NCAA Basketball: Best rebounders from all 32 conferences for 2020-21 season
By Bryan Mauro
SEC – Kevin Marfo (Texas A&M)
Welcome to the spot on this list for the nation’s best rebounder. I need to make a confession though as Marfo is the only player on this list who did not play for their current team a season ago. Marfo did play every game a season ago and did play in Division 1.
He just utilized the graduate transfer from Quinnipiac to the SEC and Texas A&M. It would be hard to have a serious discussion about the best returning rebounder from every conference if the best rebounder in the country was not included.
The senior big man hauled in an absurd 13 rebounds per game last year, 5 of which were on the offensive end. He secured 10 or more rebounds in every game but one a year ago. He showed off his rebounding prowess in two ways a year ago.
He grabbed 21 total boards in a game against Monmouth and then nine, yes nine offensive rebounds in the MAAC tournament game against Iona. He is a load underneath and almost impossible to keep off the glass. He will continue this unbelievable rebounding rate in the SEC.
Southern – Clay Mounce (Furman)
Every team in the Southern Conference plays a wide-open style, that enables to take and make a ton of threes. The inside out game is not common in this league, so finding a player who secured a ton of rebounds was difficult. Mounce from Furman is the guy and it further cements that he may be the Paladins best overall player.
When Mounce isn’t providing a boost on the offensive end by shooting threes and scoring. He is used as the team’s post presence and does have a good foundation for rebounding the misses, as evidenced by his six rebound per game average. Mounce is going to continue to provide the Paladins with offense and rebounding this season.
Southland – Avery Sullivan (Lamar)
Anyone who looked at the Cardinals roster last year Sullivan would not have stood out as a player who would have been the one to finish near the top of the rebounding leaders in the conference. He also would not have been a choice for many to be one of the leading players for the Lamar basketball team. The fact of the matter is that Sullivan had a breakout season and he comes into the year as the best rebounder in the league.
Why did his numbers go up so much? Well, many are going to point to the drastic increase in minutes for the senior center. He went from playing an average of seven minutes per game to seeing his minutes increase to a shade over 30 per game.
Sullivan is a big body and is a skilled player in the low block who provided a huge boost for the Cardinals. The senior has shown a knack for hitting the offensive glass as well. He is in for an even bigger year for coach Tic Price.
SWAC – Jayveous McKinnis (Jackson State)
The SWAC had been on the come up the last handful of years and the talent level in that conference has increased a great deal. McKinnis is one of those players who has helped increase the talent for both the SWAC and Jackson State. The Tigers big man earned the defensive player of the year in the conference last year and in large part to his role in locking down the paint.
McKinnis is showing he is an elite rebounder in his conference and in the two years he has been a member of Jackson State he has hauled in 524 total rebounds which is good enough for an 8.6 rebound per game average. With those numbers and the steady improvement that usually happens as players get older. McKinnis has a great chance to be one of the countries leaders in rebounding before his career as a Tiger is over.