw him post a career-high 15 points, while recording a season-high five rebounds in a 75-70 road win at SoCon rival The Citadel. He averaged 10.2 minutes-per-game last season, averaging 3.5 PPG and 1.5 RPG, while shooting 49% (24-of-49) from the field and 44.4% (8-of-18) from three-point range.

Another candidate to find himself in the starting lineup is Mason Hagedorn, who transferred into VMI from Wake Forest during the offseason and the 6-9, 225-lb sophomore, who hails from the Queen City of Charlotte, redshirted his only season with the Demon Deacons. 

Robert Peters (3.8 PPG, 3.6 RPG) is a rising junior forward that saw action in 18 games, including making three starts and scored a career-high 12 points in an early-December non-conference loss to Queens. He had a career-high 12 rebounds in the previous game in what was a lopsided win over Virginia University Lynchburg. He will add depth in the paint in 2025-26. 

Rounding out the holdovers from last season are rising sophomore forward Cal Liston (1.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG), who logged action in 23 games with one start, completing the season averaging 1.3 PPG and 1.9 RPG, while rising redshirt sophomore guard Walker Andrews returns after seeing his first action in a VMI uniform last season, logging action in 15 games with one start, which included posting a pair of 20-point scoring efforts for the Keydets in wins over non-Division I Virginia University Lynchburg and Christendom. Andrews also posted a season-high five three-pointers made in the win over VUL. He finished the season averaging 5.5 PPG and 0.5 RPG. 

VMI has some intriguing games as a part of its non-conference schedule coming up in 2025-26, with an intriguing clash at Missouri on Nov. 9 and will play its first game in the SoCon-A-Sun Challenge on Nov. 15, hosting what should be a good Jacksonville team. 

The Keydets will also be at Stetson a week later to take on the Hatters. The one other power conference foe the Keydets will face as a part of the 2025-26 slate is a game at UCF on Nov. 29. The Keydets will also take on a pair of MAC foes in the Sketchers Fort Myers, facing off against both Bowling Green and Buffalo as a part of that tournament.

Samford head coach Lennie Acuff (photo courtesy of Samford athletics)

Out with Bucky Ball and all that was linked to that unprecedented era of Samford (22-11, 12-6/4th in SoCon in 2024-25) basketball, and when Bucky McMillan left to take the head coaching vacancy for the departing Buzz Williams last April, it happened seemingly out of nowhere. 

That's how coaching changes occur these days, however, and one minute McMillan was making preparations for his 2025-26 portal targets and flights to visit recruits, while the next he was re-routing his flight plans to College Station to become the next head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies.

Bulldogs Director of Athletics Martin Newton already had his targets in line to replace McMillan, and for many, it almost seemed like a no-brainer to bring Lennie Acuff back to his home state to enjoy the twilight of his career and ride off into the sunset, while doing so in front of friends and family.

It's a case of been there and done that for Acuff, as he's coached and won at pretty much every level of basketball, and so by Samford hiring the 60-year old Acuff away from Lipscomb off an NCAA Tournament bid, it was the kind of image change that was both needed and unexpected. It allowed Acuff to one day at some point in the next decade or so, to retire on his own terms, and being able to do so in his home state in front of friends and family was a huge luxury and an opportunity to good to pass up.

With Acuff's son Will Acuff joining the staff NCAA Division II Montevallo, it now will give the elder Acuff to perhaps ensure his son can step right into some position, and even perhaps at Samford, when he calls it a career. After all, that's exactly what Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl did recently by stepping down on the first day of official college hoops practice, retiring suddenly and ensuring his son--Steven Earl--would be given a shot to coach the Tigers in 2025-26. For now, Will Acuff will learn the ropes under his father as an assistant and Director of Player Development under his father.

For McMillan, Samford was a stepping stone to a bigger, better dream job and though his situation was unique, having grown up in Birmingham, it shows that even the most loyal ties locally and the pull of a tight-knit community still cannot compete with the almighty SEC dollar, as well as the dream of being the best that you can be in this sport.

Not only was Samford faced with the task of having to replace McMillan, but also nearly the entire roster has departed either to the transfer portal or moved on due to expired eligibility. 

The Bulldogs were picked to repeat as Southern Conference champions last season, and though they didn't achieve that lofty aspiration, the Bulldogs did manage to win 23 games and garner the program's first-ever at-large invite to the National Invitational Tournament in the process. 

The Bulldogs will look like a completely different basketball team and program this season, however, as "Bucky Ball" is now left to the sribes and orarators of Samford athletics history to talk about in the years to come.

In Acuff, however, the Samford brass has hired an absolute gem of a head coach, and one of the best offensive minds in the game at this time. Furman's head coach Bob Richey often has cited Acuff's influence on him both in offensive philosophy and just how to run a successful, winning basketball culture as a head coach. In his most recent season prior to taking the reins of the Samford basketball program, Acuff was most recently in charge at Lipscomb, leading the Bisons back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018, as he led the Purple and Gold to a 25-10 record in what was his final season in charge of the Nashville-based program.

Like Wofford, ETSU and Chattanooga, the Bulldogs must also replace all five regulars from a year ago and that is no easy feat for any coach, but for Acuff, while this whole transfer portal is better navigated by some more than others, however, what remains true to Acuff and his philosophy are the main tenants of the program, and that's what wins titles.

Acuff shouldn't be measured against the success that McMillan had during his time at Samford. The reason is, while both have been ultra successful head coaches in their careers, with one having coached a lot more games than the other, the philosophies of the two men and how to win games and sustain a successful basketball program and culture couldn't be more diametrically opposed.

While Acuff had to bring in a massive portal signing class this season due the massive losses incurred following McMillan's departure, you get the feeling that his approach to the transfer portal is much different than that of his predecessor.

McMillan made no secrets about making Samford the biggest and baddest on the block, with the most NIL money and could buy the best players. That finally boiled over at the Southern Conference Tournament last March when Furman's Bob Richey, whose team had just dispatched of the Bulldogs for a third time and ended their opportunity at defending their SoCon title and NCAA Tournament  appearance a year earlier with a 95-78 quarterfinal win over the Bulldogs in the No. 4-5 matchup, quipped "The most NIL money doesn't win this tournament and it won't win this tournament," in the postgame press conference following Furman's double-digit win over the Bulldogs. 

Much in the same way Richey sees it, NIL is a good thing, but it's not the only thing. Acuff is a true old-school, grass roots head coach that loves to develop and innovate offensively. It will be fascinating to see him coach in the league now with one of his greatest supporters, in Furman's Richey.

All that being said, you probably figured out that Acuff's Bulldogs will look a lot like Richey's Paladins when it comes to cutting and off-the-ball actions to create and maximize both perimeter shooting space as well as opening cutting lanes for backdoor opportunities at the basket. Like coaches in pretty much any sport, creating space on the attacking end is the key to opening up opportunities to score, however, for Acuff and Richey, they take that concept to a whole new level in that no space should ever be wasted.

The Project Ahead:

No program in the SoCon is having to replace more outgoing talent due to the transfer portal or being out of eligibility. Success can sometimes not only be a two-edged sabre for the program and the head coach it employs, but also now the players the third-party NIL money employs.

The Bulldogs had more NIL money than anyone in the SoCon during the 2024-25 season, and though it didn't yield a SoCon title like many had predicted prior to the season, it did end up securing a 22-win season and Samford's first-ever NIT invite.

With that said, the goal and the pressure to win were enough that, when it didn't happen, it was always going to be able to retain all the talent that Bucky's and his support network's piggy bank were able to lure to Homewood last spring and summer. 

With that said, it's unclear how much or if all that money went into the seven million, he gets for his NIL money at Texas A&M, or if some or any of it stayed in Homewood. What we can say is that Samford, at least for now, looks to be interested in sustaining its status as one of the top teams in mid-major basketball and the Southern Conference.

With that said, Acuff went about not only hiring a new staff, but quickly assembling talent out of the transfer portal and from the high school ranks in order to help Samford not only build for the future but also build for the "right now."

Almost a completely new roster has been crafted and selected from the portal and high school ranks, as 12 of the 14 players on Samford's roster are new players. The only player that stuck around from last season is guard Zion Wilburn and redshirt freshman forward Caleb Harrison both return to the fold as the only holdovers from the Bucky McMillan era.

Wilburn, who saw action in 20 games in his first season in 2024-25, averaging 5.1 MPG last season, should be in the mix to compete for one of the guard spots heading into the upcoming season. He finished his rookie campaign averaging 5.1 MPG and averaged 1.1 PPG and 0.4 RPG.

Though he didn't see much time last season, he will compete for time at the two-guard spot this coming season and Wilburn will be one of the best athletes on the team. 

With Samford having been stacked with so much talent last season, it was hard for the true freshman to see time on the floor. During his prep career prior to Samford, Wilburn came to Samford from Arizona Compass Prep School, and he came to Samford as a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports. 

Harrison is a 6-9 forward out of Huntsville High School is another talented find by the previous staff, and he ended up choosing Samford over Belmont, Chattanooga, Dartmouth and Davidson. Harrison redshirted the 2024-25 season and garnered All-State honors as a senior. Harrison is also a big that can step out and shoot from the perimeter, as well as being skilled around the basket. Like Wilburn, the redshirt freshman will be in contention to start in the paint in the upcoming season. 

Now that detailing the returning players from the Bucky McMillan era has been accomplished, it's time to take a look at the team that Lennie Acuff and his evolving staff put together during the chaos window of transition to becoming latest hoops coach. One of the things that has made the transfer/NIL era most interesting is that it gives you a glimpse into what the overall identity a coach wants his team  to have by the type of player brought in from the portal.

With that said, this crop of players will be a little different than those McMillan's targets, with McMillan targeting more undersized and extremely athletic big men in lieu of maybe substituting that for skill around the basket. 

One thing that is evident from the players brought in from Acuff is that they are skilled around the basket, as well as bringing a bit more size around the basket. This team will be a little bigger and maybe slightly less athletic and built for more of a different game that is not influenced almost completely by the press. 

One of the best "gets" from the transfer portal for the Bulldogs this season is 6-9 center Dylan Faulkner, who was a big contributor for Samford until an injury ended up derailing his season. Faulkner is a highly skilled big man that can step out and shoot the three, and he will likely start right away.

Faulkner ended up seeing action in 15 games for the Bisons last season, logging 13 starts before an injury officially brought his sophomore season to an abrupt close. With that said, Faulkner will have at least two years eligibility left for Samford, and potentially three if he is awarded an extra year as a medical redshirt from a year ago.

The most important thing about Faulkner as a player, and this can be said for both players that join Acuff in his new venture and were around for his former one, is that they bring a winning edge and mentality to build around for the new, veteran head coach. 

Faulkner continues to develop as a player, and he comes off an injury-shortened campaign, which saw him average 10.5 PPG and 5.3 RPG, while shooting an outstanding 60.8% from the field. He will be a key  in helping both be a leader for a new generation of Samford basketball and help be a mentor for some of the younger players or newer players adjusting to the expectations of their new head coach. 

In his limited action with Samford this past season, Faulkner finished the season with his best performance of the campaign coming in a 96-64 win at North Florida, posting 19 points and five rebounds in the win. For Faulkner, it was one of eight double-figure scoring performances of the season, which included 10 points and four rebounds in a win over Samford's SoCon rival Wofford, as well as 14 points and four rebounds in a win over Chattanooga, which of course is another of the Bulldogs' league rivals. 

The only other Lipscomb player set to join Acuff's roster at Samford will be 6-3 sophomore guard Zach Lamey, who actually hails from Birmingham. Lamey will now have a chance to play in front of his friends and family, while continuing his career under the coach he spent his first couple of seasons playing for.

During his prep career, Lamey played at Briarwood Christian in Birmingham. Last season for the Bisons, Lamey ended up seeing action as a reserve in 21 games for the Bulldogs last season and he finished out the season averaging 0.5 PPG and 0.3 RPG in limited action.  

Jadin Booth is a 6-2 guard that comes to Samford's program out of Florida Southern and will have one year of eligibility remaining. During his time for Florida Southern, Booth was a prolific scorer for the Mocs and ended the 2024-25 season averaging 21.5 PPG, 5.3 APG and 4.7 RPG. He was a highly sought after point guard from the transfer portal, with teams like Minnesota, Creighton, Ole Miss, USF and conference rival Mercer all seeking the services of Booth.

He will be an immediate impact player for Samford and is one of the top incoming players from the transfer portal from the Southern Conference. As a junior in 2022-23, Booth put up similar numbers, as he garnered some NCAA Division II All-America honors after averaging 22 PPG, 4.1 APG and 4.4 RPG. He will be in line to replace Rylan Jones, who was outstanding leading the Bulldogs at the point guard each of the past two seasons. 

Booth started his career at Omaha in 2020-21 and then transferred to NCA A Division II Florida Southern where he has played the past four seasons. 

Replacing a backcourt that included both scoring and mature know-how won’t be easy, but then again nothing ever is. Also, McMillan and Acuff are probably looking for different skillsets in their players, and that’s okay, too, and that’s a better way to perhaps look at the situation from a broader perspective, and that is that you don’t necessarily have to replace a Rylan Jones or a Trey Fort in one player. The Bulldogs already had one player go down with a season-ending injury, in fifth-year senior and 6-4 guard Dajion Humphrey, who went down with a torn Achilles on a non-contact play in Samford’s exhibition contest against Alabama A&M in early October.

