NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 353 D-I programs for 2019-20 season

212. Grambling State Tigers

Grambling being ranked in this spot speaks to how far the program has come in a short amount of time. During the lean years which spanned 2001-2016, the Tigers won a total of 18 games, including 2012-2013 when they did not win a single game. Grambling has yet to ever make the NCAA tournament, but they have the roster led by Ivy Smith Jr. and Dallas Polk-Hilliard who could play for anyone in the country. They are a dangerous team in the SWAC.

211. Florida International Panthers

The Panthers have a lot to look forward to this season. Their offense returns most of its scoring from a team that averaged over 80 points per game. They were able to bolster their current crop of returners with a good amount of JUCO transfers and a Division one transfer who is going to help and all should make an immediate impact for coach Jeremy Ballard.

210. Cal State Northridge Matadors

Lamine Diane and Terrell Gomez, those two players accounted for 40 of 77 points per game the Matadors scored a year ago. Cal State Northridge has both of those players back on campus for year two of the Mark Gottfried era. An improvement in wins is possible and that would keep the rebuild moving in the right direction for the Matadors.

209. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns

The Ragin Cajuns have won at least 19 games every year since 2013-2014. Coach Bob Marlin is going to need to replace the production left behind by three highly productive seniors. He adds Saint Louis transfer Jalen Johnson and finally gets to see prized recruit Kobe Julian as well as Calvin Temple.

208. Northern Illinois Huskies

The Huskies ended the year with a .500 record. That is the best season Northern Illinois has experienced since the 2015 season, where they won 21 games. Eugene German and his 20 points per game return. German needs to continue to score at a high rate, but he is going to need some help from the rest of the roster for the Huskies to improve.

207. Loyola Marymount Lions

It is going to be hard for the Lions to improve on their 23 wins and fifth-place finish in the WCC from a year ago. The conference is much better this year and the Lions lost a lot of production from last year. It was announced that 7’3” big man Mattias Markusson will redshirt this season.  That is a huge blow to the Lions hopes of a repeat of last year.

206. Cal St. Bakersfield Roadrunners

If star Jarkell Joiner would have still been on campus Bakersfield would have been ranked higher.  He is off to Ole Miss as a transfer leaving the Roadrunners to find someone to fill the void. Coach Rod Barnes has tried to fill it with JUCO players and one high major transfer. JUCO transfer Ronne Readus is a matchup nightmare in the paint and looks like a player to watch as a breakout candidate.

205. Ball State Cardinals

The Cardinals enter the year without star Taylor Persons. What they do have is a great set of returners to help fill the void. Ball State’s downfall last year was the dreadful shooting they experienced a season ago. If that changes the Cardinals will have a chance to impress in the MAC.

204. Stony Brook Seawolves

Usually a team goes through somewhat of a transition year when a new head coach takes over a program. Stony Brook looks to avoid the transition year. Their roster returns the America East defensive player of the year in Jeff Otchere. The roster also returns the America East sixth man of the year in Andrew Garcia. Head Coach Geno Ford has a lot to work with.

203. SMU Mustangs

Head Coach Tim Jankovich is going through a slight rebuild at SMU. This season they do have some pieces to build around in Ethan Chargois and Isiaha Mike. Jankovich is trying to speed up the process by building with high quality sit out transfers. The Mustangs appear to be a year away from truly competing in the conference.

202. Northern Colorado Bears

Northern Colorado heads into this season without the Big Sky player of the year Jordan Davis and his 24 points per game. Head coach Jeff Linder has a slew of three-point shooters returning including sophomore Bodie Hume. The Bears may not experience the success they did with Davis on the roster, but they still have enough talent to finish in the top half of the Big Sky.

201. James Madison Dukes

The Dukes won 14 games a year ago, which was an overall 4 game improvement from the last two seasons. Heading into this year James Madison fans should be very excited about the trio of juniors who are going to lead their team. Matt Lewis, Darius Banks and Dwight Wilson are the three guys who are going to carry the Dukes on a nightly basis. James Madison will go as far as their stars take them.

200. Winthrop Eagles

Since Gregg Marshall in 1998-1999 the Winthrop program has been one of the most consistent programs in the Big South. They have won a lot since then and seem to reload when it comes to players. This year expect more of the same from Pat Kelsey and his bunch. A finish in the top half of the league and a scrappy bunch who is going to average near 80 points per game.

199. Southern Mississippi Eagles

At the end of last season former coach Doc Sadler decided to leave and join the staff at Nebraska to coach with his friend Fred Hoiberg. Jay Ladner from Southeastern Louisiana takes over and hopes to compete in the tough Conference USA. The Eagles look to be a middle of the pack Conference USA team.

198. Brown Bears

Mike Martin led his Brown Bears to a 20-win season for the first time in school history. Heading into this season the Bears lost star Desmond Cambridge to transfer. The Bears do however have much of their remaining roster back including leading rebounder Tamenong Choh and lead guard Brandon Anderson.  Losing Cambridge will prove to be a huge loss for the Bears.

197. Akron Zips

The Zips showed improvement from year one to year two of the John Groce era. This year is going to be a big year for Akron in terms of staying power. They return two of their top four scorers from a year ago. The biggest piece of the puzzle is the addition of Xeyrius Williams from Dayton.  Williams is going to fill the void left by Daniel Utomi. The Zips have a formidable trio to compete with the MAC’s best.

196. Seattle Redhawks

The Redhawks had a largely disappointing season a year ago. They won 18 games overall, but they did not perform well in the WAC. Coach Jim Hayford has his top 4 scorers back including stars Morgan Means and Terrell Brown. With the depth another year older the Redhawks are looking for redemption inside their conference. The roster is good enough to finish in the top half of the conference.

195. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks

The Warhawks enter the season with a ton of question marks and not much experience. They do return 15 points per game scorer in Michael Ertel. The rest of the roster is mostly new to Division 1 basketball. Coach Keith Richard has gone about building his team using the JUCO ranks and transfers. A lot will be learned about Louisiana-Monroe the first month of the season.

194. Green Bay Phoenix

Green Bay enters the year without “do everything” guard Sandy Cohen. The Phoenix do return his two counterparts in ShanQuan Hemphill and JayQuan McCloud. Those two are going to have to fill the shoes left by Cohen. Green Bay under head coach Linc Darner has been competitive in the Horizon every year. This season does not appear to be any different.

193. Boise State Broncos

In the nine seasons that Leon Rice has been the head coach of the Broncos, they have failed to win 20 or more games twice. Justinian Jessup and Derrick Alston return to lead the Broncos. After those two and returning guard Alex Hobbs the team is full of question marks. In Coach Rice we trust.