Ohio Valley Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 19: Kevin McClain #11 of the Belmont Bruins celebrates with teammates during the second half against the Temple Owls in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 19, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

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LUBBOCK, TX – DECEMBER 09: Terrence Durham #11 of the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks sets the play (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

10. Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks

2019-20 record: 9-20 (5-13 in OVC)

Last season, Anthony Stewart’s Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks went just 9-20 and finished tied for 10th in the conference with a 5-13 record. Much like Southeast Missouri State, The Skyhawks were hit hard by graduation and the transfer portal, with four of their top five scorers from last season leaving the program.

The guy that does return is junior guard Patrick Stewart who burst on to the scene last year with 19 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists after beginning his career at Pittsburgh. Another guy to watch is senior forward Miles Thomas who should be more impactful offensively this season.

As has been customary for Stewart of late he filled the recruiting class by hitting the junior-college ranks hard with six of his eight signees coming from there. 6’5 Cam Holden and 6’6 Jaron Williams both played in Florida with Holden averaging 20 and 10 at Gulf Coast State College and Williams netted 11 points at the College of Central Florida.

Juniors Vinnie Viana and Jonte Coleman, as well as sophomore Eden Holt, are all guards. Holt has the reputation of a solid perimeter shooter, having scored 18 points per game and knocking down over 43% from deep at Williston State College and Viana is a guy who knows how to put the ball in the basket, averaging 23 points per game as a sophomore and becoming the all-time leading scorer at Albany Technical College in Georgia.

La-Quiem Walker is the lone pure forward in the class, the 6’9 Walker blocked over 1.4 shots per game while scoring 15 points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds at Kaskaskia College.

Those guys will be joined by three others, 6’4 forward Jeremiah Harris who played at Gadsden State Community College, and guards Malik Mooving and Kenton Eskeridge who played at New Mexico Junior College and Ranger College respectively.

If that wasn’t enough, Ajani Kennedy is a 6’9 junior forward who spent the first two seasons at UC-Riverside where he averaged 7.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in his last season there. The Skyhawks may have lost a lot of pieces, but Stewart has made sure of one thing, there will be no shortage of options to fill in the holes.