Illinois State transfer Cade Norris was another solid find out of the transfer portal for Lennie Acuff and he will have a chance to be an instant impact player. As a freshman for the Redbirds last season, Norris saw action in 17 games for ISU where he averaged 1.1 PPG and 1.2 RPG. 

The 6-4 guard and will have three years of eligibility remaining and will have the opportunity to play alongside his brother, Keaton Norris, who joins the Samford program from Wright State, is a 6-0 redshirt senior guard that will have two years of eligibility remaining should he choose to play two more years. Obviously, the rare opportunity to play alongside his brother would likely enhance that appeal.

During the 2024-25 season at Wright State, Keaton Norris averaged 7.5 PPG, starting all 29 games he saw action in last season. As a point guard for the Raiders last season, Norris registered 10 double-digit scoring performances and even posted a career-high 21 points in a 78-70 win over Northern Kentucky. 

Keaton Norris finished out the season averaging 4.34 APG and he also posted a 44.4% effort from three-point range (43-of-96) last season. Norris will be another in competition to replace Jones at point guard in 2024-25.  

Rounding out the guards added for support from the transfer portal for the Bulldogs is Kam Martin, who comes to Samford from Long Beach State. Martin would end up ending the season as the team's third-leading scorer, completing the 2024-25 season averaging 8.4 PPG to go along with 1.7 RPG. Martin will be a good addition to the backcourt as an athletic slasher and pure scoring threat.

The Frederick, MD., product already showed what he could do in just one season at a struggling program, in LBSU, and will figure immediately into the plans of Acuff as a shooting guard for the upcoming campaign. As a perimeter threat for the Bulldogs last season, Martin ended up shooting 34.6% (36-of-104) and was solid as a free throw shooter, knocking down 81.3% (65-of-80) from the line. 

Martin's best performance of his rookie campaign for The Beach came against San Diego, as he poured in a career-best 25 points in LBSU's 76-70 win over San Diego. In the six-point win--one of only seven over the course of the entire season for LBSU--Martin connected on 8-of-10 from the field and was a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range and was also 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. Coming out of high school in 2024, Martin was a 3 or 3.5-star recruit, as rated by most of the major recruiting services. 

As for the frontcourt, the Bulldogs added a couple of more from the portal to help bolster things in the paint alongside Faulkner. Six-foot-eight sophomore Judson Bjornstad joins the Samford program from NCAA Division Union University where he is coming off an outstanding rookie campaign, which saw him garner the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year accolade, and was named GSC Freshman of the Week on six occasions. 

In the 2024-25 season, Bjornstad, who hails from Murfreesboro, TN, averaged 9.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 1.5 APG, making 24 starts in 29 games for the Bulldogs in his freshman campaign. In addition to his scoring averages last season for Union, Bjornstad also shot 39.7% (94-of-237) from the field, as well as 27.7% (26-of-94) from three-point land, and was an impressive 81.4% (48-of-59) from the charity stripe last season. 

Bjornstad will likely be competing for a sport at the No. 4 position, and he is a player is a little like a younger version of former Chattanooga Mocs transfer portal addition Garrison Keeslar, who helped lead the Mocs to the SoCon's first NIT title this past April. 

A player like Bjornstad could end up being the ultimate glue guy type in the SoCon next season. Look for his game to flourish over the next couple of seasons at Samford should he choose to stick around Homewood.  He will have three years of eligibility remaining. 

Rounding out the transfer portal additions for the Bulldogs entering the 2025-26 season will be 6-7 forward and Queens graduate transfer Jaxson Pollard. 

Pollard is even a little more athletic and aggressive when taking the ball to the basket than maybe Bjornstad is, however, he is very much the same type "glue guy" and does many of the unenviable hard things necessary to enhance winning, and is a player that has what coaches like to refer to as "winning DNA". 

Like former Bulldogs point guard Rylan Jones, Pollard hails from the great state of Utah, and should compete for a spot right away as a starter. He is versatile in that he can play the No. 3 or No. 4 spot, but will most likely play the small forward position for Samford in 2025-26. 

In his final season at Queens, Pollard made appearances in 31 games, averaging 8.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.3 APG off the bench for the Royals. He posted a pair of double-doubles during the season, as he finished with double-doubles in games against both Coastal Carolina (12 pts, 10 rebs), as well as Eastern Kentucky (16 pts, 10 rebs). He scored a career-high 17 points against the Acuff-led Lipscomb Bisons in the in Atlantic Sun Semifinals last March. 

Overall, Acuff and staff has put together a nice group from the portal and each will have a new role on a new team and other than Lamey and Faulkner, will have a new staff to get to know and learn from. 

A lot is new for Samford, but the standard of expectation established by Acuff's predecessor Bucky McMillan, which is one that involves winning now rather than rebuilding for the future, is very much a mentality of the administration and the fanbase, and Acuff has put together a group from the portal that has the potential to compete atop the lead right away.

The Bulldogs have some talented players that they have also signed from the high school ranks, and many of which are looking to come in and make an impact from the outset of their careers. The Bulldogs were able to secure the signing of three talented guards that will have a chance to be impact players as soon as the 2025-26 season for Acuff's Bulldogs.

JD Gossett (Huntsville HS), Cooper Davenport (Henderson HS), and Isaiah Campbell-Finch (Tampa Catholic) represent a talented a recruiting haul for Acuff and staff in their first season at the helm in Homewood. 

Campbell-Finch was an especially good find for the new staff, and the 5–11-point guard signed with the Bulldogs among eight offers, which he held coming in. 

Campbell-Finch is listed as a three-star recruit, accoding to 247Sports, choosing to play for the Bulldogs over the likes of Charlotte, Cleveland State, Dayton, Furman, Florida Gulf-Coast, Jacksonville, and Kent State.

Not only was Campbell-Finch recruited by Furman but also played alongside current Paladin guard Eddrin Bronson during his time at Tampa Catholic.  During his final season at Tampa Catholic, Campbell-Finch ended up averaging 17.8 PPG and 4.9 APG. He will have a chance to compete for the starting point guard spot during the off-season and preseason camp, as it wouldn't appear Acuff will redshirt any players this season. 

Cooper Davenport is a 6-0 combo guard that comes to Samford from Henderson County High School in Henderson Kentucky. Davenport is another solid find for Acuff and staff, as he brings versatility into the fold for the Bulldogs with the ability to play either point guard or shooting guard. 

Davenport is an excellent shooter from any spot on the floor and was a career 40% shooter from three-point range in his prep career at Henderson. One of Davenport's primary strengths other than his elite shooting ability on the offensive end of the floor, is his ability as an on-ball defender. That, more than any other strength in his individual game, will give him the opportunity to play immediately. 

Rounding out the commitments for Acuff and staff in their first season as the head coach in Homewood is 6-5 guard JD Gossett out of Huntsville, AL, and Gossett had originally committed to Acuff last summer at Lipscomb and has since decided to join Acuff at Samford. He will give the Bulldogs a little size at the point, and he will be in the mix along with Campbell-Finch and others from the portal like Jadin Booth. 

Whatever the case, a player like Gossett will give Acuff and staff the added luxury of going with a bigger lineup and an ability to create potential matchup issues for the opposition. 

There are several players that I am really excited about seeing suit up for the Bulldogs this season, with the main one being Dylan Faulkner. Faulkner averaged 10.5 PPG and 5.3 RPG, shooting 61% from the field last season for the Bisons before suffering a broken foot in January. He is highly-skilled and will give the Bulldogs a Jake Stephens/Matt Rafferty-like player in the paint. He could be the cog in the wheel of Acuff's offense, possessing the essential skill that is vital to his offense--a big man that is an elite passer out of the high post. 

The trio of guards will help supplement the style of play for Acuff and staff, which is utilizing highly-skilled players that can shoot and cut effectively in a Princeton-like motion offense, which will closely resemble conference rivals Furman and Chattanooga. 

Western Carolina forward Marcus Kell (photo courtesy of Western Carolina athletics)

When Tim Craft took over for Justin Gray as the new head coach of Western Carolina (8-22, 4-14/9th in SoCon in 2024-25) in the spring of 2024, you knew it was only a matter of time before he would begin to help build the Catamount program back to where it was from 2022-24 under Gray.

Despite losing most of that scoring talent to graduation or the transfer portal from a team that won 23 games in 2023-24, Craft had a lot of adversity to contend with if he was going to not only install his system and philosophy, but also at the same time, help sustain a program that had all of the sudden become a successful, winning program in recent seasons.

Craft didn't need to produce a similar type win totals as the previous two Catamount teams, but what he would need to do is keep the bottom from falling out of the program entirely, which it did in Justin Gray's first season as the head coach following the quick and unexpected departure of Mark Prosser, who bolted for Winthrop after coaching only 

"It was really hard to build the roster to start with and that took a lot of time, and Justin Gray had done a really great job leading the program to winning success over the past couple of seasons and helping build this program into a winner in the SoCon," head coach Tim Craft said following his first SoCon game as head coach against Furman.

On that night at least, there were signs the Catamounts were spacing the floor right, and taking decent care of the basketball, the shots simply weren't falling. That part for a new head coach he can't control. As January faded into February, things would slowly, but surely begin to come together for the Catamounts. 

It had been a long journey over the first couple of months of the season. Western Carolina's 2024-25 roster was not recognizable from the one that had had one of the best regular-seasons in its Division I history just a year earlier, and outside of Bernard Pelote, the only other players that folks recognized that were holdovers from the roster from the previous two seasons had barely even played at all. 

The Catamounts entered the 2024-25 campaign ranking No. 352 out 366 teams in NCAA Division I basketball in overall combined experience entering the season, boasting a combined average of 0.56 years of college playing experience. And outside of that in overall experience, the Catamounts also ranked towards the bottom the lower third of NCAA Division I basketball, ranking 320 in overall continuity, bringing back only one key contributor from that 23-win team of a year earlier, in Bernard Pelote.

Few could have seen an impact coming from any of those holdovers on the roster, however, that's what makes Craft one of the best at what he does, which is find shooters and develop them into his offensive system, which was a tried and true one at Gardner-Webb, and the Bulldogs never lacked for shooters.

Such was the case with 6-8 forward Marcus Kell, who over the course of three weeks at the end of January and into the start of February, would suddenly blossom into one of the best shooters and scorers in the Southern Conference.

Kell's emergence would oddly enough coincide with a tangible improvement in all facets on both ends, and after early February overtime losses to VMI and league power Furman, the Catamounts started to show the impact Craft was having in his first season, and what happens when a team starts to fully buy in to what a successful head coach has been encouraging all along. 

Entering the 2024-25 season, Marcus Kell wasn't a player that most prognosticating this league had on their bingo card for "breakout player", however, that is precisely what would happen. Now entering his redshirt junior season, Kell ended up seeing action in 30 games for WCU last season, which included making 16 total starts. 

He finished the season averaging 11.7 PPG and 5.5 RPG, while connecting on a solid 38.0% (44-of-116) from three-point, which would ultimately make Kell one of the most versatile big men in the SoCon by the end of the season, and one that has many prognosticating big things for him moving forward this season. 

All told, Kell's 352 points scored during the 2024-25 campaign ranked second to only that of senior forward Bernard Pelote, who finished out his final season in the Purple and Gold averaging 14.2 PPG and scored a total of 426 points. His 44 triples also ranked him fourth on the team in that category, while his 38% efficiency clip from long-range led the team.

The game that would seemingly turn around Kell's season and put his confidence at peak level for the remainder of the season came in what was an 84-75 overtime loss at Furman. Kell entered early February contest at Furman, which saw the game played at nearby Bob Jones University with the Paladins' homecourt undergoing a 40-million dollar upgrade, coming off of three-straight double-figure scoring performances. 

It had started quietly enough, with Kell posting 16 points in an overtime win at The Citadel, which was followed by a 15-point effort in another one of those blowout home losses--an 84-60 setback to eventual league champion Chattanooga. Then came a modest 11-point effort in what was an 80-76 home overtime loss to VMI.

Then came the Furman game, which saw Kell make nearly everything he threw up in in the first half at Bob Jones' Davis Field House. Kell finished the night with 29 points in a season-high 38 minutes of action, connecting on 8-of-17 shots from the field and 5-of-9 shots from long range and was 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. 

He almost single-handedly not only kept WCU in the game, but had them leading the game for a large majority of the night. Additionally,  Kell added eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal. He had easily eclipsed his previous career high of 16 points by almost doubling that point total against the Paladins. 

That would set off quite a couple of weeks of basketball for the Fort Mill, S.C., native, as he posted double-figure performances in a total of 16 games in the 2024-25 campaign, including each of the final 12 games of the season. He would garner back-to-back SoCon Player of the Week citations, and two weeks after his 29-point loss in a road loss at Furman, posted a new career-high of 31 points in WCU's hard-fought, 81-76, road setback at eventual league champion Chattanooga.  

Kell will no doubt head into the 2025-26 as a preseason all-league selection and will be one of the handful of candidates returning that should be mentioned as a potential preseason league player of the year. 

Teaming with him in the paint this season as returnees will be both Vernon Collins and Chase McKey, who were both solid in their first respective campaigns suiting up for the Purple and Gold. Collins finished out the season by logging action in 30 games for WCU, which included making 24 starts. Collins concluded his first season in Cullowhee by averaging 4.7 PPG and connecting on a team-high 51% (53-of-104) from the field last season. 

