NCAA Basketball: 15 underrated storylines to root for in 2020-21 season

Bryan Griffin – Transferring from DII

In order to complement their recruits and lessen the dependency on needing a strong 2021 recruiting class, the Musketeers dipped their toes in the pool of players wanting to transfer. In that pool of players Coach Travis Steele found one of the best players in Division II basketball.

Bryan Griffin is by no means a ‘unicorn’, every season a handful of players make the transition from DI to DII. The 2020-21 season is no exception with Michael Almonacy transferring to Appalachian State, Triston Chambers moving on to Samford, Romeao Ferguson moving onto Lipscomb. The difference that makes Bryan Griffin a story to root for is that he will have the aura of more relevance, thanks to his DII accolades and that he will be playing in the Big East.

Not only did the 6’8 / 230 power forward make his All-Conference team while averaging 19.6 points, 14.5 rebounds and two blocks per game, those 14.5 rebounds per game led all of DII basketball. To continue to list off his conference and team records is an exercise in futility and would only serve to meet word counts, but they are of interest when Bryan Griffin becomes the latest litmus test and the newest example of the difference between DI and DII NCAA basketball.

If having the same sounding name as the best-animated character on television is not enough reason to want to root for him, his success will be all the more reason to pay attention to more basketball. As going pro straight out of high school becomes a reality, what were once DII players, will be all over DI rosters.