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Trabs Files: National Storylines 2015-16

11/12/2015, 11:00pm EST
By Matt Trabold

Matt Trabold (@TrabsMatt)
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This season’s men’s college basketball action will grace the eyes of fans starting tomorrow night. Whether it be from the exploits of returning players, junior college transfers, Division I swaps, guys coming off a redshirt season or freshmen, this season will again certainly be full of exciting moments.

1.) What impact will prized recruits still awaiting eligibility rulings from the NCAA have on their respective teams? 

Over the last couple of days, arguably the two best Class of 2015 point guard recruits out of the Chicago area finally received the news from the NCAA on whether or not they could play in games for their new teams in what they had planned to be their freshman campaigns this upcoming season. Unfortunately for them, Marcus LoVett, Jr. of St. John’s was ruled a partial qualifier that can only practice with the Red Storm while Luwane Pipkins of Massachusetts was ruled a non-qualifier altogether who can’t even help out his team or gain experience from them in the practice facility during the 2015-2016 season.

Not every player in this predicament is as lucky as the likes of Kentucky’s Skal Labissière, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan and Marquette’s Haanif Cheatham in terms of hearing one way or the other before a season begins. Texas A&M's Tonny Trocha-Morelos didn’t have his answer from the NCAA until after Billy Kennedy’s side had played the first three games of last season, and some recruits are in a similar boat this year.

The most high-profile member of this group of recruits yet to be informed of their NCAA eligibility decision for the season that begins today is a top-ten one in his class in 6-9 Cheick Diallo of Kansas. Bill Self’s front line features a player that has been such a staple over the past few years that men’s college basketball fans frequently joke that he’s been a Jayhawk for the better part of a decade now in Perry Ellis, another five-star freshman in Carlton Bragg Jr., someone who solidified himself as a starter down the stretch last season in Landen Lucas and a former Arkansas Razorback that could easily be due for a breakout year in Hunter Mickelson. Even with all that, their frontcourt could still really use a rim protector of Diallo’s caliber.

The tallest young man on this list is UCF’s Tacko Fall. Like UC-Irvine junior Mamadou Ndiaye, this native of Senegal is surprisingly nimble at 7-6 and would go a long way to thrusting the Golden Knights back into the national relevance they enjoyed in the 2010-2011 campaign that featured appearances in national polls behind Marcus Jordan and Keith Clanton. Ohio State has plenty of talent on the wing currently with young returnees Jae'Sean Tate and Marc Loving on top of fellow freshman Austin Grandstaff, but Mickey Mitchell with his size out there, versatility, transition prowess and otherworldly athleticism would provide a whole different weapon at the disposal of Thad Matta and his staff.

The program that could be maligned the most this season by these rulings though is St. John’s. While high-profile Italian import Federico Mussini can help ease the backcourt loss of LoVett, Jr., the intention was for four-star big man Kassoum Yakwe to be thoroughly counted on to attempt to fill the hole left up front by Chris Obekpa’s departure to UNLV. Also, one of Bruce Pearl’s early recruiting victories at Auburn to go along with top-two junior college swap T.J. Dunans and multi-faceted Providence and NC State graduate transfer Tyler Harris was four-star small forward Danjel Purifoy, but he was just the latest addition to this collection of names.

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2.) How will squads attempt to recover from major injuries to important players that happened shortly before this season gets underway? 

A men’s college basketball mind would be hard-pressed to find a year in recent memory where there were this many big-name players from coast to coast going down with injury for extended periods of time – if not the entire season – inside just a few weeks before the season began. The most high-profile player that has this ill-fated distinction is also one that is supposed to be back on the court during the 2015-2016 campaign, unlike many of his counterparts in this predicament. Two-time All-ACC North Carolina senior point guard Marcus Paige is out for up to a month after he fractured a finger in practice in the past week.