He posted four double-figure scoring performances during his first season with the Purple and Gold, and that included a career-high 12 points against Queens University in a road setback. Collins enjoyed his best outing of Southern Conference play against eventual league champion Wofford, as he posted 11 points in a home start and loss to the Terriers. Collins is once again expected to play a significant role for the Catamounts on the front line this season. The 6-10 Collins looks like he will hold down the spot at the No. 5 position at least for now. 

Like Collins, Chase McKey was in his first season in the program, and the 6-10 transfer from Marshall logged action in a total of 24 contests in the 2024-25 season, which included making four starts in his inaugural campaign in Cullowhee. McKey, who plays the four position, finished the 2024-25 season averaging 4.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG, averaging 16.5 minutes-per-game.

Collins found his way in double figures on a couple of occasions for the Catamounts during the 2024-25 season, which included posting a career-high 13 points in his debut for WCU against Bob Jones.  He finished the season shooting a solid 50.5% (46-of-91) from the field and was a 72.4% (21-of-29) from the charity stripe. 

While Kell, Collins and McKey all return in the front court for the Catamounts for a second season under Tim Craft, the backcourt will see the return of CJ Hyland, Cord Stansberry and Fischer Brown, are back as the players who will eat up a majority of those returning minutes, while Max Williams, Jamar Livingston, and Drew Hollifield will also hope to compete for time in the backcourt this coming season.

In Hyland, Craft has a point guard willing to do the work and continued to show improvement as the season proceeded last season until hit by a nagging injury. The 6-1, 175-lb guard from Loganville, GA., ended up finishing out the season with 20 starts in 27 games for the Catamounts in 2024-25, and he would complete the campaign averaging 4.7 PPG, 2.0 RPG and 2.0 APG.  

He recorded a total of 54 assists and had 37 turnovers, ranking third on the team in total assists handed out last season. Hyland finished out the season averaging 21.0 minutes-per-game and was one of six Catamounts that averaged 20 or more minutes per outing last season. 

Additionally, Hyland will look for improvement as a perimeter threat from year one into year two with WCU, as he was able to connect at just a 23.4% (15-of-64) clip from long range in his rookie season with the Catamounts. Hyland is Craft's point guard moving forward, which became even more apparent with Ice Emery's departure after spending just one season in Cullowhee.

Stansberry enters his redshirt junior campaign looking to build off a campaign that saw him rank as WCU's primary third scoring option last season after averaging 11.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG in his first season with the Catamounts after transferring in from Pepperdine. 

Stansberry has sort of a throwback type game--an old-school shooting guard--that used to be so prevalent in this league, which was prevalent throughout the 1980s and 90s in the SoCon. Guys like Brandon Born (Chattanooga/1991-95) and former Appalachian State guard Tige Darner (1996-2000) both come to mind when thinking back to players comparable to Stansberry.

The native of Bermuda Dunes, CA., showed he was well equipped on the offensive end fot the Purple and Gold in his first season on campus, as he finished the season with a total of 19 different double-figure scoring games, which included displaying a good acumen from three-point range, finishing second on the team in total threes made (52) and shot them at a 31.7% (52-of-164) in his first season at WCU. 

While Stansberry was a solid offensive threat, his physical play on the defensive end of the floor, which is aligned with many of those two guards from a foregone era mentioned above, was what allowed him to lead the team in minutes-played-per-game average (29.8 MPG).

Of his 19 double-figure scoring efforts from last season, none were better than his effort against Bellarmine in what was a Catamount win, as he posted a career-best 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field and 4-for-8 from three-point land in the game. Stansberry would also finish the contest by going a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. He also added six rebounds, four assists and one steal to round out a complete, well-rounded effort. His 24 points in the win over Bellarmine marked one of two games in which he scored 20 or more points last season, with the other coming in a loss at Wake Forest, as Stansberry finished that came with 20.

One of the aspects of Stansberry's game that I think you will see immediate progress in the upcoming season is his shooting ability from long range, which was in the neighborhood of 32% this past season. I'd be shocked if his redshirt junior season didn't see Stansberry shoot at a 35% clip or higher from long range.

Fischer Brown rounds out the guards returning that saw significant time in the lineup for Craft in his first season as the head coach in Cullowhee. Brown, who is a 6-4, 180-lb rising sophomore from Lewiston, MT, was arguably the team's best perimeter shooter from the time he stepped foot on campus for his true freshman season in Cullowhee. 

However, that didn't necessarily show up statistically, as Brown struggled to adjust to the speed of the game and like any young shooter, at times struggled with his confidence. I look for that to change drastically in year two, however, under Craft's tutelage and his staff's ability to further enhance his shot mechanics during the off-season. Year one for Brown saw him connect on just 25.7% (18-of-70) from long-range.

Brown would see action in 29 of 30 games for WCU in his first season, averaging 2.9 PPG and 2.1 RPG in an average of 12 minutes-per-game off the bench for WCU last season. He finished with nine games in which he scored five or more points in a game last season, scoring a career-high nine points in a Catamount win in his debut against Bob Jones. On the defensive end of the floor, Brown finished the season with 11 steals. 

So what happens now? How did head coach Tim Craft address the departures going forward into the 2025-26 season? Well, the Catamounts will welcome in six new additions to the fold for the 2025-26 season, with four of those additions coming from the transfer portal, while the other two will be true freshmen additions for the upcoming campaign.

Both the portal acquisitions as well as the freshman recruits were solid in that Craft didn't just bring in talent to have it, he addressed the needs at hand. For Craft's system to work, it is paramount to have both proficient mid-range, low-post guys around the basket, and at least two or three perimeter guys that hover around 35-40% shooting from long-range to create offensive versatility and diversity. His portal haul and freshman signees both seem to have addressed those needs.

Last season, he took a group of players that he had to quickly put together and hoped they meshed with the scheme that he was bringing in on both ends of the floor and hope it worked. Eventually it did, although initially at the start of conference play it was hard to tell, as the Catamounts were on the wrong end of some blowout losses. 

Western Carolina shot just 30.5% from three-point range last season, posting 272 made triples on the season. I expect to see a rise in both numbers this season, as I expect the Catamounts to finish in the top five in both shooting percentage from long-range, as well as threes made. 

The Catamounts did a few things well last season, with free throw shooting and defending the three being among the best. WCU ranked third in the SoCon in free throw percentage (74.6%), holding foes to just 32.6% from long-range last season.  

The Catamounts, however, were one of the worst shooting teams from both the field (ranked 353 out of 355 teams in the nation last season, connecting on just 39.6% from the field), as well as being among the worst perimeter shooting teams in the nation in the 2024-25 season (ranked 330th out of 355 ranked teams last season in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on just 30.5% from long-range in 2024-25). I am fairly certain we will see a vast improvement in both areas in the upcoming season. 

Craft addressed those shooting woes and lack of overall team skill by doing what most smart coaches do, which is look overseas. I have no basketball background to make this next statement, however, I do have enough background in the worldwide sport of soccer to know that it will hold merit. The vast majority of the world around us is better at soccer because they develop technically better than the American player does. It's also true in basketball. Why is such a high premium placed on skill and technical ability in every other country but the United States, and what are we focusing on instead that causes us to lag behind Europe as well as other countries in skill development?

Well, by nature in this country coaches in both basketball and soccer focus on the physicality of the sport, and a style is formulated to accentuate our superior athleticism and physical brute strength over Europe, rather than focusing on developing technical acumen. That's a very rudimentary way of explaining it. It's also true that young men and women in the States have shorter attention spans, so if coaches don't focus on the fun aspects of the sport, the players lose interest. The socieo-economic culture is different as well.

In Europe, players go home and pass a ball against a wall or do dribble drills on their own for hours because they love the sport that much. That just doesn't happen in the USA, which is a cultural built on being a microwave culture, and not spending too much time on any one thing.

To bring an end to this very long, multi-paragraph point, Craft not only added guys with a different basketball background than the ones we are used to in the United States, but he also added some guys that he was familiar with in one way or another. 

Expected to add depth in the backcourt at point guard behind sophomore CJ Hyland could be Julian Soumaoro from East Carolina. The 5-11 Soumaoro averaged 4.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG during his time at East Carolina, but Craft was familiar with Soumaoro during his time as the head coach at Gardner-Webb. 

In his three years at Gardner-Webb, however, it was a much different story, as Soumaoro saw action in 92 games over three seasons, posting a total of 768 points, 179 rebounds and 179 assists. He started 29 of 31 games in his

Soumaoro was also a solid threat from the perimeter in his time with the Bulldogs, as he finished out his final campaign with the Runnin' Bulldogs having connected on a three-pointer in a total of 24 of 30 games in the 2023-24 season, while also averaging 12.7 PPG, which also included 21 double-figure scoring performances in his final season in the program. 

Of those 21 games in double figures, none were better than his performance against Big Sky member Weber State, as he posted a career-high 27 points, which included a 10-of-13 effort from the field and a 5-for-7 mark from three-point land in the Gardner-Webb win. 

In the 2022-23 season at Gardner-Webb, Soumaoro's 55 triples ended up leading the team.  Soumaoro will have one season of eligibility remaining. 

Next is 6-4 wing/point guard Tidjiane Dioumassi and he brings a bit Champagne basketball to Cullowhee, as the player born in Paris has an exciting game. He transferred in from Southern and like Soumaoro, will have just one season of eligibility remaining. 

During his time at Southern, Dioumassi averaged 9.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG, and thrilled the Jaguars fanbase with his wide array of passes and his overall athleticism, but on a more serious note, his ability to manage the game and take care of the basketball were two elements that caught the eye of Craft when he sought him out in the recruiting process. He spent most of the 2024-25 season battling injuries, but should be back to 100% this season. 

Rounding out the backcourt additions slated to come into the fold for the Catamounts this fall is Justin Johnson, who transferred into Western Carolina from Arkansas State where he spent his freshman season and will have three years of eligibility remaining. 

Johnson was part of the Red Wolves' 2024-25 regular-season championship winning team, as he would see action in a total of 17 games in in a limited reserve role. Johnson finished with his best performance in a win over Lane College, netting a career-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, while also posting eight boards and dished out five helpers. 

He was a highly-regarded three-star recruit during his time spent as a prep at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut before finding his way to Jonesboro to play for the Red Wolves. 

The Catamounts finished up the season shooting the basketball a lot better than they did at the start of the season. Johnson was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, spending time in the prestigious Putnam Academy, which is one of the best high school basketball programs in the country.  In 2023-24, Johnson garnered the 5AAA Player of the Year, averaging 15.6 PPG, 2.2 APG and 1.6 SPG. 

The Catamounts made just one portal addition to the front court during the recruiting process, as Craft and staff brought in 7-0, 235-lb Abdulai Kabba from the University of Denver. Kabba, who is a native of Sierra Leone, missed the entire conference portion of the schedule last season for the Hawks, which in essence, saw him miss the final 17 games of the season. 

In 16 games for the Redhawks last season, Kabba averaged 4.4 PPG and 4.6 RPG and led the squad with 21 blocks. Kabba is the kind of player that, if properly developed, could be a dominant force in the Southern Conference, especially on the defensive end of the floor as a rim protector. WCU has had some dominant rim protecting centers in the past, with guys like Rans Brempong and Richie Gordon coming to mind. It's been a while since we have seen WCU have a big guy in the post that you have to account for, and certainly if this acquisition ends up panning out, Kabba could be a dominant force in the paint for the Catamounts. 

It's a solid, guard-heavy class from the portal brought in by Craft and his staff, and he's got a good mix of scoring talent as well as skilled distributors and shooters that could provide the backdrop for a pretty significant turnaround from just eight wins a year ago, however, only time will tell. 

Soumaoro was also a solid threat from the perimeter in his time with the Bulldogs, as he finished out his final campaign with the Runnin' Bulldogs having connected on a three-pointer in a total of 24 of 30 games in the 2023-24 season, while also averaging 12.7 PPG, which also included 21 double-figure scoring performances in his final season in the program. 

Of those 21 games in double figures, none were better than his performance against Big Sky member Weber State, as he posted a career-high 27 points, which included a 10-of-13 effort from the field and a 5-for-7 mark from three-point land in the Gardner-Webb win. 

In the 2022-23 season at Gardner-Webb, Soumaoro's 55 triples ended up leading the team.  Soumaoro will have one season of eligibility remaining. 

Next is 6-4 wing/point guard Tidjiane Dioumassi and he brings a bit Champagne basketball to Cullowhee, as the player born in Paris has an exciting game. He transferred in from Southern and like Soumaoro, will have just one season of eligibility remaining. 

During his time at Southern, Dioumassi averaged 9.0 PPG and 3.8 RPG, and thrilled the Jaguars fanbase with his wide array of passes and his overall athleticism, but on a more serious note, his ability to manage the game and take care of the basketball were two elements that caught the eye of Craft when he sought him out in the recruiting process. He spent most of the 2024-25 season battling injuries, but should be back to 100% this season. 

Rounding out the backcourt additions slated to come into the fold for the Catamounts this fall is Justin Johnson, who transferred into Western Carolina from Arkansas State where he spent his freshman season and will have three years of eligibility remaining. 

