Teams

2020 Field

Syracuse

(Head Coach: Jim Boeheim, Atlantic Coast Conference) – Hall of Fame member Jim Boeheim enters his 45th season at the helm of his alma mater ranked second among active Division I coaches in victories…the Orange are coming off an 18-14 campaign that was halted by the national pandemic the day after a quarterfinal victory against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament…Syracuse welcomes back four starters, including the starting backcourt of Buddy Boeheim, a junior, and sophomore Joseph Girard…senior forward Marek Dolezaj and senior center Bourama Sidibe are the other two returning first-stringers…the Orange played in the inaugural Gotham Classic in 2012.
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LSU

(Head Coach: Will Wade, Southeastern Conference) – In three years at the helm of the LSU program, Will Wade has guided the Tigers to 67 wins and two postseason trips, including advancing to the Sweet 16 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament…this past year saw LSU on the verge of their third straight postseason bid with a 21-10 record and tied for second in the SEC…seven players return in 2020-21, including three starters…the Tigers’ leading returning scorer is sophomore Trendon Watford, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team a year ago…he is joined by fellow starters in juniors Javonte Smart and Darius Days.
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Green Bay

(Head Coach: Will Ryan, Horizon League) – Will Ryan was named head coach of the Phoenix on June 7 after a season as head coach at Wheeling (W. Va.) University…he inherits a team that went 17-16 while picking up a win in the Horizon League tournament…four players who started at least 11 games last year return, led by Horizon League Freshman of the Year Amari Davis, who also garnered third-team All-League honors as the Phoenix’s second-leading scorer…senior PJ Pipes joins Davis in the backcourt.
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Jacksonville State

(Head Coach: Ray Harper, Ohio Valley Conference) – Entering his fifth season at JSU, Ray Harper boasts a career record of 511-183, with a .736 winning percentage that represents the highest of all OVC, and a 80-56 overall mark in four seasons at JSU…this year the Gamecocks return one starter in senior swingman Kayne Henry, who earned a place on the OVC All-Newcomer team a year ago.
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Mercer

(Head Coach: Greg Gary, Southern Conference) – In his first year at Mercer, Greg Gary led the Bears to a 17-15 record, including an 11-7 mark, fueled by a mid-season six-game league winning streak, in the SoCon…this season, nine players return, including three starters, led by junior guard Jeff Gary and sophomore guard Kamar Robertson, who was named to the SoCon’s All-Freshman team last season.
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Stony Brook

(Head Coach: Geno Ford, America East Conference) – Geno Ford guided the Seawolves to a 20-13 record in his first season at the Stony Brook helm, which included a team record 274 3-pointers made…this year he needs to replace five starters but welcomes back the inside-outside tandem of senior center Mouhamadou Gueye and sophomore guard Tyler Stephenson-Moore…in 33 games last year, Gueye averaged 7.0 ppg and 6.4 rpg while averaging nearly 25 minutes off the bench…Stephenson-Moore played in 28 games and averaged 4.3 ppg with 22 3-pointers…two-time JUCO All-American Juan Felix Rodriguez, who played with Gueye at Monroe College, headlines the Seawolves’ incoming recruiting class.
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Iona

(Head Coach: Rick Pitino, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) – In one of the biggest announcements of the off-season, Iona hired Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino to take over the reins of the Gaels…Pitino comes to New Rochelle having led four different programs to the NCAA Tournament (Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville) and is the first coach to lead two programs to a National Championship (Kentucky 1996, Louisville 2017)…his .740 winning percentage ranks third-highest among active coaches…at Iona, he inherits two returning starters in senior guards Isaiah Ross and Asante Gist…Ross averaged 11.0 ppg while Gist netted 10.1 ppg in 15 games before an injury ended his season.
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2015 Field

Pittsburgh Panthers

Pittsburgh Panthers – Head Coach: Jamie Dixon (Atlantic Coast Conference)
Head coach Jamie Dixon has guided the Panthers to 307 wins in 12 seasons at the helm of the program, winning at least 20 games in 11 of those campaigns…he has also led Pitt to the postseason all 12 seasons, including 10 NCAA Tournament berths and a trip to last year’s NIT…the Panthers enter the 2015-16 season with four starters returning, including leading scorer Jamel Artis (13.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and leading rebounder Michael Young (7.3 rpg, 13.4 ppg), both of whom will be juniors…Pittsburgh has been to 25 NCAA Tournaments with one trip to the Final Four.
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DYNAMIC DUO: Juniors Jamel Artis and Michael Young form the top returning scoring tandem in the ACC. The forward duo combined to reach double-figures in scoring 50 times and averaged 27.0 points per game a year ago.

