Today is the day. The start of the college basketball season is now just hours away. The excitement and anticipation levels are at their breaking points. I am practically bouncing off the walls, about to burst. I can’t wait. The big schools have gotten tons of coverage, but what about the small schools. Before things officially tip off in just a few hours from now, let’s talk about some mid-majors to watch this college basketball season.
Men’s Basketball Mid-Majors To Watch In 2024
VCU Rams
VCU brings back three starters and some key bench pieces from last year’s team. The A-10 as a whole has the chance to be much better this year and return to its former status as the premier mid-major conference. These Rams were picked to win it in the preseason conference poll. Max Shulga was a preseason All-Conference First Team member and will be in the running for A-10 Player of the Year. Zeb Jackson will be in the running for the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Joseph Bamisile returns after averaging 13.1 points per game last season, second on the team despite being the sixth man. In each of the last three seasons (and 15 of the last 18) VCU has won at least 20 games. The Rams should hit that mark easily yet again.
Boise State Broncos
Boise State has made the NCAA Tournament in three straight seasons for the first time ever. Despite some tough losses, the Broncos were still voted as the overwhelming favorite to win the Mountain West this year. MWC POTY is Tyson Degenhart‘s award to lose. O’Mar Stanley joins with him again to form one of the best forward duos in the country. Leon Rice brought in some key transfers to join them. Former Lehigh big man Dominic Parolin and former San Jose State guard Alvaro Cardenas should both have immediate impacts, especially the latter. Javan Buchanan, a transfer from the NAIA, is intriguing too. He averaged over 20 points and 6 rebounds per game last season at Indiana Wesleyan.
Saint Mary’s Gaels
Randy Bennett’s Saint Mary’s Gaels have earned a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons, and have finished ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll in each of those seasons. The only problem is that each of those years the Gaels have gotten tough matchups in the tournament, and because of that SMC hasn’t reached the second weekend since 2010. Bennett’s squad did lose a few big pieces. Aidan Mahaney may be across the country, but there is more than enough returning to be a very good team again, plus Bennett is way too good of a coach. Mitchell Saxen is one of the best centers in the country, let alone the WCC. Senior guard Augustas Marciulionis has gotten significantly better each year in college.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Speaking of SMC’s tough tourney opponents, Grand Canyon upset the Gaels back in March. Bryce Drew has taken his Antelopes to the Big Dance in three of the past four seasons. That win over Saint Mary’s back in March was the program’s first-ever tournament win. Things look really good for this season too. Tyon Grant-Foster returns for another round. The reigning WAC Player of the Year might run away with that award this year. Rayshon Harrison and Collin Moore return, and the three of them are the best trio of guards in the WAC. TCU transfer JaKobe Coles adds some needed size. He and incoming UT-Arlington transfer Makaih Williams both averaged 10+ PPG last year.
Princeton Tigers
It was a shame that Princeton missed out on the Dance last season. But that just made Mitch Henderson’s squad even more hungry. Henderson has coached his Tigers to 23 or more wins in each of the last three seasons, a rare feat for the program. A good amount of last year’s team is back including its two leading scorers. The duo of Xaivian Lee and Caden Pierce were both awesome last season. The now-rising juniors both earned All-Conference honors, and Pierce was the Ivy League Player of the Year. Both of them were top four in the Ivy League in scoring.
There is a legitimate shot of this Tigers team getting an at-large bid in March. Princeton would probably have to beat Rutgers (which it is 100% capable of) and other things would have to go right, but it is absolutely a possibility. If that were to happen, it would be the first time ever that two Ivy League teams would make it to the NCAA Tournament in the same season.
High Point Panthers
Now let’s go down to a low-major conference. High Point was pretty much the unanimous pick to win the Big South this season, and for good reason. Alan Huss took zero time to completely turn this program around. In his first year at the helm, Huss led the Panthers to a 13-win improvement from the year before. The 27 games the team won was the most in a season in the program’s time in Division I (previous DI high was 23 in 2014-15), and the most at any level since 1978-79. HPU went on to be the runner-up in the CBI.
76% of the team’s minutes from last year return. Three different Panthers, Kezza Giffa, Kimani Hamilton, and Juslin Bodo Bodo, were named to the Preseason All-Conference First Team. Giffa and Hamilton will be two of the top contenders for Big South Player of the Year, with the former getting the preseason nod for the award. Giffa, a Paris, France native, averaged over 16 PPG last season even though he primarily came off the bench. In addition to most of last year’s team returning, Coach Huss also brought in a bunch of impact transfers. Among them is ECU transfer and former Kansas guard Bobby Pettiford Jr.
Honorable Mentions
Memphis is a team that could be really good. However, the Tigers are made up almost entirely of transfers so the team is hard to predict. I didn’t want to choose multiple teams from the same conference. So other A-10 teams (Dayton, Saint Louis, etc.) and Mountain West Teams (Utah State, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.) weren’t chosen but will all be good and could make some noise. Bradley and McNeese State are two teams that I am high on. Towson, San Francisco, UAB, and others should have an eye kept on them as well.