Johnson was part of the Red Wolves' 2024-25 regular-season championship winning team, as he would see action in a total of 17 games in in a limited reserve role. Johnson finished with his best performance in a win over Lane College, netting a career-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, while also posting eight boards and dished out five helpers. 

He was a highly-regarded three-star recruit during his time spent as a prep at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut before finding his way to Jonesboro to play for the Red Wolves. 

The Catamounts finished up the season shooting the basketball a lot better than they did at the start of the season. Johnson was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, spending time in the prestigious Putnam Academy, which is one of the best high school basketball programs in the country.  In 2023-24, Johnson garnered the 5AAA Player of the Year, averaging 15.6 PPG, 2.2 APG and 1.6 SPG. 

Four freshmen were also added to the mix for the Catamounts this season, with two guards and two forwards having been signed by the staff. Titian DeRosa (Whitman HS/Bethesda, MD) and Tahlan Pettway (St. Thomas More/Worcester, MA) are a pair of talented guards added into the mix, while Samuel Dada (Link Academy/Lagos, Nigeria) and Tayeshaun Smith (Combine Academy/Raleigh, N.C.).

Dada, who marks the third international addition to the roster and second from the continent of Africa, possesses good athleticism and skill, and the Lagos, Nigeria product showed that both in his time as prep at North Kansas City High school and then at Link Academy. In the 2023-24 season, which he spent at North Kansas City High School, he averaged an impressive 11.4 PPG and 11.2 RPG, while showing his ability as a passer, averaging three assists-per-game.

The 6-9 forward also was active on the defensive end in both stops along his prep journey, with that showing up most glaringly in his final season spent at NCKHS in 2023-24, contributing 33 blocks and 26 steals. Like Kabba, Dada has the potential to give the Catamounts some explosive rim protection.

The most talented of the newcomers is Pettway, who is a three-star recruit by most recruiting services and will see the floor much sooner than later. He had multiple NCAA Division offers before deciding to come to WCU and was a part of a state championship team at MacDuffie HS before spending his final couple of seasons at St. Thomas More.

While Western Carolina is trying to get back into the tournament without having to play-in 2026, UNC Greensboro (20-12, 13-5/2nd in SoCon) and Mike Jones would be happy to just win a game! Despite having more SoCon wins than any team in the SoCon over the past decade (), the Spartans have not made it past the first game in Asheville since winning the entire tournament in Wes Miller's final game as UNCG's head coach before moving on to Cincinnati at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season. 

While Mike Jones has not cracked the Rubics Cube that is Southern Conference basketball in March at the Harrah's Cherokee Center, he's managed to do just about everything else right, and that includes leading the Spartans to power conference wins along with three-straight 20-win seasons, as well as top three finishes in the league. 

If UNCG could have avoided finishing second or third in the league in the past three seasons, who knows, things might have been different. But here we are and fans are growing restless. Jones is a tremendous coach, but like I mentioned earlier with Acuff and McMillan when writing about Samford, it seems that coaches these days either fall into one of two camps, and that is they either like NIL and the transfer portal aspect of the new era of college basketball, or they don't. Perhaps no one dislikes it more than Jones, who was outspoken in making his feelings known about this very thing as a part of the Field of 68's 2024-25 SoCon Media Day interviews.

Make no mistake, however, Jones has made the most of the opportunity, and while he may not be real fond of having to constantly replace personnel, he has been able to get the type of talent that is good enough to not only sustain success at UNCG, but win that SoCon Championship that has seemingly alluded him in this now his fifth season at the helm in the Gate City. 

Jones will once again have to replace a great deal of talent lost to the transfer portal, and that won't be easy, with Donovan Atwell moving on to Texas Tech, while leading scorer Kenyon Giles from last season has made his new home at Wichita State, forcing Jones and staff to once again go out and seek out talented players to shoulder a bulk of the scoring load once again in 2025-26. Ronald Polite III, who had the clutch gene, which included a pair of game-winners at Wofford and Chattanooga in league. Polite and Atwell each averaged 13.3 PPG

It all started back a couple of years ago, with the graduation of the Keyshaun and Kobe Langley, and Mikeal Brown-Jones transferred out to Ole Miss, leaving little returning in the ranks.

One of the issues that Jones appears to have run into when the Spartans arrive in the tournament for the Southern Conference Tournament, is a noticeable lack of depth, particularly when it comes to scoring. With Brown-Jones being the outlier, UNCG has lacked a real dominant presence scoring in the paint, which has been true almost the entire time in which Jones has been in charge.

Excluding Mikeal-Brown Jones, you have to go back to the Wes Miller era to find a real dominant big man around the basket, and though he was a big scorer in the paint, prior to Brown-Jones, the guy that comes to mind is James Dickey, who was so tough as a rim protector, as well as being extremely efficient in and around the basket, and was underrated as a passer.

One of the players that Jones hopes will step up and be more consistent this season is Demetrius Davis (7.3 PPG, 2.8 RPG), who heads into his sixth season of college basketball, will be one of those players that will need to be a scoring threat in the paint. Although Davis is 6-9, he's built and his game more closely resembles a wing guard than being a player that bangs in the paint by playing the four or five spot. 

Davis does possess good skill and can be the type of perimeter threat that can stretch a defense and create matchup issues. The good thing about Davis though, is that he can play thed two or the three, giving Jones some options when it comes to making lineup alterations. 

The 6-10 Lithuanian Domas Kazounas (1.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG) is one of the few holdovers from a year ago, and he's expected to be the Spartans' primary option at the five spot this coming season. Kazounas is a player that Jones expects to be much improved and to be a player that can give UNCG a good combination of physicality and skill in the paint. 

Jones beefed up the Spartans' front court by bringing in 6-8 St. Francis transfer Valentino Pinedo.The product of Spain spent his previous three seasons of college basketball playing at Saint Francis, where he helped the Red Flashes make the 2025 NCAA Tournament and Pinedo would end up making 25 starts in the 28 games he saw action in last season. The Red Flashes would end up losing their opening-round clash, 70-68, to Alabama State. 

In the 2024-25 season, he was a double-figure producer for the Red Flashes, as he averaged 10.6 PPG and 6.5 RPG, and Pinedo finished the season as an impressive 57.8% shooter from the field (118-of-204). Pinedo found his way into double figures on 16 occasions last season, and that included four double-doubles. 

Pinedo's best performance of the 2024-25 season came in a 79-74 loss to Stone Hill, as he posted a career-high 24 points on an impressive 11-of-13 shooting performance from the field. He also added seven rebounds in the loss. 

Interestingly, Pinedo prepped at the same program (Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas) that produced Furman's star center Cooper Bowser. 

Pinedo will be an immediate contributor for the Spartans this season and will come in with an opportunity to start. His skill-set and his physical nature should fit the UNCG identity, as well as making him an effective player in the SoCon his final season of eligibility. 

The most recent addition to the Spartans' roster came when head coach Mike Jones brought in 6-6 wing Antwann Jones from Central Florida. The wing gives the Spartans plenty of athleticism. Jones will be in his seventh season of college basketball coming in the 2025-26 season, as well as playing at what will be his sixth school when he arrives at UNCG this fall for the season. 

Jones, who is no relation the the head coach that shares the same surname, has spent time at Memphis (2018-19), Creighton (2019-21), Louisiana (2021-22) and UCF (2023-25). The native of Orlando has battled multiple injuries throughout his career, but should add depth to the mix for the Spartans this season. 

Chane Bynum is a 6-8 freshman forward from Atlanta, GA., and is a bit of a project. He's athletic, and could add support on the glass and defensively, which could mean he will see the floor faster than he normally would, as he is still developing his offensive game. Bynum possesses good skill and is a raw athlete, and keeping him around will be a priority for Jones. If Bynum ultimately chooses to work while he waits his opportunity, he has a chance to develop into a future star in this league. 

In the backcourt, the Spartans added 6-5 University of Albany combo guard Justin Neely, who like Pinedo, will have one year of eligibility remaining. During his final season with the Great Danes, Neely logged action in 30 games, including having 10 starts and easily turned in his best season to-date, as he averaged 11.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 1.5 APG, averaging 25.6 MPG in 2024-25, helping the Great Danes to a 17-16 overall record, which included a fourth-place finish in the nine-team America East standings. 

Individually, Neely also finished the season with a career-best 21 steals, having posted just 18 steals combined in his 35-career games prior to the 2024-25 season.

Like Pinedo, Neely is a hard-nosed player that has a lot of grit but isn't going to be much of a threat from beyond the arc, having connected on just 10-of-60 shots from three-point range (16.7%) in his career. Neely finished the season with 17 double-figure scoring performances, including three games in which he scored 20 or more points. 

In his final season with the Great Danes, Neely enjoyed his best performance against Maine in what was a 79-68 win for Albany, as Neely led the way with a career-high 29 points to go with 11 rebounds and added three steals to the cause. He finished off the win against the Black Bears by going an impressive 11-for-16 from the field. 

Along with Neely, head coach Mike Jones also has added a pair of talented point guards from the JUCO ranks, adding both 6-2 Jordan Brown (Gaston College/Pebblebrook HS/Mableton, GA) and 6-0 Landon King (Brunswick Community College/West Charlotte HS/Charlotte, N.C.). 

Both Brown and King will have three years of eligibility remaining due to the NCAA's new eligibility rules regarding NJCAA transfers, as two years spent at the JUCO level now allows you to retain one of those years towards NCAA Division I eligibility status with an appropriate waiver. 

Brown started 27 of 29 games in his final season for the Gaston College, finishing out the 2024-25 season averaging 13.7 PPG, 4.4 APG and 4.2 RPG, playing point guard for the Rhinos. He finished the season shooting 39.4% (129-of-327) from the field and 38.1% (59-of-155) from three-point land. 

Brown was one of the major reasons that the Rhinos were able to a record-setting season in 2024-25, helping Gaston College to a 22-8 finish, which included a school-record 17-straight wins, and Brown's 13.7 PPG and 4.4 APG were both team-leading stats. The 22-8 overall mark was the third-best record in program history. 

The 6-2 guard is a great athlete and has the ability to create his own shot off the dribble. Brown appears to be the latest in a line of transfer guards that possesses the athleticism and this of creativity of the dribble, and that includes players like former transfer guards like De'Monte Buckingham, Keondre Kennedy and most recently, Kenyon Giles, to possess this ability.

Competing with Brown for the right to start next season will be 6-0 Landon King, who hails from West Charlotte, and like Brown, comes to UNCG off a strong final season as a JUCO, averaging 13.7 PPG and 3.6 RPG, making 32 starts in 33 games in the 2024-25 season at Brunswick Community College.

King will also be in contention for a starting spot at the point guard spot for the upcoming season and is a quick point guard with good ball-handling capabilities, as well as possessing the ability to create his own scoring chances or opportunities for others off the dribble, as he his a solid distributor. 

He scored 20 or points on four occasions last season, including posting season and career-highs of 24 points on a pair of occasions, while finding his way into double figures 21 times in 33 games last in 2024-25. King completed the 2024-25 season connecting on an impressive 39.2% (85-of-217) from three-point land last season, while finishing the campaign connecting on 43% (161-of-374) of his overall shots from the field. 

The biggest addition during the recruiting process from the transfer portal so far might be one of UNCG's latest signees from the portal, in Donald Whithead Jr., who would be penciled in to be the starter at the point guard spot coming into the season. 

Whithead Jr. comes to UNCG from California University of PA and will have one season of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer. The 5–10-point guard started all 26 games for the Vulcans, finishing the season averaging 19.4 PPG, 3.8 APG and 2.5 RPG in his junior campaign. 

The diminutive Whitehead Jr. has the potential to be an elite scorer in the SoCon, and he might need to be with the Spartans having to replace so much scoring that it has lost from a year ago. Whitehead Jr. He enjoyed his best game of his career against Slippery Rock last season, posting a career-high 33 points in what was an 86-73 win for the Vulcans.

Three important additions ave been secured from the high school ranks, in 6-4 combo guard KJ Younger from Matthews, N.C., by way of Weddington High School, 6-7 shooting guard Assane Mandian from Saly, Senegal by way of the NBA Academy of Africa, and  6-1 guard Lillian Marville from France. 

Younger averaged 25 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.9 APG and 1.8 SPG for the 2024-25 campaign. He was an impressive 57% (248-of-434) from the field during his senior season at Weddington, as well as shooting 34% (34-of-129) from three-point range in his senior season. He shot 72% (159-of-229) from the charity stripe.

Younger is a good athlete with a smooth game and jump shot. He also possesses good athleticism and will have a chance to crack the rotation this coming season. He was rated as a three-and-a-half star recruit by verbalcommitts.com and rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports.

Manadian is more a project talent with the opportunity to see his talents developed at the NBA Academy in Africa translate to the American game. He brings a good talent-base and solid all around skill, as the 6-6 shooting guard also has the ability to play the three position. 

Lillian Marville is a member of the U20 French national team, and he could add even more depth at the point guard position. Marville is an elite scorer, which he showcased in a mid-season win over Champagne Basket U-21 last March, posting a career-high 30 points. His scoring ability and variety of experiences acquired playing professionally in France will give him a chance to see a lot of playing time in the 2025-26 season, making him a potential impact player for the Spartans.

