It’s never too early to start looking ahead to next season!
Check below for our list of 5 teams on the rise during the 20-21 college basketball season.
In no particular order:
Georgia Tech: Do the Yellow Jackets have the best perimeter in the sport that nobody’s really talking about? It certainly feels that way. Georgia Tech returns a pair of guards in Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe, who both averaged better than 14 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists last season on a team that won 17 games. Remember: Alvarado missed seven games a year ago due to injury while Devoe missed four. Josh Pastner also returns a double-figure scorer up front in Moses Wright and another starter on the wing in Jordan Usher. A pair of high-major transfers — Rodney Howard (Georgia) and Kyle Sturdivant (USC) — should immediately bolster this team’s depth. Georgia Tech looks like an NCAA Tournament team and a squad that should finish in the top half of the ACC.
UConn: The Huskies may have wound up winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament last March had it not been cancelled due to COVID-19. It says here that UConn won’t need an automatic bid to reach the NCAA Tournament in 2021. Just as he did at both Wagner and Rhode Island, Dan Hurley has displayed tangible progression during his first few years in Storrs and now seems ready to capitalize as the Huskies are set to rejoin the Big East. UConn accumulated 19 wins last year prior to the postseason and returns a dark horse All-American in James Bouknight. The Huskies have also added a top-50 freshman in Andre Jackson. Expect Hurley to immediately push this program into the Big East’s top tier.
Texas: After going a combined 90-78 during his first five years at Texas, Shaka Smart is now positioned to have his best team since he arrived in Austin in 2015. The Longhorns return everyone of significance from last season’s team that won 19 games and made a late NCAA Tournament push, which was highlighted by a pair of road wins at Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas also adds a five-star prospect in freshman forward Greg Brown. Barring something unforeseen, the Longhorns should be one of the best teams in the Big 12 next season, which means they should earn a quality seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Saint Louis: It’s a tough to say a team is “on the rise” when it’s coming off a season where it won 23 games, but Saint Louis looks like a team that will go from being one of the best in the Atlantic 10 to one that could be the top non power conference team in the sport. Travis Ford brings back three all-conference players in Jordan Goodwin, Javonte Perkins, and Hasahn French; both Goodwin and French averaged a double-double last season. Six other players return who averaged double-figure minutes, including a pair of starting caliber wings — Gibson Jimerson and Fred Thatch — who only played a combined 16 games last year due to injuries. It’s not fair to expect the Billikens to do what Dayton did last season, but it’s important to remind people that Saint Louis was closer to beating the Flyers than any other team in the Atlantic 10 a year ago and it brings every single player back. I’ll say it again: this could be the best non power conference team in college basketball.
Tennessee: A top flight recruiting class headlined by two five-star prospects and a power conference transfer make the Vols the preseason favorite in the SEC following last season’s 17-14 mark. Two freshmen — Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer — figure to have an immediate impact while Oregon import Victor Bailey has big game experience. Rick Barnes also has two veterans on the perimeter back in Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James as well as a terrific power forward-center combo with Yves Pons and John Fulkerson. Tennessee looks talented, seasoned, and complete. It’s going to take an awfully good team to finish higher than the Vols in the SEC.
