Busting Brackets
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America East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Salvador Lopez

CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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America East Basketball (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

8. NJIT Highlanders

Projected Starters

Guards – Zach Cooks (SR), Diego Willis (JR)
Forwards – San Antonio Brinson (SR), Souleymane Diakite (JR), Kjell De Graaf (SO)
Bench – Dylan O’Hearn (JR), Miles Coleman (JR), Xavier Mayo (SO), Byron Breland III (SO), Jason Murphy (FR), Adetokunbo Bakare (FR), Mekhi Gray (FR), Da’Mir Faison (FR)

Welcome NJIT to their first season of action in the America East! The Highlanders will give the conference its tenth program for basketball. Last season, NJIT finished with an overall record of 9-21 (6-10 A-Sun).

The move to the America East will position NJIT better in proximity to their conference opponents, which are located in the northeastern part of the United States. When the Highlanders were in the Atlantic Sun Conference, NJIT traveled to the southeastern portion of the US.

Last season, NJIT went 0-2 in non-conference play against America East opponents, losing to Binghamton and UMass Lowell by single digits. The Highlanders’ main struggle last season was offense, where they ranked 331st nationally in shooting percentage, only connecting on 40.3 percent of their shots from the floor.

For this season, some of the players in the starting five will look different. The Highlanders will bring back three of the five starters for this season. Guards Shyquan Gibbs and Reilly Walsh graduated in the offseason. The main player to watch this season for NJIT will be senior guard, Zach Cooks (19.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.2 apg).

Cooks led the Atlantic Sun last season in points per game and with 1.8 steals per game. Even with the big scoring numbers, there’s still a ton to improve when it comes to shooting efficiency with Cooks.

In 2018-19, Cooks shot 45.1 percent from the floor as a sophomore, but his numbers took a dive down to 40.5 percent as a junior. The guard is a high-volume shooter who averaged just under 17 shot attempts per game last season. He will no doubt be the senior leader on the court for the Highlanders in 2020-21.

The two starting forwards in 2019-20 for NJIT will also be back this season. Back for the senior year will be San Antonio Brinson (11 ppg, 5.1 rpg), who will continue to take the steps up. Brinson made tremendous strides from sophomore to junior year from the perimeter, converting on 38 percent of his three-point shots last season (a 13 percent increase from his sophomore season). Brinson has shown flashes of star potential last season. One of those games included a career-high 37 points against North Florida.

Also, returning at forward will be Souleymane Diakite (7.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg). The low-post threat is coming off a season in which he was fourth in the Atlantic Sun in rebounds and third in the conference in blocks. The 6-9 forward from Mali bullied his opponents in the post last season, tallying six blocks against two of his opponents.

What’s encouraging is that not only did Diakite block six shots against the 1-28 Kennesaw State Owls, but he also blocked six shots against a higher-level opponent, the UConn Huskies. Last season, Diakite was fourth in most shot attempts on the roster. It would be encouraging to see Diakite used more in the post this season due to his scoring efficiency down low.

Aside from the main three players that I expect to have an impact this season, NJIT will still have two starting lineup spots to fill. I predict that the two starting lineup spots will go to sophomore forward Kjell De Graaf (5 ppg) and junior guard Diego Willis (3.5 ppg).

Both players received limited action last season, but should see an increased role in minutes on the court this season. De Graaf played in nine games in 2019-20 until a season-ending injury in December. He played a career-high 38 minutes in his only start last season against Rutgers and scored 13 points.

Willis started two games last season for the Highlanders. Meanwhile, he struggled to make the most of his opportunities and only went 1-for-17 in his last 77 minutes of court time during the final five games of last season.

By retaining three of their five starters from last season, I expect Cooks, Brinson, and Diakite to generate most of the production in 2020-21 and will carry the team. However, as far as depth, I project that NJIT will struggle with their bench due to the limited minutes carrying over from last season’s roster.

The Highlanders will need players to step up and prove themselves this season if they want to move higher in the standings in their first season as a member of the America East Conference.

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