Mercer forward Brady Shoulders (photo courtesy of Mercer athletics)

In keeping with the theme of losing major contributors, that is also true of the Mercer Bears (14-19, 6-12/8th in SoCon), as second year head coach Ryan Ridder must replace four of five starters from last season from a team that won 14 games in his first season as the head coach of the Bears.

The biggest loss comes at point guard, where the Bears must replace Ahmad Robinson from the point guard, and he was one of the most dynamic scorers in the Southern Conference last season, as he finished out the season averaging 16.9 PPG and ended up finishing the 2024-25 season ranking second in overall assists, dishing out 165 helpers for the season.

It's also pretty clear what Ryan Ridder's ultimate goal is, which he wants to play fast and by fast, I mean generate possessions. To some, it might surprise folks that Mercer and not Samford had the fastest pace for 40 minutes in the league last season, averaging 71.2 possessions per game last season. The Bears had an effective field goal percentage of 48.1% last season, while shooting 47.2% from the field and only 33.3% from beyond the arc. 

The problem at times, however, as good as Robinson was as a scorer and as quick as he was, he didn't always make the best decisions with the basketball, forfeiting away some of those crucial possessions that the Bears had generated by influencing the pace of play. 

His 131 turnovers last season were more than any player ranked in the top 350 in college basketball in assist/turnover ratio, with the next closest in terms of total turnovers being  Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who finished the season with 123 miscues. Another issue is that at times, the offense seemed to stagnate around the diminutive guard, waiting for him to create something off the dribble. 

All that to say is that it might not be such a bad thing that the Bears are starting anew at point guard for the 2025-26 season, and while scoring is always hard to replace, the headache of having to deal with some mind-numbing turnovers at times last season is something that Ryan Ridder and staff hopefully won't have to worry about this season.

Outside of Robinson, the Bears must also essentially replace the rest of the backcourt, with Cam Bryant, Tyler "Chip" Johnson, Jah Quinones, and Jah Nze have all either graduated or entered the transfer portal following the 2024-25 season. 

Chip Johnson, who is out of eligibility, was excellent in his one season with the Bears. He was not only a great leader, but his shooting ability was vital in several key wins for Mercer last season. Johnson was one of the best perimeter shooters in the Southern Conference last season and for Mercer, which wasn't a great perimeter shooting team last season, was easily its best shooter, finishing the season by connecting on 38.4% of his shots from downtown, as he connected on 93-of-242 from three-point range and finished as the Bears' second-leading scorer last season at 15.7 PPG. 

The lone returnee back for Ridder in the backcourt heading into the 2025-26 season is Brady Shoulders (5.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG), who was solid in his first season of action as a college basketball player. The 6-6 guard from Eddyville, KY., averaged 5.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.2 APG last season for Mercer. He also finished the season with a 42.1% field goal percentage (69-of-164) and was a 33.3% () shooter from long-range. 

Shoulders has a huge upside and he was one of the more underrated players in the SoCon last season. He finished the season by logging 24 starts and ended up being one of Mercer's most versatile and most reliable players on its roster during the 2024-25 season.  He was also one of the toughest on the roster, according to his head coach. 

There are several areas that Ridder will also hope to improve in addition to first of all just replacing the sheer amount of scoring and depth lost from a year ago, which is almost an entire roster's worth of players.  It will be interesting to see how the Bears make adjustments under Ridder in 2025-26, and two areas the Bears must improve next season are overall on the defensive end of the floor, ranking 273 out of 354 nationally in scoring defense (75.3 PPG) and guarding the three-point line, ranking 236^th nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense (34.7%). Both paled in comparison, though, from Mercer’s struggles from the charity stripe last season, as the Bears finished ranking 348 of 355 nationally in free throw shooting (65.3%).

In the backcourt, Ridder has secured the commitment of several players that should make an impact immediately having hit both the JUCO ranks, which he knows best, as well as bringing in talent from both the power 6 and mid-major levels. 

So far, Ridder has a total of 10 commitments, which includes eight from the portal or JUCO ranks, while the Bears picked a pair of commitments from the high school ranks and are not as of yet when it comes to filling out a roster. 

One of the obvious areas of major concern heading into the portal season for Ryan Ridder and staff was the point guard spot, where the Bears must replace both Ahmad Robinson and Jah Quinones have moved on. One of the unique gets is Kyle Cuff Jr., which has the ability to play multiple spots in the backcourt for the Bears.

Ridder, who is one of the best recruiters among the SoCon's head coaches, brought in a player that can make a difference right away, which is much the same the case as it was last season with Robinson. 

One of the best "gets" in the transfer is combo guard Kyle Cuff Jr., who comes to Macon from Syracuse. Cuffe Jr. comes to Mercer with one year of eligibility remaining, and Mercer will be the third school in which he will be attending, as he started his career playing for Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks. He transferred to Syracuse after spending his freshman and redshirt freshman seasons in Lawrence. 

He spent his next two seasons at Syracuse and is coming off a 2024-25 season, which saw him log action in 30 games for the averaging 12.4 MPG. He finished his final season with the Orange averaging 5.1 PPG and 1.1 RPG, while posting 16 assists and turning it over 25 times. He also contributed 13 steals on the defensive end of the floor. 

In Syracuse's ACC home opener against Wake Forest, Cuffe Jr. posted 14 points and had six boards, which marked his career-best performance. Cuffe Jr. is versatile and can play either the point or off-guard spots, with a his excellent on-ball defense being a notable attribute for the incoming ACC talent. 

Cuffe Jr. isn't the only player with a background that features high-level basketball, however, as 6-3 Baraka Okojie comes to Mercer from Memphis where he spent the 2024-25 season after spending his freshman campaign at George Mason. He will also be in the mix to challenge for the starting point guard spot, which has been vacated by Robinson.

During the 2024-25 season, Okojie didn't see the floor for the Tigers, however, as a freshman in 2023-24 at George Mason, Okojie turned more than a few heads during his time with the Patriots. He saw action in all 32 games with the Green and Gold, garnering All Atlantic 10 Rookie Team accolades after posting 8.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 2.7 APG in his first season of college basketball. 

He finished his freshman campaign in 2023-24 ranking ninth overall in the A-10 in steals-per-game (1.4 SPG), showing his tenacity and grit on the defensive end of the floor, which is an area that head coach Ryan Ridder stressed had to be better on more than one occasion during his first season as the Bears' head coach, and that was defending out of the guard spots.

In terms of being an offensive threat, he scored in double figures in nine games in 2023-24, which included posting a career-high 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists in the regular-season finale of his freshman campaign against Saint Joseph's.

It would appear that, at least on the surface, Okojie is ready to come in and make an impact from the outset of his career in the Orange and Black.

Quinton Perkins II will also be in the mix at point guard this coming season, as he joins the Mercer program from the JUCO ranks, as he comes out of one of the most prestigious JUCO programs in the country, in Indian Hills CC in Ottumwa, IA. It's also the program that produced former Chattanooga Mocs legend and future NBA Lottery Draft pick, Johnny Taylor, way back in 1996. 

Perkins II is a 6-1, 180-lb, rising redshirt sophomore that will have three years of eligibility remaining. Prior to going to Indian Hills CC, Perkins II spent one season at Tarleton State, where he did not log any action. In his only season at Indian Hills, the native of Dallas, TX, was an All Region II Second-Team selection after seeing action in 31 of 32 games on the season, making a total of six starts and averaged 21. 5 minutes-per-game.

Additionally, the redshirt freshman guard finished his first season of college basketball posting 8.0 PPG and shooting an impressive 51.5% (86-of-167) from the floor, which included an even more impressive 48.4% (44-of-91) from three-point range. 

Perkins II finished out his only season at Indian Hills CC by posting double figures in eight games, with five of those resulting in 20+point performances. He posted a career-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 from three-point land, as he helped lead Indian Hills to a resounding 85-54 win in the process. 

One of the prime contenders to make an impact at off-guard and is expected to compete for a starting job at shooting guard is 6-4 Zaire Williams, who came to Mercer as a graduate transfer from Wagner back on April 1. 

The 6-4, 200-lb native of Brooklyn, N.Y., saw action in 26 games in the 2024-25 season for the Seahawks, which included making 24 starts. He finished the season averaging a solid 12.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG and dished out 1.9 APG in helping the Seahawks to a 14-16 record and a 6-10 finish in the NEC last season, averaging 30.7 minutes-per-game, which ranked 10th in the league. 

In his final season with the Seahawks, Williams would should 38.8% (108-of-278) from the floor and 34.2% (51-of-149) from beyond the three-point line. His 12.1 PPG scoring average was good enough to rank 14th overall in NEC in scoring, while his 1.8 steals-per-game ranked him second in the league. He was a Third-Team All-NEC selection in his final campaign at Wagner. 

In his career at Wagner, he started 68 of the 87 total games he played in, averaging 25.4 MPG, averaging 8.3 PPG, 1.3 APG, 2.7 RPG and registered an impressive 120 steals across four seasons playing a prominent role for the Seahawks.

Rounding out the guard spots from the portal is Tristan Gross, who makes his way to Macon from Stetson where he spent his first two seasons of his collegiate career. 

Gross, a 6-6 wing, who is athletic and rangy, will be a player that figures into mix much like Cam Bryant did in his one season for the Bears, only Gross will have two years of eligibility remaining. During the 2023-24 season with the Hatters, Gross saw action in all 35 games, which included making 14 starts. During his freshman campaign back in 2023-24, he was a part of Stetson history, as he was part of the first and only team in program history to ever make it to the NCAA Tournament.

In 2024-25, the athletic wing ended his campaign averaging 4.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG across 19.6 MPG of floor action. He is a pretty solid threat from the perimeter as well, connecting on 36.4% (56-of-154) from long-range in two seasons with the Hatters. 

A total of three post players were brought in by Ridder, starting with a big one...literally, in 6-10, 220-lb center Armanii Mighty, who comes to middle Georgia after spending two seasons at Boston College and one at Central Michigan. His most recent campaign was spent in Muskegon, MI, for the Chippewas, however, did not see any action for CMU, earning a medical redshirt. 

He will have two years of eligibility remaining when he arrives at Mercer. As a sophomore at BC in the 2023-24 season, Mighty saw time in 35 games, averaging 5.6 MPG, while posting 0.8 PPG and 1.2 RPG. He shot 41% (9-of-22) on the season, while grabbing 19 offensive rebounds and blocking nine shots. 

As a true freshman at BC, he saw limited action in 16 contests, averaging 0.7 PPG and 0.9 RPG. He has the potential to add not only size and athleticism in the paint for the Bears, which is something that, outside of Holt and Overstreet, the Bears didn't really have all that much of in Ridder's first season. 

More importantly perhaps is the fact that Mighty has a chance to give the Bears a legitimate rim-protector in the paint for the next two seasons. On the offensive side of things, however, Mighty appears to be a bit of a liability. 

Forwards Bendji Pierre (San Diego) and Connor Serven (Virginia Tech) round out the recruiting haul for the Bears from the portal, as both will enter the Bears program with one year of eligibility remaining. Pierre, a 6-8, 230-lb power forward comes on board after having spent the past three seasons at San Diego, playing only of those three seasons, as he was sidelined with an injury for a majority of his time there. In fact, he sat out the entire 2023-24 season and only played 15 games in his first season with the Torreros.

The 2024-25 season definitely turned out to be his most productive, finishing out the season by averaging 5.1 PPG and 2.7 RPG, making 11 starts in 29 overall appearances. He averaged 18.9 minutes-per-game for the Torreros last season, with 31 of his 50 field goals for the season coming from beyond the arch. He wasn't terribly efficient in shooting from long range, however, as he connected at just a 25.4% (31-of-122) from long-range. 

Serven is a 6-8, 225-lb transfer from Virginia Tech, who has also spent time at both Eastern Michigan (2023-24) and Illinois (2020-23) before detouring to Mercer for his final season of NCAA Division I college basketball. 

As a Hokie last season, Serven finished by seeing action only 16 games and totaled just 38 minutes of floor time for the season. He enjoyed his most productive season at EMU, as he averaged 3.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG, and played in 31 games, including 13 starts for the Eagles. He scored a career-high 15 points on a 5-for-10 shooting performance in a 71-69 overtime win vs. Kent State. His most productive performance last season with the Hokies came against North Carolina, knocking down 2-of-3 shots from the field in a 91-59 setback in Blacksburg.

Ridder signed only two freshman performers thus far, with Ridder signing both a combo guard, in Jaydon Cole, as well as a small forward in Njoroge Nganga.

Cole, a 6-3 point guard out of Milton, GA, by way of Milton High School where he established himself as a three-star recruit coming out of high school according to 247Sports. Cole is versatile in that he can play either the point or off-guard spot,  and he chose to attend Mercer back in late April, announcing his future college plans and intent to attend Mercer for the 2025-26 season via social media.

Cole chose to attend Mercer over some other solid NCAA Division I offers from both Old Dominion and Radford. He started his prep career at King's Ridge Christian High School where he led the Tigers to the state championship as a sophomore, averaging 9.3 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 3.2 APG. 

He would see his numbers take off in his junior campaign, as Cole nearly doubled his scoring average to post 17.9 PPG, however, despite seeing his Indvidual numbers increase, he was not able to lead his school back to such lofty places in his junior season, as King's Ridge would miss the state playoffs, finishing 16-8.

Cole played his senior season at Milton High School, finishing his career by garnering All-Region First Team honors, and just before the calendar turned from 2024 to '25, surpassed 1,000 points for his career. 