GET THIS: Pitt ranks among the nation’s top six programs in winning percentage (.765, 364-121) over the past 14 years. During that span, the Panthers have made one NCAA Elite Eight appearance, five Sweet Sixteen appearances, won six Big East titles, and advanced to 12 of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments.

KEEPING GOOD COMPANY: Pitt is one of only nine schools nationally to advance to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of the last 14 seasons: Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Pitt, Texas, and Wisconsin.

TOP THIS: Pitt is the only team in the last 10 years to post wins over top 15 teams from Connecticut, Duke, Georgetown, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia.

THE MAN: Jamie Dixon is in his 13th season as a head coach with 307 career victories. He already ranks ninth in NCAA history for most coaching wins through 13 seasons.

Davidson Wildcats

Davidson Wildcats – Head Coach: Bob McKillop (Atlantic 10 Conference)
The Wildcats are coming off their first season as a member of the Atlantic 10…after being picked 12th in the league’s preseason poll, Davidson won the A-10 regular season title and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament…four starters return for the Wildcats, led by the back court of junior Jack Gibbs (16.2 ppg, 120 assists) and senior Brian Sullivan (12.7 ppg, 124 assists)…head coach Bob McKillop will enter his 27th season at Davidson, having amassed 496 victories…the Wildcats have participated in 13 NCAA Tournaments, eight of which have come during McKillop’s tenure.
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A+: In its first season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Davidson won the league’s regular-season title after being selected to finish 12^th in the preseason coaches’ poll. It marked the fourth straight regular-season conference title for the Wildcats and the 11th in the last 14 years. (Davidson played in the Southern Conference prior to joining the A-10). Davidson also advanced to its 13th NCAA Tournament last season, the eighth under head coach Bob McKillop.

HALL OF FAMER: When Bob McKillop strolls the sidelines during the Gotham Classic at Madison Square Garden on December 20, he will do so as a new member of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, having been inducted on September 16. Although he has been at Davidson for 27 seasons, McKillop is a New Yorker, born in Queens and growing up in Long Island.

DID YOU KNOW, PART I: The Wildcats are averaging 23.4 wins a year dating back to 2004-05 season. To keep that going, Davidson returns four starters from last season, including all-conference performers Brian Sullivan, Jack Gibbs, and Peyton Aldridge.

DID YOU KNOW, PART II: Each of the last four seasons has seen a Wildcat named conference Player of the Year. Last season it was graduated Tyler Kalinoski. In addition, Bob McKillop was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.

Eastern Washington Eagles

Eastern Washington Eagles – Head Coach: Jim Hayford (Big Sky Conference)
EWU posted a 26-9 record en route to winning a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season championship, the league’s postseason tournament championship, and earning a NCAA Tournament berth for the second time ever (2003-04)…head coach Jim Hayford, the Big Sky co-Coach of the Year, welcomes back five letterwinners and three 2014-15 redshirts, including senior forward Venky Jois, a first-team all-league honoree who averaged of 16.7 ppg and 7.7 rpg…forward Bogdan Bliznyuk was named the Big Sky’s Freshman of the Year for averaging 8.7 ppg and 4.0 rpg last season.
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ENCORE: The Eagles closed a monumental 2014-15 campaign with a 26-9 record overall after finishing 14-4 in the Big Sky Conference to share the regular-season title. Eastern then won the Big Sky Conference to earn the school’s second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Eagles finished with program bests for overall victories (26), Big Sky wins (14), road wins (11), non-conference wins (9).

