Kennesaw State Basketball: What to expect from the Owls in 2020-21?

After finishing the 2019-20 season with the worst win-loss record in Div. I, Kennesaw State Basketball has much ground to make up.  However, they have as much reason as any team to be optimistic heading into next season.

Teams in the thick of conference play in college basketball – or those right out of the playoff picture – are accustomed to receiving coverage and attention.  Fans and media engulf them in hype and excitement over the possibilities of making a Cinderella run or bursting a rival’s bubble, or, contrarily, they flood them with disappointment and frustration, expecting better or believing that they underachieved.

There are those that fit the latter category but also do not receive the attention that bubble teams receive.  For the next few pieces, I want to look at those teams and what to expect from them this upcoming season, should there be one.  Specifically, I am looking at programs that placed last in their respective conferences during the 2019-20 season, and I will be going in alphabetical order per conference.

That means that the Atlantic Sun is up first on the pecking order, where the team with last year’s worst win-loss record in all of Div. I reside.  The Kennesaw State Owls finished the 2019-20 season with a 1-28 record, with their lone victory coming on Dec. 13, 2019, against a solid Gardner-Webb squad who would finish the season at 16-16.  The Owls would drop 25 games by double-digits – tilts against Florida International, Stetson, and Lipscomb would be the only match-ups decided by single-digits.

To add fuel to the fire, entering this season, the Owls have lost three of their top five scorers from that squad, including leading scorer Tyler Hooker. Hooker was the go-to player for Kennesaw State at 13.5 points per game, ripping through 11-straight double-digit point performances midway through the season, highlighted by a 30-point showing against Jacksonville.

Having laid all that out, it is difficult to imagine the Owls making noise in college basketball – let alone the Atlantic Sun. However, let me tell you: Kennesaw State fans have reason to be excited and optimistic heading into the 2020-21 season.

Head coach of Kennesaw State Basketball

At the helm of the Owls is second-year head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, one of the youngest head coaches in Div. I basketball.  Named one of ESPN’s top 40 Under 40 college basketball coaches, Abdur-Rahim has an exceptionally successful track record as an assistant coach, amassing a 241-152 record on the sidelines at Murray State, College of Charleston, Texas A&M, and Georgia.

Abdur-Rahim’s tenure as an assistant coach has also led to success in postseason play.  His development of NBA draft pick Isaiah Canaan helped lead Murray State to a first-round upset of Vanderbilt in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.  His four years at Texas A&M produced some of the most prosperous seasons in program history, ranging from a school-record 28 wins in 2016 to developing another NBA draft selection in Robert Williams III.

Kennesaw State is clearly in good hands on the sideline, and that belief also translates to the recruiting trail.  On a roster of 15 for the upcoming season, just four return from last year’s roster.  Seven of the 15 are incoming freshmen, three are transfers, and the last one is eligible to play this season after sitting out last year due to transfer rules.

Abdur-Rahim’s recruiting class consists of three in-state recruits who rank as the three best recruits in program history, according to 247Sports. Chris Youngblood, Brandon Stroud, and Kasen Jennings all come to Kennesaw State with the skills needed to make an impact immediately.

Youngblood is an athletic combo guard who runs the floor and is capable of finishing at the rim and in traffic.  Stroud, his high school teammate, also finishes well at the rim but is a lankier shooter with solid vision on the floor.  Jennings looks to be the potential point guard of the future for the Owls, with the ability to pull up from both beyond the three-point arc and from within mid-range.

The recruiting class ranks 60th among all Div. I programs, according to 247Sports, ahead of power conference institutions like Ohio State, Maryland, and Seton Hall.  Likewise, it places them first in the Atlantic Sun, ahead of perennial conference powerhouses Liberty and Lipscomb.

The Atlantic Sun is considerably more open this season than last year when the Liberty Flames returned nearly the entirety of its roster en route to a 30-4 season.  North Florida and Lipscomb – the second and third-place teams in the Atlantic Sun – both return their leading scorers but lose significant supporting and role players from their starting line-ups.  Liberty, meanwhile, loses their top three leading scorers.

Conference newcomer Bellarmine will look to create a stir in the Atlantic Sun as well, entering its first season as a Div. I institution after a storied history at the Div. II level.  The Knights claimed the school’s first-ever national championship in 2011, and are coming off a 20-8 season that included 10-point losses to the University of Louisville and University of Notre Dame in season-opening exhibition games.

After a foregone conclusion last year that the Atlantic Sun was Liberty’s conference to lose, there is no concrete conclusion to make regarding domination in the ASUN this year.  Instead, the conference is as wide open as it has ever been, and Kennesaw State fans should be hopeful about their team, their coaches, and their 2020-21 aspirations.

My colleague Trevor Sinodhinos included Kennesaw State as one of his “15 underrated storylines to root for in 2020-21 season,” and I wholeheartedly agree with what he wrote.

With arguably the greatest recruiting class in program history, an established coach at the helm, and a competitive conference looking for a new champion, the Kennesaw State Owls have every reason to believe that they can make some noise, not just this coming season, but for the foreseeable future.