NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top-25 mid-major rankings for 2021-22 season
16. San Diego State Aztecs
2020-21 season record: 23-5 (14-3 in Mountain West Conference)
The Aztecs had a pair of stars last season in Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel, who both averaged over 14 ppg and were the only double-digit scorers. They’re now gone, along with starting guard Terrell Gomez. The good news for them is that the two other starters (Nathan Mensah and Trey Pulliam), joined by several key starters.
The biggest name by far is Matt Bradley, who an All-Pac 12 star at Cal who averaged 17.7 ppg in the past two seasons. Chad Baker is an athletic 6’7 stretch forward who put up numbers at Duquesne, while forwards Jaedon LeDee and Tahirou Diabate adds depth behind Mensah in the frontcourt.
Bradley is going to be one of the top impact transfers next season and likely lead San Diego State in scoring. But where will the rest of the production come from? That has to be answered before assuming that they’ll win the conference once again.
15. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
2020-21 season record: 17-9 (10-7 in Sun Belt)
Few programs had as good an offseason as the Cajuns, who got several levels of good news. First, and most important, star guard and leading scorer Cedric Russell (17.2 ppg) elected to come back for a 5th year, along with starting forward Don Gueye. Also returning is Theo Akwuba, the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year forward who averaged 11.3 ppg and 9.3 rpg.
Louisiana also killed it in the transfer portal to add even more depth. Creighton transfer Antwann Jones and St. John’s transfer Greg Williams will be impact newcomers, along with Arizona forward and former five-star prospect Jordan Brown. They’ll need to be effective on the defensive end because outside of Akwuba inside, the Cajuns struggled everywhere else in terms of stopping the opposition.
With Russell on offense, Akwuba on defense and the bevy of transfers, this is a great opportunity for Louisiana to win the Sun Belt next season. This team has one of the highest ceilings of all the mid-major programs but the conference always has talent and depth, including another program projected to finish first.