One of the things that Cole so enticing to Ridder and staff during the recruiting process was his shooting ability, possessing what is seemingly limitless range.

Njoroge Nganga rounds out the additions for the Bears as far as freshman signees are concerned. The wing originally committed to Nicholls State out of high school, however, since has flipped his commitment to Mercer. The wing guard will give Mercer some added athleticism on the wing, as well as being an above average shooter from long range.

Finally, 6-4 Braden Carlsen could figure into the backcourt plans in 2025-26. He redshirted his first season with the Bears after coming to Mercer from Wauconda, Ill. 

Mercer is still probably a year away from competing in that upper tier, however, it wouldn't shock if, with the collection talent which Ridder has obtained through the transfer portal, that the Bears could arrive ahead of schedule and be a top six finisher this season. 

Originally, I had Wofford (19-16, 10-8/6th in SoCon) as a top five finisher in my early-summer preseason SoCon hoops rankings heading into the 2025-26 season, however, with so much turmoil and off-the-court stuff going on, it was hard for me to really think this might all come together in time for new head coach Kevin Giltner, even though I think this is an outstanding hire as a replacement to Dwight Perry.

The Terriers are the defending Southern Conference champions, however, little remains from that roster that rove the wave of momentum to glory in Asheville last March. Gone are all five starters from last season's team, as Giltner has a few veterans like Luke Flynn (), Cannon Richards () and Kahmare Holmes () that were apart of that championship success of a year ago. 

The rest of what Giltner will have to work with is what the previous staff worked hard both on the recruiting trail and in the portal to bring in. It is a fascinating situation, and though no fault of the players, the off-campus living situation/meal plan brought a strange end to Perry's tenure as the head coach at Wofford. It is strange to see a coach removed after winning a title, however, he we are. 

As for the players, they might seem to feel in an awkward situation. They are kind of an extension of Perry, who was let go, while the incoming coach--Kevin Giltner--is very much a part of Wofford's foundational success as a championship program both as a player and as an assistant. 

On Sept. 22, 2025, it was made official that Kevin Giltner would be the new leader of Wofford hoops. A member of the Wofford basketball program from 2008-12, he helped the Terriers to two back-to-back titles as a player and another three as an assistant coach on Mike Young's staff. Giltner has spent the past six years serving as  Young's right-hand man at Virginia Tech, which included helping Young and the Hokies to the 2022 ACC Tournament title.

Giltner's philosophy will be much like his mentor and former coach, Mike Young's was, which is placing a premium on defense and perimeter shooting and a slower, half-court style on the offensive end. As a player for the Terriers, he was a "glue guy" on the 2010 and '11 championship teams, and his ability as an on-ball defender and elite perimeter threat were two things that no doubt influence the way he coaches to this day. 

In his senior season in 2011-12, Giltner averaged 14.8 PPG and finished out his career ranking sixth in program history in three-pointers made, with 187 triples made in his Wofford career.  

As far as what Giltner inherits, it's an interesting mix that consists of five players from the transfer portal and four freshmen, and three holdovers from the squad that ended up cutting down the nets in Asheville. 

While Giltner knows the Wofford way, he will have to move quickly to replace virtually all of the scoring production from a team that went 19-16 last season, as all five starters have departed from a year ago.  Jackson Sivills, Corey Tripp, Kyler Filewich, Anthony Arrington Jr., Dillion Bailey, Justin Bailey, and Jeremy Lorenz added the kind of experience and talent that would ultimately allow the Terriers to have the type off success in the championship game and especialy down the stretch in that win. It was the ultimately collection of winning talent, which helped Wofford finish the season in its desired destination.

Both Jeremy Lorenz and Justin Bailey moved on after the season, as did forward Belal El-Shakery, who spent most of the season injured and opted to transfer out at season's end, even after the Terriers were able to achieve the goal of winning the tournament title. Anthony Arrington Jr, Chase Cormier and Don Douglass were three others that decided to enter the portal.

Lorenz, a 6-9 forward, ended up transferring out to join Depaul's basketball program for the 2025-26 season, while Justin Bailey will be suiting up for the Georgia Bulldogs next season. All told, Wofford will need to replace its six top scorers from last season's championship run. 

The good news is that the two players returning were a significant part of the rotation last season as reserves, with freshman guards Luke Flynn and Kahmare Holmes are a pair of foundational components that the new head coach can build around. A third freshman--Cannon Richards--is also back, but virtually all the other important pieces must be replaced from a Wofford team that went 19-16 last season and won it all in Asheville. 

Prior to Perry’s dismissal, he picked up some players that should be able help the cause in the immediate this coming season, including Cayden Vasko from Central Michigan, as well 6-3 guard Nils Machowski, who comes to Wofford from the Orlando and the University of Central Florida. Machowski will play shooting guard and is coming off a sophomore season with the Golden Knights, which saw him average 3.7 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 31 games for UCF.

Both Flynn and Holmes are tied for the returning leading scorer honors, as both averaged 4.1 PPG off the bench last season. Flynn found his way into double figures on three occasions during the 2024-25 season, posting a season-high 11 points in a loss to the College of Charleston, while posting 10 points in wins over both Gardner-Webb and Kentucky Christian last season. 

Flynn was a solid threat from the perimeter during the 2024-25 season, as he finished the season a solid 36.0% (36-of-100) from three-point range last season. He logged action in 34 games, with one start and averaging 20.1 minutes-per-game off the bench. He also averaged 2.9 rebounds-per-game off the bench and dished out 40 assists last season. 

Holmes, who also averaged 4.1 PPG, excelled as one of the on-ball best defenders on the team in his first season at Wofford. The 6-3 guard was also one of the team's top athletes last season, and like Flynn, would find his way into double figures on three occasions last season, with a season-high 11 points in games against both Kentucky Christian and in a late-season win at VMI. 

As a perimeter threat last season, Holmes knocked down just 22.2% (10-of-45) from long-range, as it is an area in which he will hope to improve most during the off-season. Holmes also averaged 2.0 rebounds-per-game last season, while also contributing 21 assists for the season. 

Cannon Richards only saw limited action last season, but is expected to step in and play more of a role this season after coming to Wofford from Kell High School out of Atlanta, GA. The 6-7 small forward saw action in only 14 games for the Terriers last season, posting 19 points, 26 rebounds, three steals and four blocks. 

The Terriers have already welcomed in four players from the transfer portal this season and have already signed a talented class of four freshmen that should be among the best freshman signing classes in the SoCon heading into the 2025-26 season. 

One of the signees from the portal that could end up being an instant impact player for Wofford this coming season is 6-3 guard Nils Machowski, who comes to Wofford from the Orlando and the University of Central Florida. Machowski will play shooting guard and is coming off a sophomore season with the Golden Knights, which saw him average 3.7 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 31 games for UCF.

He finished his second season with the Golden Knights connected on 43.5% (37-of-85) from the field and shot a solid 36.7% (18-of-49) from three-point range last season, and posted four double-digit scoring games during the 2024-25 season. Machowski posted a career-high 15 points in the College Basketball Crown Tournament opener against Oregon State. 

He played an important role in helping the Golden Knights reach the championship game against Nebraska, as he finished the tournament averaging 9.8 PPG and 3.8 RPG, while shooting 46.7% (14-of-30) from the floor and 50% (9-of-18) from three-point range. Machowski originally hails from Berlin, Germany and will give the Terriers a highly skilled shooter from Europe.

Central Michigan transfer Cayden Vasko figures to add even more depth to the shooting guard spot where he was solid during his sophomore season for the Chippewas. The 6-6 shooting guard saw action in all 31 games for the Chippewas, averaging 7.4 PPG and 5.0 RPG last season for the Chips. Vasko is a similar player that of Jackson Sivills and could end up playing a similar type of role during 

Vasko will be a player that will be asked to come in and produce immediately and could end up being an instant impact player, and he will give the Terriers a true inside-outside threat next season and he finished the 2024-25 season by connecting on 46 three-point field goals, shooting a team-best 39.0% (46-for-118) from downtown during the 2024-25 season with the Chippewas. In two seasons at Central Michigan, Vasko ended up averaging 5.7 PPG and 4.0 RPG, while also contributing a total of 64 three-point field goals in two seasons, as well as being a solid free throw shooter, connecting on 71.7% (33-of-46) in his two seasons in Mt. Pleasant. 

With schools like Chattanooga and Furman getting big contributions from NCAA Division II players this past season, and with the Terriers already having had a good experience with a guy like Dillon Bailey, the Terriers ended up getting a commitment from another player that has the potential to become a star in the SoCon in the upcoming season, with the addition of 6-3 guard Brendan Rigsbee, who comes to Wofford after having spent two seasons at University of Alabama-Huntsville. 

Rigsbee, who is a native of Suwanee, GA., will give the Terriers an instant impact player and scoring threat. He will have two years of eligibility remaining and averaged in double figures in both of his seasons with UAH and then transferred to Georgia College and State University, where he missed the entire season with an injury before opting to transfer. The 6-3 guard averaged 16.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 2.6 APG in his most recent season on the hardwood back during the 2023-24 season. 

Rigsbee connected on 52-of-124 (41.9%) from three-point range in two seasons, so he's not going to be the volume shooter from three-point range that maybe Corey Tripp or others have been in the past for the Terriers. He will likely be in line to start immediately this coming season, and while the Terriers might lose a little in terms of athleticism and on the defensive end, Rigsbee is every bit the scorer that Tripp was, and might even be more of a true point guard than his predecessor. 

In terms of adding size from the transfer portal, the Terriers also did that by going out and adding 6-11 center Callum Richard, who comes aboard after spending two seasons at East Carolina, while the Terriers also went out and signed 6-8, 220-lb power forward Rex Stirling from the JUCO ranks. 

Richard, who hails from Gastonia, N.C., only logged action in four games last season after seeing a total of 16 games worth of action in his first season with the Pirates. He will be a bit of a project to develop into a regular contributor in the paint for the Black and Gold, however, if the Terriers can get some solid production in small spurts out of the big man transfer, it could give the Terriers the ability to change things up with some superior size, which is not something that is now all that commonplace in the SoCon. 

Like Rigsbee, Stirling showed the ability to be a reliable scorer at a lower level, and he will have two years of eligibility remaining when he arrives in Spartanburg. During his sophomore season at Williston State College, the native of Melbourne Australia averaged an impressive 18.2 PPG and 10.3 RPG, while shooting 57% from the field and 36% from three-point range, as he will give the Terriers another player with true inside-outside ability.  

Stirling will be a solid replacement for Filewich, with his main strength being on the glass. He led all of JUCO in offensive rebounds (163), while also ranking fourth nationally in total rebound average. He will be another player that will likely step into an impact type role immediately for Wofford.

One of the final signees and a player that could end up being a real x-factor type player for the Terriers is Alessandro Perotti from Turin, Italy. The 6-10, 245-lb forward will add skill and size, as he comes to Wofford from Cuesta College in California, where he played his sophomore season in 2024-25.  He would end up averaging 17.5 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 3.1 APG and 2.3 BPG in his one season with the Cougars.

Along with Furman, it could be argued that Wofford might have brought in one of the top freshman signing classes in both the SoCon, and potentially one of the best in all of mid-major hoops. All four signees are considered three-four star signees by a majority of the recruiting services.

The Terriers will be bringing in a total of four signees to their freshman signing class for the 2025-26 season, with point guard Chace Whatley (Totino-Grace HS/Fridley, MN), point guard Jaden Tyler (Homewood-Flossmoor HS/Chicago, IL), point guard Maximo Ortega (Pembroke Pines Charter High School/Miami, FL) and 6-8 forward Brian Sumpter (Keenan Hs/Columbia, S.C.). 

All four recruits are expected to compete for time this coming season and coach Perry and staff are especially excited for this group to get started in Spartanburg. If you haven't guessed it already, point guard is a recruiting area of concern for Perry and staff, and Chace Whatley highlights a talented trio if point guards added in Wofford's latest recruiting haul from the high school ranks. 

The New Hope, MN,. product helped his program to three state titles in the four seasons he was in the program, as well as garnering all-state honors in both his junior and senior seasons, respectively. Whatley will have a chance to compete for the starting job right away this season. Coach Perry is particularly impressed with Whatley's basketball IQ, which makes him a candidate to be in the rotation running the point sooner rather than later. Whatley was rated as a three-star recruit by both verbalcommits.com and 247Sports. 

Both Jaden Tyler and Maximo Ortega will also be in the mix to assume the role as Wofford's next point guard in 2025-26, succeeding the talented Corey Tripp at the position. Tyler is the most diminutive of the trio of new floor generals, standing just 5-10, but hails from the high school basketball hotbed of Chicago, where he starred for Homewood-Flossmoor High School. 

Tyler can straight fill it up and is much more of a scorer than Whatley, and also has the ability to create his own shot off the dribble. In his senior season, Tyler averaged 19.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 3.0 APG and was a 40% (74-of-183) three-point shooter in his senior season. In his final two seasons at Homewood-Flossmoor, Tyler posted 1,055 points, which included scoring 648 points in his senior season alone. Like Whatley, Tyler is rated a three-star recruit according to both verbalcommits.com as well as 247Sports. 