THE FOUNDATION: Head coach Jim Hayford took over an Eastern team four years ago that had been to the Big Sky Tournament just once in five seasons. With 66 victories overall and 39 league wins under Hayford, EWU experienced the best four-year stretch since 2000-04 when Eastern had 69 wins overall and 41 in the Big Sky.

CLASSROOM SUCCESS: For the second year in a row, EWU was honored with the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award. Eastern’s 3.27 team grade point average was the best in the Big Sky Conference in the 2014-15 season, and .20 better than the team’s 3.07 average of a year ago.

VENKY, VENKY GOOD: Venky Jois was named to the All-Big Sky Conference first team as a junior in 2014-15, and then was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team. He also has a 3.51 grade point average as an interdisciplinary studies major (biology/pre-med emphasis). He is a three-time member of the Big Sky All-Academic team and was a member of the NABC Honors Court as a junior.

Morehead State Eagles

Morehead State Eagles – Head Coach: Sean Woods (Ohio Valley Conference)
The Eagles went 17-17 and advanced to the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament last season…senior guard Brent Arrington leads a group of six returning players from a year ago after averaging 11.1 ppg to go along with 77 assists and 65 steals…he’s joined in the back court by junior Corban Collins (8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg)…head coach Sean Woods is in his fourth season at Morehead State…the 35 wins over his first two seasons are the most by any Eagles’ coach in history.
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BACK FOR MORE: Morehead State returns two starters from last year’s team, including the back court of senior Brent Arrington, a preseason All-OVC selection, and junior Corban Collins. Senior forwards Lyonell Gaines and Anthony Elechi also return after making a combined eight starts. Gaines posted four double-digit scoring games early in the season before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

NEW BLOOD: MSU welcomes eight new players this season, including two true freshmen (Malik Maitland, Lamontray Harris) and six junior college transfers (Ty’Quan Bitting, Keion Alexander, DeJuan Marrero, Xavier Moon, Treshaad Williams, Ronnye Beamon). Only six players return from last season’s 17-17 squad.

THE BEST: During head coach Sean Woods’ first three seasons at Morehead State, the Eagles won 52 games, which is the most for any coach in his first three seasons in MSU history. Wood came to Morehead State after a successful four-year run at Mississippi Valley State.

Western Carolina Catamounts

Western Carolina Catamounts – Head Coach: Larry Hunter (Southern Conference)
Head coach Larry Hunter, who has won 664 games in 35 seasons as a head coach, welcomes back 10 players, including four starters, from a team that went 15-17 a year ago in advancing to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament…leading the way is senior guard Mike Brown, who was the Catamounts’ second leading scorer at 13.8 ppg and their leading rebounder at 6.3 rpg…also back is senior guard Rhett Harrelson, who averaged 11.8 ppg and handed out 73 assists.
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WINNER: Larry Hunter entered the 2015-16 season as the 10th winningest active coach in the country with 664 victories in 35 seasons as a head coach, including 11 at Western Carolina. To add to that win total, Hunter has a roster that is young, boasting eight freshmen and sophomores among the 14 players. That said, four of the five Catamount starters are seniors.

HISTORICAL FIRSTS: Western Carolina’s Henry Logan – the program’s all-time leading scorer – helped break the color barrier in college basketball when he signed with WCU in 1964, becoming the first African-American collegiate athlete in the history of North Carolina and perhaps at any predominantly white institution in the southeastern United States. Logan scored an astounding 3,290 points – an average of 30.7 points per game – during his career and was a four-time NAIA All-America selection.

Western Carolina also gave birth to the first 3-point shot in NCAA history as former Catamount Ronnie Carr buried a 3-pointer in WCU’s 77-70 victory over Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 29, 1980.

STAYING HOME: All three Western Carolina assistant coaches call WCU their alma mater. Anquell McCollum played from 1993-96 and is a member of WCU’s 12-man, All-20th Century team. Brigham Waginger played from 2007-10 and shattered the school’s career record for steals by 64, finishing with 285 career thefts. Willie Freeman played for two seasons from 2000-02 and was a starter for the Catamounts from day one and later served as team captain after transferring from Spartanburg Methodist College.

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