A starting point guard whose injury won’t allow him to come back this season like with Paige is the young man who was the pick to fill Chasson Randle’s big shoes at Stanford, Robert Cartwright. Before Cartwright broke an arm in a November 2 practice, the Cardinal was already dealing with injury issues in their backcourt. Johnny Dawkins has already named Cartwright’s replacement for the foreseeable future as Christian Sanders – a combo guard who turned heads in the 2012-2013 season by breaking into the starting lineup for some games out of the blue as a freshman.

One of the major national storylines going into every men’s college basketball season is whether or not this is there Northwestern will finally make the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats going into their third season with Chris Collins at the helm were thought to be a sneaky pick by some to steal some games during the Big Ten slate and finally hear their name called on Selection Sunday. That aspiration took a monumental hit this week as one of the country’s top breakout candidates in former top-70 recruit sophomore wing Vic Law was lost for the season with a torn labrum that would require surgery. Law’s minutes will most likely be divvied up between another springy sophomore in Scottie Lindsey and sweet-shooting 6-8 top-75 recruit Aaron Falzon.

Getting back to starting point guards sadly dealing with the significant injury bug as their respective teams make their final preparations before the 2015-2016 campaign, College of Charleston junior Joe Chealey suffered a season-ending lower leg injury at the end of last month. Chealey and fellow junior Cougar Canyon Barry were supposed to make up one of the top mid-major backcourt duos again this season. Arizona has at its disposal a pair of established front line transfers in former Boston College Eagle Ryan Anderson and former San Francisco Don Mark Tollefsen, but a player that was projected to be a bigger asset in the trenches for Sean Miller and his staff than both of them was 6-8 top-thirty recruit Ray Smith. Smith, who many projected to be a first round selection in the next NBA Draft, suffered a torn ACL in practice at the end of last month as well.

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3.) Who are the power conference teams projected to make the jump from good to elite this season? 

With tip-top recruits like Diamond StoneJaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb on top of transfers like Rasheed SulaimonRobert Carter and Stephen Domingo in this season, Maryland and Cal are a surprise to just about no one to be ranked so highly in the preseason AP Top-25 Poll despite some of the struggles the programs have experienced at times over the last half-decade. Purdue and Vanderbilt are a different story in the eyes of most men’s college basketball fans.

The Boilermakers also corralled a blue chip recruit in five-star Caleb Swanigan after he originally committed to another Big Ten program in Michigan State earlier in the summer. The 6-9 Swanigan was listed as a center recruit, but that position is more than solidified on Matt Painter’s squad. Last season, seven-foot senior A.J. Hammons became the first player in the conference in 35 years to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 250 blocks before his senior year. Hammons was joined a season ago in the middle for Purdue by another seven-footer in 7-2 Isaac Haas. He had a productive freshman campaign for the Boilermakers and stormed out of the gate to start his men’s college basketball career leading the team in scoring in the non-conference part of the schedule. Painter and his staff have made a point over the past few seasons to add wily veteran graduate transfers to the fold with Errick PeckJon Octeus and Sterling Carter. That is no different this time around with Texas-Arlington swap guard Johnny Hill slated as the team’s current starting point guard.

Like Purdue with Hammons and Haas, the Commodores also have a pair of starring seven-footers in Damian Jones and Luke Kornet – not to mention the backup to Jones at the five-spot in seven-foot Josh Henderson. Seven-foot Jones made the pretty unorthodox announcement recently that he was declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft before this season even got underway with him being projected as a top-ten pick in it. The 7-1 Kornet is an inside-outside threat that hit at least three triples in six games as a sophomore and has grown three inches since arriving on campus. Venturing away from the Vanderbilt frontcourt, Kevin Stallings and his staff are blessed with an astounding four of the most impressive perimeter shooters in the country in Wade Baldwin IVMatthew Fisher-DavisRiley LaChance and even the skyscraping Kornet. On top of that, 6-3 freshman Camron Justice was touted by many experts as one of the top marksmen in the Class of 2015.

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4.) What kind of impact will redshirt freshmen have on this men’s college basketball season? 

