Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

Projected Starters:

Guards – Junior Ballard-JR*, Devin Gage- SO*, Anthony Holland-SO

Forwards – Braxton Meah-FR and Orlando Robinson-SO

Bench – Isaiah Hill-SO, Deon Stroud-SO, Leonardo Colimiero-SO, Jordan Campbell-SO, Alec Hickman-JR,  Christian Gray-SO

Fresno State was not great in Justin Hutson’s second season, going 7-11 in conference play, but the emergence of Orlando Robinson (12.2 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 1.6 Ast) created hope, maybe even as early as 2020-21.

Robinson had the 11th best offensive rating in the MWC last season, but he gets it done in so many ways. He finished his freshman season ranked 6th in rebounds per game and he flashed his talents as an excellent rim protector as well, averaging one block per game- good enough for 5th in the MWC.

The 6’10 center returns, but a lot of guys from a season ago do not, including fellow freshmen Niven Heart (NBA) and Jarred Hyder (transfer portal) who were productive alongside Robinson in a lineup that often featured three first-year players.

Not to worry as Hutson brings in a few high profile newbies of his own in the backcourt, highlighted by grad transfer Devin Gage from DePaul and Cal Poly’s leading scorer from a season ago, Junior Ballard (13.1 pts, 3.7 reb).

Both will be expected to play starter minutes at the one and two guard. Joining them in the backcourt is one of Robinson’s returning classmates, Anthony Holland (4.1 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast) who provides stability to a team that needs it.

While talented, the backcourt is going to take some time fall into place, but Fresno State has the makings of what could be one of the best frontcourts in the conference. I know I am mentioning Orlando Robinson a lot, but this team is going to be built around him, and Hutson signed a top 200 7-foot center to play next to him in the post.

Braxton Meah is a local Fresno product and he will be an immediate contributor on the defensive end. The offensive game has some work to go, but he and Robinson should be a defensive force in the paint from day one (November 24th).

The Bulldogs are sneaky deep too, despite losing a lot from the 2019-20 campaign. Hutson adds transfers Isaiah Hill and Deon Stroud, a couple of guys who were expected to play key roles at Tulsa and UTEP respectively, and adds a sit-out transfer to the rotation in guard Alec Hickman who has starter experience from UC Riverside in 18-19.

The wildcard off the bench will be another guard who has played high major conference basketball, Jordan Campbell. Campbell (4.1 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.6 Ast) has yet to play more than half a season of college basketball, but the former Oregon State Beaver was a 30 point per game scorer at nearby Adelanto High School, and has the ball-handling and passing ability to play minutes at the point, a position that is still up in the air after the graduation of New Williams.

Between the emergence of a probable All-MWC center in Williams, the combination of promising newcomers (Gage, Ballard, Meah, Stroud) and returning core players (Holland and Campbell), Fresno State is going to surprise a lot of people.

Remember, Hutson won 23 games in his inaugural season for the Bulldogs. This is a program on the up and up, and as long as Hutson is at the controls they will have a shot to compete in the top tier of the Mountain West conference for the foreseeable future.