NCAA Basketball: Best rebounders from all 32 conferences for 2020-21 season
By Bryan Mauro
Summit League – Filip Rebraca (North Dakota)
The Serbian forward is extremely athletic and can change a game in multiple ways. It is clear that the Summit League title is somehow going to run through the state of North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks had a good year last year and in all their big wins Rebraca was at the center of virtually all of them.
The junior finished third overall a season ago in total rebounds but the two players in front of him are no longer on their respective teams making the Serbian the guy when it comes to rebounding. He is a mainstay in the post and while he doesn’t have the biggest frame, as mentioned, he is athletic enough to grab rebounds both on the offensive and defensive end.
Rebraca ended the year with an 8.9 per game rebounding average and this year he should take that part of his game to the next level and average double-digit rebounds.
Sun Belt – Ruot Monyyong (Little Rock)
No one will fault you if Little Rock made your shortlist for the most surprising teams in the country last year. They went from one of the worst mid-major programs in the country to one of the best in just one short year. How did that happen though, all the coaches want to know what the secret is? Well, look no further than the big man who made his way to the Trojans from a JUCO.
Monyyong was ridiculous on the defensive end of the floor last year. He led the league in and finished in the top 15 nationally in defensive rebounds with 7.6 total. He also led the league in total rebounding with 9.8 per game.
The 6’10” senior was so good on that side of the ball that he earned defensive player of the year in the league. The Trojans have all of their key pieces back from last year’s team and the Sun Belt better start to account for Monyyong or playing the Trojans will lead to longer nights.
West Coast – Kessler Edwards (Pepperdine)
The best rebounder in the West Coast conference doesn’t come from Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, or even BYU. The player plays for a program that doesn’t have much of an overall basketball history and has not been great in the sport for quite some time. Edwards plays in Malibu for the Pepperdine Waves. The junior forward has already made his mark on the Pepperdine program and averaged 7.5 rebounds per game last year.
The scary part for the league is that as good as Edwards already is, many believe he has not even come close to reaching his ceiling. The West Coast conference is already loaded with budding stars and NBA talent and Edwards is turning himself into a star right before everyone’s eyes.
He is as athletic as they come and may be the most athletic player of any player on this list. He can do a lot of things that many of the others on this list cannot. Edwards is going to be talked about a lot this season.
WAC – Johnny McCants (New Mexico State)
The WAC conference has been dominated by New Mexico State for a long time. They are always an easy pick to determine who will win that conference and this year is going to be no exception. Since the Aggies have dominated the conference for so long it makes sense that they would also have the league’s top rebounder. Senior forward McCants made the most of his increased minutes last year as so many have.
The Aggies have never been a team to have any one player put up gaudy numbers they do everything within the concept of the team, but McCants is an extremely efficient rebounder. The redshirt senior forward was able to secure a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game in under 30 minutes that is efficiency and he was pretty good at the rebounding on the offensive side of the ball as well.
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Don’t expect his minutes to increase drastically as this Aggie team should be better and deeper than last year, what you can expect though is for McCants to keep bringing in the rebounds.