With the eligibility problems of certain incoming recruits becoming an increasing issue in men’s college basketball, redshirt freshmen like recent Kansas Jayhawk Ben McLemore, recent Arizona State Sun Devil Jahii Carson, current Florida State Seminole Xavier Rathan-Mayes and current Louisville Cardinal Mangok Mathiang have become a bigger aspect of the game.

Redshirt freshmen should again play a big factor on a national scale this time around. This season is certainly not void of tip-top recruits like the names above that were forced to wait a year before making their mark in the sport. Arguably, the two biggest names that fit this description for the 2015-2016 campaign are Brandone Francis-Ramirez of Florida and Jonah Bolden of UCLA. The 6-5 Dominican top-35 recruit guard Francis-Ramirez was forced to sit out as fellow four-star Class of 2014 Gators backcourt recruit Chris Chiozza logged eleven starts as a freshman.

The Australian Bolden was also a top-35 player in that recruiting class and his projected first-year frontcourt running mate Kevon Looney played well enough in his first season as a Bruin to get drafted in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft by the defending champion Golden State Warriors - making him a bigger need to Steve Alford and his staff this time around anyways. Just as, if not more, important a freshman big man coming off an ineligibility-induced redshirt season as Bolden is 6-11 Dayton Flyer Steve McElveneArchie Miller’s side needed him in a big way after the mid-season dismissals of Devon Scott and Jalen Robinson left the team last season with no player over 6-6 and a 5-scholarship player rotation.

Redshirt freshmen of note aren’t always the top-fifty recruit types that were ruled ineligible the first time around by the NCAA. Sometimes, players successfully utilize a redshirt season before they start their men’s college basketball career to simply work on their game and body before entering the rigors of this next level, like with Baylor’s Johnathan Motley, San Diego State’s Matt Shrigley and Detroit’s Paris Bass. The best redshirt freshman this season could easily turn out to be one of these kinds in Wisconsin’s Ethan HappBo Ryan and his staff may be one of the most recognizable programs nationally, but they take a more uniquely successful approach to rebuilding that ends up including a lot of three-stars like Happ was. He steps into a huge role with the Badgers from the get-go with Sam DekkerDuje Dukan and Frank Kaminsky all currently on NBA rosters.

Injuries obviously can also play a role in shutting down recruits for a season before they have the chance to start their men’s college basketball careers. Baylor’s Allerik Freeman and Marquette’s Duane Wilson dealt with this of late. Despite this form of hurdle, 6-6 Edmond Sumner may be the starting point guard for another dangerous Xavier squad this season. As his Class of 2014 recruiting classmate Malik Pope was making the eyebrows of NBA scouts rise last season, Zylan Cheatham also dealt with an injury that forced him to redshirt.

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5.) What are the different ways in which the 2015 NCAA Tournament Final Four teams rebuilt for this season? 

Even with Michigan State joining top seeds Wisconsin, Duke and Kentucky as a seven-seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Final Four, most weren’t shocked with the sides that made it that far a season ago with the pedigree and name recognition of those programs. The difference between the squads of that quartet though going into this season is how one rebuilt compared to the other three.

Don’t let Sam Dekker being a Badger recently make you forget that Bo Ryan and his staff have been such a powerhouse over the years predominantly by finding more unique ways to rebound from roster losses rather than add at least one McDonald’s All-American every offseason. This time around may be the biggest example of that yet as the program enters its next period of relative unknowns turning into household names. Behind returning stars Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig, the most productive player this year for them could easily be 6-9 former three-star recruit redshirt freshman Ethan Happ.

With Dekker now a Houston Rocket, Frank Kaminsky now a Charlotte Hornet and Duje Dukan now a Sacramento King, the Wisconsin front line will also be getting reinvigorated by a pair of Class of 2015 three-stars in Charlie Thomas and Alex Illikainen. Thomas is similar to recent Bowling Green State Falcon and current rookie Philadelphia 76er Richaun Holmes. Another player stepping into a bigger role in the 2015-2016 season for the boys with the Kohl Center home court advantage is former walk-on guard Zak Showalter, who played a big role off the bench in that run to the national title game.

