In this podcast, Isaac Bourne, Ian Sacks, Frank DeBari, and Drew Gentile come together to preview three new mid-major conferences as we truck the month before the month before the college basketball season starts.
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Horizon
It’s Robert Morris’ league to lose. With the pickup of Ace Valentine from UMBC and Jalik Dunkley from Nicholls plus the return of Darius Livingston Jr., head coach Andrew Toole has put together one of his best rosters to date. That is not to say that other programs are not out of the running, though, with teams like Wright State, Green Bay and Milwaukee looking dangerous as we inch closer to the start of the season. The Phoenix are waiting on some court cases to go their way before they can truly vault themselves into contending status.
Coastal
No conference’s turnout is more dependent on one player’s eligibility more than the CAA, with former Akron guard Tavari Johnson sitting in limbo at the moment as he awaits a possible fifth season with head coach John Groce, who is now the head coach at Charleston. Johnson would surely be an easy preseason player of the year favorite. Elsewhere, Takayo Siddle and the Seahawks of UNCW have put together a well-balanced squad that shows a great mix of transfers and returners to the lineup. Towson sits in the mix as well with Villanova transfer Zion Stanford looking to produce on a mid-major level once again like he did at Temple in 2024-25. Hampton projects to take a leap out of the bottom-feeders into possible contention as well this year, with a new-look starting lineup headlined by former Central Connecticut big man Max Frazier.
Conference USA
Finally…the conference can take a break from Liberty’s dominance of the past few years in the regular season, with Zach Cleveland, Colin Porter and Kaden Metheny all moving on…or can it? The Flames look to be reloaded with the Campbell twins, Cooper and Cobi, coming over from Troy, while Zander Carter looks to take a leap as the lone rotational returner left in Lynchburg. As for the league favorites, the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky bring back two guards in Teagan Moore and Armelo Boone while adding Sharron Young to bolster the already stacked backcourt. As for other contenders, Kennesaw State returns a trio of sophomores in Kaden Rickard, Trey Simpson and Amir Taylor while adding Avery Thomas II from Louisiana Tech, so it projects to be a loaded group at the top once again for CUSA.