Welcome to the Preseason – Basketball practice officially starts TOMORROW!
Now what EXACTLY does ‘basketball practice officially starts’ mean? The ‘Master of all things college basketball’ (the NCAA) says practice officially starts 42 days prior to the first scheduled game. It is traditionally the six weeks where the individual workouts end and the ‘systems’ are installed. This season, that date falls on September 21. But during a September 9th interview with Assistant Coach Matt Driscoll we got a sneak peek under the covers when he said:
“We’re in a really good place going into opening practice, but in reality, practice started August 17th”. (first day of fall classes)
A-HA!!
We’re counting down the 10 days to the beginning of practice ’26-‘27 by taking another look at this season’s roster, focusing on the 10 players most likely to make an impact. This last article is about a player I believe will be one of the most exciting in the ACC, Preston Edmead.
Predicted breakdown of minutes per player:
#0 Preston Edmead
Preston was unheralded coming out of high school, but is a 4-star transfer, ranked #156 from Easthampton, MA, via Hofstra. He’s got a NC connection; his big brother Aaren played in Greensboro at NC A&T ’17-’18 and ’18-’19. He played his freshman season at Hofstra. He was the CAA Rookie of the Year, Second Team All-CAA, CAA All-Rookie team and was the CAA Championship Game’s Most Outstanding Player.
Ht / Wt: 6’1” / 180
Position: Point Guard
PPG / RPG / APG: 16.1 ppg / 3.5 rpg / 4.4 apg
Shooting: 40.1% / 38.7% (96-248) / 83.3%
’25-’26 season Highs:
- Points: 26 points, 29 games in double figures, 10 games with 20+
- 3PT Shooting: 13 games making 4+ 3PT shots
- Hit 6 3PT shots in their NCAA tournament game against Alabama
- Rebounds: 9 rebounds, 12 games with 5+
- Assists: 9 assists (2x), 16 games with 5+
Let’s look a little closer using CBB Analytics:
Strength
- Preston is a high-usage, and simultaneously high-quality, offensive player. Green lights across the board.
Strength
- Rebounding – His stats look bad (19th percentile), but when compared to only guards his per game defensive rebounding average (2.8) is 75% percentile.
Strength
- Quality shooter – 3PT and FT are in the 80th percentiles
Weakness
- Only 7% of his points were fast break points last season
Heat Map
His game is going to be primarily the 3PT shot or the assist. Last season he did okay with mid-range jumpers – Hammond is elite at that – but once he got within about 10 feet of the basket, it was bad news. But that’s okay. This season he will be playing with two guys that are elite within 10 feet of the basket.
College Basketball Report
College Basketball Report released its ranking of the Top 30 sophomores in college basketball heading into the 2026-27 season, and Edmead checked in at No. 29 nationally.
Matthew Winick (college basketball analyst)
“Outside his teammate Cruz Davis, Edmead was probably the best guard in the CAA last year… but Davis was in his fourth year of CBB and Edmead in his first. Uber-impressive. Great passer, tremendous PNR player, you want to run your team through him. He’s also exceptionally clutch. Has it all as an on-ball star PG except for the rim, he’s REALLY small and that impacts his ability to score on non-threes.”
Patrick Stacy (GM)
“One of the best off-the-dribble shooters in the country; he’s going to blow the roof off Lenovo; there’s going to be a lot of kids trying to emulate Preston Edmead”
Justin Gainey (former point guard)
“I’ve been impressed with his toughness, his edge”
“Preston Edmead is a junk yard dog [on defense]. He is as tough as they come. He will apply pressure and the other guys have got to have his back. We’ll be in the gaps and making it tough to get paint access. That’s where it all starts.”
Expectations – Preston Edmead is an excellent basketball player and will be a fan favorite. He’s only a sophomore, if he sticks around he’s going to sell a lot of #0 jerseys.
3PT Shooting – Preston is an elite, off-the-dribble 3PT shooter. Patrick Stacy predicts he’s going to have multiple 30-point games this season at Lenovo. And he might be right. Here’s some numbers that will get your juices flowing. Paul McNeil took 246 3PT attempts last season (T- 52nd in NCAA) and made 105 (T-55th in NCAA) at an excellent 42.7%. (18th in NCAA) Preston took 248 3PT attempts last season (T-46th in NCAA) and made 96 (T- 30th in NCAA) at 38.8%. (63rd in NCAA) Paul’s strength is catch-and-shoot. Preston’s strength is shooting off the dribble. And they will be on the court at the same time most of this season.
Assists – Hofstra was an interesting team last season with basically two point guards. Cruz Davis, the actual point guard, was a senior and led the team in assists with 164 (2nd in the CAA) averaging 4.7 apg. (2nd in the CAA) Impressively, freshman Preston was right behind him with 154 assists (3rd in the CAA, #86 in NCAA) averaging 4.4 apg (4th in the CAA). Davis gets the quantity nod, but Preston gets the quality nod, he averaged an impressive Assist/Turnover ration of 2.0 (tied for 4th in the CAA) and he is excellent with the PNR. This season, with all the quality shooters on this team, he’s going to thrive.
Is he a actually a point guard? – Yes. Recruiting listed him as a point guard coming out of high school. But last season Hofstra needed a shooting guard, and he did it well. In the CAA championship game he led both teams in minutes played (40) and points (26) and they won. So, he has some work to do on his point guard game – but, he’s only a sophomore, and we know a guy.
Can he do it against P4 competition? – Survey says, Yes! Hofstra played Alabama in the first round of the NCAAT last season. Preston played 40 minutes and scored 24 points (6/13 from 3PT – 46.2%), 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. However, he also turned it over 4 times and shot only 3/12 (25%) from 2PT. Earlier in the season Hofstra beat both Pitt, Preston had 8 pts (8-9 FT) / 2 reb / 4 assist, and Syracuse, Preston had 12 pts (4-6 from 3PT) / 0 reb / 1 assist.
Defensively, Coach Gainey is saying good things about him in practice. (“junk yard dog”) But like most of the guys on this team, he’s got work to do.
So what are we going to see this season? He’s going to start at point guard. He’s fast. He’s aggressive. He’s a very confident ball handler. He will lead the team in scoring some nights. He’s a lot of fun to watch, and he’s only a sophomore. Buy that #0 jersey early, they’ll sell out.