Mid-major Basketball: 3 under-the-radar teams for 2020-21 season
By Logan Butts
With the 2020-21 season approaching, let’s take a look at three mid-major basketball squads that are flying under the radar heading into a wide-open year.
By the time we make it to March 2021, some mid-major basketball squad is going to have captured America’s hearts. The obvious candidates like Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Northern Iowa are beyond this status.
Even the next tier of programs like Belmont or Furman wouldn’t be a huge surprise to most college basketball fans. But there are plenty of good teams every season that fly under the already underseen radar of mid-major basketball. Here are three to look out for in the 2020-21 season.
Winthrop Eagles
Despite going 24-10 with a 15-3 record and a Big South regular-season crown and tournament trophy last season, the Winthrop Eagles enter 2020-21 flying somewhat under the radar.
Yes, they lost leading scorer Hunter Hale, but they return the other nine members of their 10-man rotation. The Eagles will be lead by Tennessee transfer DJ Burns Jr., who put up 11.9 points per game last season as a redshirt-freshman in route to winning the Big South Freshman of the Year.
Fun fact: according to 247Sports.com, Burns was the third-highest rated recruit in South Carolina in the class of 2018 behind only Zion Williamson and Ja Morant.
This is an experienced team that has already won a conference championship and knocked off Saint Mary’s on the road last season (and gave Duke a good matchup), if Burns and company can all progress another step then this crew won’t be flying under the radar for long.