Ortega rounds out the trio of point guards brought in by Wofford experiences, and he comes to Wofford from South Florida by way of Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Miami. Ortega is a physical point guard with good strength and athleticism, which will serve him well in the SoCon, while also giving the Terriers the luxury of having a bit of a change-up in comparison to the other two freshmen coming as a part of the latest signing class. He finiahed out his senior season averaging 15.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 3.0 APG and was a standout AAU player at Florida Pro, which plays in the exclusive Adidas basketball circuit known as 3SSB (3Stripes Select Basketball).  

Ortega's skill-set is more closely resembles that of Whatley, as the Miami, FL product isn't necessarily a scorer, but more of a true point guard. 

However,  his physicality and athleticism will give the staff that unique staff  the luxury of having a guy that is a tough matchup to account for because of his physical attributes, and it's not something many of the SoCon point guards are built to effectively defend, and those that are, might not desire to mix it up physically at the position. The SoCon, like many mid-majors, is very much a finesse league when it comes to the point guard spot. Like both Whatley and Tyler, Ortega is rated as a three-star recruit by both verbalcommits.com and 247Sports.

Sumpter rounds out the recruiting haul, and like his signing class mates, will be given a chance to compete for time right away. The Keenan High School product is athletic and in terms of athleticism and his ability as a defender, is somewhat comparable to Nick Pringle when he arrived in Spartanburg back during the 2020-21 season, although Sumpter is much more polished at this point in his career 

The all-state selection finished his senior season in strong fashion, garnering the AAA State Player of the Year award after averaging 17.0 PPG and 10.4 RPG, shooting 61% from the field. He was also a noted defender, and that, more than any other offensive attribute that he brings to the table, will give him a great chance to see some good floor time in his rookie campaign. 

Building depth for not only the upcoming season, but for the future at both point guard and power forward were clear targets for the coaching staff, with not only who they were able to bring in from the transfer portal, but especially the two areas targeted for the freshman singing class. 

The Citadel forward Christian Moore (photo courtesy of The Citadel Athletics)

Since the SoCon has seen a an overall rise in prominence over the past decade, at times, it has been increasingly tough for a program like The Citadel (5-25, 0-18/10th in SoCon) to keep up, and last year things would hit rock bottom for the Bulldogs, who finished the season on a 19-game losing streak and failed to win even a game in the Southern Conference a year ago. 

The Citadel could play well, as it displayed in a one-point setback to eventual regular-season league champion Chattanooga, as the Mocs nearly sprang an all-time upset, but the game-winning shot at the buzzer came just after time expired, rendering the shot no good and leaving the Bulldogs to carry with them yet another in conference play. That loss was kind of a microcosm of just how brutal the 2024-25 season was for the Bulldogs. 

However, it was the losses like the 43-point setback (L, 42-85) on Furman's senior night, or the 34-point shellacking at Mercer (L, 46-80) in late January that almost seemed tougher to bear in a sense. 

It was clear, while the portal era has been tough for anyone in the SoCon to navigate, it's just altogether tougher at a military school like The Citadel or VMI. There are ways to attack it, like the foreign route, which VMI navigated with a great deal of success, while there is the route that head coach Ed Conroy took, which is take some lower division stars and try and make it work similar to what Chattanooga or Furman did.

The only problem for The Citadel and Conroy was the fact that outside of Brody Fox, what the Bulldogs got from a lower level turned out to be more or less diminishing returns, which is the other dangerous tight rope you can walk when dropping down a level or levels to bring in talent to fill a need.

Furman and Chattanooga filled their rosters with lower division guys that not only fit into their roles but actually were high enough level of skilled players and shooters to excel in the SoCon, but what The Citadel got was seemingly some guys just looking to tell their grandkids they played at the NCAA Division I level.

In some sense, it also looked like some of the guys were there to just fill out the roster numbers so The Citadel could put on the floor a team with some depth and one that could hopefully be competitive inside the ever-evolving league.  One thing is for certain, however, and that is the Bulldogs and Conroy were never going to be able to overcome the fact that the team just couldn't shoot. 

For Conroy, it was a trying season for him professionally, but also personally. It's tough to recruit to The Citadel, and it's historically even tougher to win at the Military College of South Carolina, which is precisely why so few have done it, and those who have, haven't really won consistently. 

Following The Citadel's opening round, 72-63, loss to VMI at the Southern Conference Tournament, I had a chance to catch up with Ed Conroy, who is one of my favorite people because of the fact that he does things the right way and has throughout his career. He expressed to me on the elevator to the parking garage after the game just how hard it was and how much the sport and literally take out of you, especially when things don't go well. He didn't have to say it, as his body language told the entire story.

Conroy is real and he's not a coach that lets cliches get in the way of what he has to say, and not only is he a tremendous Xs and Os coach, but he's also a transparent coach. He was telling me after the loss to VMI how tough it had been to lose games in league play like the OT home losses to Furman and WCU and then even the loss at UTC...It was a breaking loss to the psyche. 

You could also see he still had a passion to do what he does, and that was kind of refreshing after such a tough season both personally and professionally. 

The reality is, it wasn't that The Citadel or its staff did anything necessarily wrong in coaching, however, I conclude in my own estimation and nothing in what coach Conroy told me, but my own conclusion is that the Bulldogs missed it when it came to recruiting from the portal. That didn't really show up as much in the previous two seasons, but this season it was pretty evident in terms of talent, that other than maybe two players on the roster, the Bulldogs had been so out-talented most nights that it was tough to overcome that even with good coaching. 

For the life of me, it kind of makes me wonder why anyone would coach The Citadel, and that's being brutally honest. Charleston is a great place, and there are a lot of perks to the education you can get at a place like The Citadel, and if you put in the work and allow the discipline to take hold and shape you, it can get your foot in the door for pretty much any job. 

But looking at it from purely a hoops perspective, and now with the portal affecting literally everything, there is a sobering reality that begins to set in. Life is different for all mid-majors with the transfer portal, however, for a program that has already never made the NCAA Tournament without the portal, it almost now seems impossible.

It's a tough job and one that you have to get everything right to put yourself in to get a chance to compete for a regular-season title, and after that, a conference title. Nothing is impossible, but the Bulldogs have had some historically great coaches come through like Norm Sloan and Les Robinson, but even legendary names like that haven't been able to get the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament. 

That brings me back to Conroy, who is a legendary name in Charleston, for both his ability to lead a team like the 2008-09 Bulldogs to win over a Steph Curry-led Davidson team at McAlister Field House to his familial ties to Charleston and The Citadel itself, as Ed not only graduated from the military college of South Carolina, but his cousin--famed author Pat Conroy--literally wrote best-selling books about Charleston and what life was like playing basketball at The Citadel. Some of that didn't go over well with The Citadel's alums but later was all forgiven in recent years. 

And while I think why would you coach at a place like that where the famed Norm Sloan and Les Robinson never got the program to the NCAA Tournament, then I think well if anyone could do it, it's probably Ed Conroy.  With all his ties to both The Citadel and Charleston and the fact that he has had success before, makes him the perfect coach to lead the program. 

However, he knows as well as anyone that something needs to drastically change in the immediate future for the Bulldogs to just find their way back to some kind of success in the league, and it starts with recruiting in the new portal era and figuring out how to package a product that has never been very successful into one that is attractive to a graduate student looking to finish out his career. 

It's not so much about the military aspect of it, as most one or two-year guys aren't going to have to worry about that side of the life, but more how do you get a recruit to come to Charleston to believe he can be a part of "The first" and "the only" to do something. 

That recruiting pitch could be something to run with if you can just get the recruit to Charleston. It might actually end up being an easier sell in the portal era than it ever has been before.  While that might be the reality, something drastically went wrong last season. 

The Bulldogs didn't shoot the ball well from any point on the floor last season if we're brutally honest. They didn't have enough shooters to be competitive in most games last season, and that pretty much forced a team that wasn't great defensively to begin with to play near flawlessly on that end of the floor. Add the fact that the Bulldogs spent most of the season as the nation's worst foul shooting team and you have the makings of a 5-25 season. 

The Bulldogs finished out the 2024-25 season ranking 332 in scoring offense (66.6 PPG), 317th in field goal percentage (41.9%), 345th in three-point field goal percentage (29.5%) and 354th out of 355 teams ranked in the country in free throw shooting (61.7%). It pretty well spells out that the Bulldogs weren't a very good shooting team last season. 

So how can the Bulldogs improve upon the disaster that was the 2024-25 season? Well, it starts with evaluating both the roster returning and the one that has decided to move on. As far as those that have exited Charleston and the Bulldogs' program, the most notable of those is Brody Fox, who was a dynamic scorer from the NCAA Division III level, and he came in and gave the Bulldogs one season--his final season of eligibility--and he would end up finishing out his college career averaging 16.7 PPG, which led the team, while his 5.1 rebounds-per-game ranked second on the team.

Also having moved on are Colby McCalister (transferred to West Florida), as well as others like Cam Glover (out of eligibility), forward Dominic Commisso (transferred to St. Leo), center Graham Eikenberry (transferred to Western Oregon) and guard Paxton Davidson (transferred to Pace) to name a few. 

The core of the team will be formed around what returns, and the most productive of those returnees for the 2025-26 season are guys like forwards Sola Adebisi, Kenyan Davis, and Christian Moore, who originally entered the transfer portal, but opted to return to the Bulldogs' program after initially weighing his options in the portal. It will give Conroy a nucleus of players that he retained to both develop and form a leadership council around moving forward into the off-season, as we inch closer to the 2025-26 campaign. 

Moore is coming off a season in which he looks like he might be ready to take that next step and become a reliable scoring option for the Bulldogs in the coming season. The 6-6, 225-lb small forward saw action in all 30 games for The Citadel last season, logging 11 starts. He finished the season averaging 8.7 PPG, however, in Southern Conference games, he posted a scoring average of 12.1 PPG. 

On a team that didn't shoot the ball well last season, the same couldn't be said for Moore, who posted a solid 36% shooting clip from three-point land in league games last season. He didn't shoot it as well in non-conference play from long-range, as he connected on just 33.3% (48-of-144) for the totality of the season. 

The athletic wing from Los Angeles, CA., ended up finishing the season posting a career-high 20 points in a loss at Western Carolina, while also sporting a seven-game streak of scoring 13 or more points in league games last season and finished scoring in double figures in 11 of 18 SoCon games last season. Moore will be a player that Conroy will look to be one of his offensive leaders in the upcoming campaign.

In a season where it was hard to find a lot of positives, one of the few and distinguishable was the play of 6-7 wing forward Sola Adebisi, who was in his first season at The Citadel as a graduate transfer from Florida State.  Adebisi would end up finishing out the season as the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer and will be the leading returning scorer this season, as he averaged 8.2 PPG and 5.7 RPG last season.

Like Moore, Adebisi is a good athlete and performs exceptionally well on the offensive glass. Forty-seven of his 95 total rebounds last season were on the offensive end of the floor. Adebisi started all 25 games he logged action in last season, and the former Florida State Seminole has one season of eligibility remaining.  He enjoyed his best performance of the season in a home loss to Wofford, as he posted a career-high 19 points against the Terriers. Adebisi had another solid performance in a home loss to Samford, as he just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. 

He finished the season with 10 double-digit scoring games for the season, as well as recording eight or more rebounds in nine games in the 2024-25 campaign. 

Rounding out the veteran returnees is Kenyan Davis, who has battled injuries and other off-court issues throughout his career in Charleston, however, the 2025-26 season might be the first in which he is locked in and ready to go. The 6-5 guard/forward has big-time potential and was playing a key role before being suspended for the spring semester. He started 12 of the first 13 games in non-conference play, averaging  9.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG prior to being suspended. 

The Chicago, IL, product is a cerebral, athletic guard that enjoyed his best game in a Bulldogs uniform against Stetson in what was one of the Bulldogs' five wins last season, as he netted a career-best 18 points in that particular contest. Davis also turned in a solid performance in The Citadel's season-opening loss at Boston College, as he was one of three Bulldogs in double figures in the loss, finishing with 10.

Others returning to the fold that were a part of last season's roster for the Bulldogs include 6-4 forward Dante Kearse, 6-1 guard Eze Wale, as well as 6-2 guard Jack Walter and 6-4 forward Aidan Alexander, who both redshirted the 2024-25 season. 

Wale, a 6-1 sophomore guard from Providence, RI, saw action in 26 of 30 games for The Citadel last season, and would actually start the final 10 games of the 2024-25 season for the Bulldogs. In Wale, the Bulldogs might have found some consistency and some reliability at the point guard spot, which is a problem that Conroy and staff spent a majority of the season trying to figure out. 

The jet-quick guard enjoyed his best performance of his true freshman season in what would turn out to be the final game of the season in the conference tournament loss against VMI, netting a season and career-high 12 points against the Keydets in a 73-62 loss at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in the play-in round of the tournament. He had two five-assists games last season, recording those in the conference tournament loss to VMI, as well as a mid-February home loss to Wofford. 

Kearse, a 6-4 rising sophomore forward, logged action in 22 games for The Citadel last season, posting a season-high nine points in a 94-57 early December win over Toccoa Falls, while seeing a season-high 21 minutes in a 67-63 home overtime loss to Furman in early January. 

Conroy and staff have so far assembled incoming talent from both the portal, as well as the high school ranks to round out the roster heading into 2025-26. Three additions from the transfer portal and two from the high school ranks highlight what the Bulldogs have brought in for the 2025-26 season. 