No program has rebuilt in a flashier way of late than John Calipari and Kentucky. Men’s college basketball fans certainly know about Haitian Skal Labissière, Canadian Jamal Murray, Isaiah Briscoe and Charles Matthews, but the most interesting addition to their batch of newcomers might be Isaac Humphries. The versatile seven-foot Australian reclassified out of high school early in order to be on the Wildcats this season. On top of that, Big Blue brought in its first junior college transfer in a long time in another 6-4 Canadian backcourt player in Mychal Mulder.

Just like Kentucky with Humphries, Duke had a current freshman reclassify out of high school early to get on his dream men’s college basketball destination’s roster as soon as possible in point guard Derryck ThorntonLuke Kennard and Chase Jeter were 2015 McDonald’s All-Americans, but the top first-year kid to watch for the Blue Devils is Brandon Ingram. The long-armed 6-9 swingman is astoundingly drawing George Gervin comparisons with all the ways he utilizes that wingspan of his. As far as non-freshman players in their first Duke season go, 6-9 Rice transfer Sean Obi averaged nearly a double-double for the Owls in his freshman season in the sport.

Caleb Swanigan may have spurned Michigan State for Purdue this offseason after originally committing to the Spartans, but Tom Izzo’s freshman class still has a McDonald’s All-American in 6-10 Deyonta Davis. He actually dunked clear over an opponent on the team’s ambitious summer tour against various European senior national teams. Other incoming recruits for Michigan State include burly, high-flying 6-5 guard Kyle Ahrens – who would have been a more highly rated recruit if not for a major leg injury during his junior year in high school – and major downtown threat Matt McQuaid – who has been getting groomed into more of a point guard this offseason. The new Spartan with the best chance to lead the team in scoring though is multi-faceted West Virginia transfer guard Eron Harris. Harris finished fourth in the mighty Big 12 in scoring two seasons ago.

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Here are categories of just some of the players to keep an eye on during the 2015-2016 campaign:

Floor Generals
- Kris Dunn--Jr., Providence
- Sterling Gibbs--Sr., Connecticut
- Kahlil Felder--Jr., Oakland
- Noah Blackwell--Fr., Long Beach State
- Alec Wintering--Jr., Portland
- Devin Wilson--Jr., Virginia Tech
- Marcus Johnson Jr.--Jr., Arkansas-Little Rock
- Bryce Jones--Jr., Murray State
- Paris Austin--Fr., Boise State
- Lindsey Drew--Fr., Nevada

Marksmen
- Nic Thomas--Fr., Houston Baptist
- John Simons--Sr., Central Michigan
- Bjorn Broman--Fr., Winthrop
- Aaron Falzon--Fr., Northwestern
- James McGee--So., Southern Utah
- Jordan Mathews--Jr., Cal
- Tyrell Green--Jr., UNLV
- Trey Lewis--Sr., Louisville
- Jared Brownridge--Jr., Santa Clara
- Malique Trent--So., TCU

Bangers on the Blocks
- Rico Gathers--Sr., Baylor
- Torren Jones--Jr., Fresno State
- Hassan Martin--Jr., Rhode Island
- Noah Dickerson--Fr., Washington
- Ryan Anderson--Sr., Arizona
- Josh Hawkinson--Jr., Washington State
- Shevon Thompson--Sr., George Mason
- Tonye Jekiri--Sr., Miami (FL)
- Pascal Siakam--So., New Mexico State
- Chima Moneke--Jr., UC-Davis

Versatility Mavens
- Kyle Collinsworth--Sr., BYU
- Rex Pflueger--Fr., Notre Dame
- James Webb III--Jr., Boise State
- Reveal Chukwujekwu--Jr., Houston Baptist
- Ben Simmons--Fr., Louisiana State
- Zay Jackson--Sr., Southeastern Louisiana
- Luke Kornet--Jr., Vanderbilt
- Dre Wills--Jr., Vermont
- Mareik Isom--Jr., Arkansas-Little Rock
- Trey Freeman--Sr., Old Dominion


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