The first commitment for the Bulldogs from the portal was made by 5–11-point guard Gabe Hernandez, who comes to the Bulldogs from Barry University, which is the same program that produced Furman shooting guard Nick Anderson last season. 

Hernandez will have a chance to come in right away and be the starter at the point for the Bulldogs this season, and much like Fox was last season athletically for The Citadel, his athleticism will be a delight to local fans who come out to watch The Citadel play this fall and winter. In his final season with the Bucs, Hernandez averaged 14.8 PPG, 4 RPG and 3.2 APG in his final season with the Bucs.  

He will give the Bulldogs an explosive element at point guard with his athleticism, however, he isn't a great perimeter threat, finishing the 2024-25 season at just 32.5% (25-of-77). In his two seasons with Barry, Hernandez logged action in a total of 60 games, which included making starts in all 29 games last season for the Bucs.

The second addition from the transfer portal came just a few days later, as Valdosta State wing Braxton Williams announced his commitment to the Bulldogs to play for Ed Conroy next season. With Adebisi, Moore and Davis also back, Williams will the Bulldogs yet another athletic, bouncy wing that the staff can rotate in the lineup. 

Williams spent the past two seasons playing for the Blazers in the Gulf South Conference, where he was productive, averaging in double figures in each of those campaigns. Prior to finding his way to the NCAA Division II ranks, Williams spent his time plying his trade and developing his overall game in three seasons at Coastal Alabama South of the JUCO ranks. 

After averaging 19.9 PPG and 5.0 RPG in his final season there, his game has translated into being a double figure scorer at every level, including last season with the Blazers, as he posted 14.2 PPG and 4.1 RPG, starting 31 out of 32 games.

Williams finished the 2024-25 season connecting on 34.0% (64-of-188) from three-point range and finished the season with 22 double-figure scoring performances, which included six games with 20 or more points. He turned his top game of the season against Mississippi College in a 22-point, 96-74, win, as he posted 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, which included a 6-for-7 shooting effort from three-point range. 

Look for Williams to be a starter for the Bulldogs this coming season, and the combination him with either Adebisi or Davis in the lineup will immediately give the Bulldogs more athleticism. 

Rounding out the portal additions made by Conroy and staff during the spring is 6-4 shooting guard Carter Kingsbury, who comes to The Citadel from Iowa where he was a walk-on. Kingsbury has taken much the same route to The Citadel as former Bulldogs guard Austin Ash, who came to The Citadel from the University of Iowa two years ago, where he was a walk-on. Ash ended, up paying off in a big way for Conroy and the Bulldogs, as he finished out his only season averaging 15.2 PPG to lead the Bulldogs.

Like Ash, Kingsbury was a preferred walk-on playing for Fran McCaffery at Iowa, and the 6-4 shooting guard is a solid perimeter threat even though he didn't see all that much time during his four years with the Hawkeyes. 

The Big Ten All-Academic selection ended up finishing his final season with the Hawkeyes averaging 1.1 PPG and 0.8 RPG, seeing action in a career-best 23 games. Kingsbury hails from Ponca, Nebraska, where he left as Ponca High School's all-time leading scorer (1,771 career points), as well as the record for single-season scoring (595 points as a senior). He also left as the program's all-time leader in three-pointers made, posting 236 made triples during his prep career.

The one other addition to the fold has a European background, in 6-7 junior forward Cassius Bonjasky, who is already enrolled at The Citadel as of this past January. The junior native of Almere, Netherlands comes on board from New Mexico Military Institute (JUCO) where he saw action in 28 games, with 16 starts, averaging 6.4 PPG and 3.4 RPG in the 2023-24 season. 

The quartet of players from the portal will have a chance to both contribute and start next season, and I expect it is likely that both Gabe Hernandez and Braxton Williams seem like the most likely of the trio of players to step in and start right away. 

The final transfer portal addition to keep an eye on heading into the 2025-26 season is a player that, like Hernandez, figures to make an immediate impact in the immediate future for the Bulldogs, as 6-2 graduate transfer guard Logan Applegate joins the program from Drury University, which is the same place that produced Furman's dynamic shooter Conley Garrison back in 2021-22, so it's a good program to find undiscovered talent that could equate in a good mid-major league like the SoCon. 

Applegate is one of those same players cut from the same fabric as the former Furman guard, which is an excellent perimeter shooter with a quick release, He has connected on 201 three-pointers in each of his final three seasons at Drury, with a weird penchant for ending up with exactly 67 made triples in each of those campaigns. His most efficient season as a perimeter threat came during the 2022-23 season, as he connected on 39% (67-of-172) of his long-range efforts. 

In the 2024-25 season, Applegate was selected as a second-team all-conference player in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, highlighted by a 36-point performance in a game against Southwest Baptist last season, and in that game, he would also set a new school mark with 10 made three-pointers in what was an 89-59 win for the Drury Panthers. 

In three seasons at Drury, Applegate finished 32nd in program history with 1,130 points and ended his final campaign with the Panthers averaging 13.9 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.1 APG. Perhaps most important of all was the fact that he shot 89.8% from the charity stripe, and he will definitely give the Bulldogs a much-needed boost in that area. 

The Citadel went out and signed a pair of players from the high school ranks, as Conroy signed a both a shooting guard and a power forward in the fall signing period last November.

Marcos Gonzalez is a 6-3 shooting guard that comes onboard from Brother Rice High School in Chicago and he is coming off a big senior campaign, which saw him named as the Southtown Boys Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 18.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 3.1 APG during his senior season of 2024-25. Gonzales led Brother Rice to a runner-up state title finish last season, and is a good enough perimeter threat that should see him break into the rotation for the Bulldogs in 2025-26. 

The other freshman acquisition the Bulldogs made during the off-season is 6-8 power forward Chase Williams, who comes on board for The Citadel out of West Bladen High School out of Elizabethtown, N.C., where he was a three-time all-conference selection, averaging 20.8 PPG in his final season as a prep. He is a three-star recruit and with his ability and efficiency around the basket, along with his leadership qualities, he should find his way into the rotation as soon as the 2025-26 season.

Conroy and the Bulldogs have approached the off-season with a little better idea of how to solve their issues it appears and not let things to reach the level of struggle of which they reached last season.

Not only were new players brought in, but also new staff members. Conroy recently welcomed in a couple of new additions to his coaching staff, with the hiring of Andrew Glover and Brady Schuck as assistants earlier this month.

Glover and Schuck are both Charleston natives and will understand the recruiting culture and lifestyle better than anyone. Glover is a graduate of Wando High School and spent this past season as the head coach of Myers Park High School in Charlotte, leading the program to a conference title and an appearance in the Elite Eight in the state playoffs. For his efforts last season, Glover was named conference coach of the year.

Prior to his time spent as head coach at Myers Park, Glover was the first Head Boys' Basketball Coach at Lucy Beckham High School, leading the program to the Elite Eight in 2022-23 and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2023-24, garnering Coach of the Year plaudits in the process. During his own prep basketball career at Wando, Glover was the captain of Warriors' State Championship winning team. 

Glover also spent time at the collegiate level as an assistant coach honing his craft, spending two seasons at USC Aiken as the Director of Player Development, as serving in assistant coaching role on state championship winning teams at Grey Collegiate Academy in 2018 and '19, respectively.

Schuck brings a winning background as both a coach and player back to the Low Country where he grew up. Schuck spent the past two seasons as an assistant at the NCAA Division II level at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL, as he was part of a pair of winning seasons during his stint with highly-successful Saints basketball program, which included a 2023-24 season that saw the Saints win 20 games and make it to the championship game of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament. 

Prior to his time at Flagler, Schuck got his start in coaching at James Island Charter School in Charleston, leading the Trojans to the Sweet Sixteen in 2023 and a Region Championship in 2024, garnering Coach of the Year honors in the process.

Schuck brings a wealth of knowledge about Southern Conference basketball to the staff for the Bulldogs, having spent time playing at Furman University for Niko Medved and Bob Richey as a part of the Paladins' highly successful program. 

He was a part of a 2016-17 Paladins team that shared the Southern Conference regular-season title with UNCG and ETSU, winning 23 games in the process. In the 2018-19 season, Schuck's Furman team garnered its first-ever AP Top 25 ranking, knocking off both Loyola-Chicago and defending national champion Villanova as a part of a historic 12-0 start to that season. 

Hiring two guys like Glover and Schuck that have been a part of winning no matter where they have been can only be infectious to others, and that's something The Citadel's basketball needs desperately right now.

As far as what the outlook for the season is, it's hard for one not to think the Bulldogs will not be better in all phases. I think most of the improvement will be seen in the fact this team has better shooters and it should me more athletic, and that should enable them to be a lot better on the defensive end of the floor. 

When you look at Conroy's most-successful seasons as the head coach of The Citadel, being not good but great defensively has always been a hallmark of those teams. Even the 2022-23 season, which also saw the Bulldogs struggle, but competitive in a lot of ways, even knocking off eventual league champion Furman, the Bulldogs were solid on the defensive end of the floor at times during that season. 

One of the interesting things that stands out about this team on paper is that its tallest player on the roster is 6-8, and so that means the Bulldogs will be one of the smaller teams in the SoCon this coming season and will be placing a premium on that athleticism and length to create havoc and cause issues. 

As you probably already know, Conroy excels as a tactician in terms of Xs and Os, and he will have his team prepared with a unique defensive game plan each time out in league play, which will no doubt be curtailed to said SoCon foe's personnel on the other side and designed to take away their strengths. 

There is perhaps no coach better in the SoCon at scouting teams and having his team prepared defensively. That's what made the 2024-25 season so bizarre to see the Bulldogs perform so below form even if under-talented as other teams in the league.

As far as realistic expectations are concerned this season, it's tough to say. However, I think if the Bulldogs can win 5-7 SoCon games this season it would be considered a huge improvement and something to certainly build on for the future. It's going to take some time to get the ship righted so to speak, and some patience will be required by newly installed Director of Athletics Art Chase (once an SID at The Citadel), but I am sure he understands that all too well. 

As far as the Bulldogs' non-conference schedule is concerned, there are decent games to keep an eye on. The Bulldogs will face Boston College for a third-straight season, heading to Chestnut Hill on Nov. 6, while traveling to West Georgia on Nov. 14 for one of the earlier games in the SoCon-A-SUN challenge. 

If you're looking for a place the long losing streak might end, this date might be one to highlight, as the Wolves finished just 6-25 a year ago and finished ranked 350 out of 366 NCAA Division I teams, which was just five spots ahead of the Bulldogs in the KenPom final released rankings for the 2024-25 season.  

The Wolves are still making the transition from the NCAA Division II level to the NCAA Division I level. The Bulldogs finish out the SoCon-A-SUN challenge on Nov. 24, hosting Bellarmine, which offers another excellent chance for a win, as the Knights matched The Citadel's win total with just five wins a year ago.

In December, The Citadel will face off against Davidson in a battle of two old former SoCon rivals, as the Bulldogs travel to Belk Arena on the shore banks of Lake Norman for that contest. It will mark the first time the Bulldogs and Wildcats haven't met since the 2013-14 season. 

Ranking The Top 10 Portal Additions:

1. G- Teddy Washington Jr. (SEMO-to-Chattanooga)

2. F-Asa Thomas (Clemson-to-Furman)

3. G-Jaylen Smith (North Florida-to-East Tennessee State)

4. G-Milton Matthews II (FAMU-to-ETSU)

5. F/C Dylan Faulkner (Lipscomb-to-Samford)

6. G-Zaire Williams (Wagner-to-Mercer)

7. G-Donald Whitehead Jr. (California U PA-to-UNC Greensboro)

8. G-Jikari Johnson (Trevecca Nazarene-to-Chattanooga)

9. G--Logan Applegate (Drury-to-The Citadel)

10. G--Jadin Booth (Florida Southern-to-Samford)

Ranking The Top 5 Freshman Additions:

1. G-Alex Wilkins (Furman)

2. F-Brian Sumpter (Wofford)

3. G-Maddox Huff (ETSU)

4. G-Tahlan Pettway (Western Carolina)

5. G-Abijah Franklin (Furman)

Five Breakout Players To Watch:

1.G-Eddrin Bronson (Furman)

2. F-Brady Shoulders (Mercer)

3. G-CJ Hyland (Western Carolina)

4. G-Zion Wilburn (Samford)

5. G-Maki Johnson (ETSU)

Five Intriguing Non-Conference Games to Watch:

1. Nov. 3 Furman vs. High Point (Rock Hill Events Center/Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon), 6:30 p.m. EST

2. Nov. 14 Furman at Northern Iowa, 

3. Nov. 26 Mercer at Appalachian State 2 p.m. EST

4. Dec. 2 ETSU at Dayton, TBA

5. Dec. 4 The Citadel at Davidson, TBA

Potential Power Conference Upset Opportunities:

Dec. 3 Mercer at Clemson, TBA

Nov. 4 UNCG at Kansas State, 8 p.m. EST

Nov. 14 Samford at Arkansas, TBA

Nov. 9 VMI at Missouri,  2 p.m. (SEC Network)

Dec. 11 Western Carolina at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m. EST

Dec. 18 Western Carolina at Georgia, 7 p.m. EST

Dec. 13, Chattanooga vs. Auburn, 4:30 p.m. EST (Holiday Hoopsgiving/Atlanta, GA)