Atlantic 10 Basketball: Biggest 2022 offseason needs for each team

Just like professional sports, the shaping of college basketball rosters (including Atlantic 10 Basketball) is becoming much more of a year-to-year activity.  While some coaches around the sport still prefer to bring in mostly high schoolers and are successful in keeping them around for four years (Davidson’s Bob McKillop is one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, examples of this nationally), the growing transfer portal gives coaches a chance to fill holes immediately each offseason.

Coaches are now required to succeed as general managers, properly addressing every short-term roster need over the spring. Last spring we saw Kim English arrive at George Mason and immediately bring in three transfers (D’Shawn Schwartz, DeVon Cooper, and Devonta Gaines) to replenish a gutted roster.  Dayton’s Anthony Grant brought in a pair of eventual starters in Toumani Camara and Kobe Elvis and even McKillop brought in his second transfer of the decade, Foster Loyer.

Three of these incoming transfers (Loyer, Camara, and GW’s Joe Bamisile) received All-Conference honors, as did two other previous transfers (St. Bonaventure’s Jalen Adaway and GW’s James Bishop).  A handful of players brought in over the next few weeks will end up making a huge impact as well.

Much of the exodus of players entering the portal has come to an end, as the deadline for a player to leave their school is May 1. However, this week’s portal entries from SLU’s Yuri Collins and Duquesne’s Primo Spears reminded us that there can still be losses, and kept my readers from getting to enjoy a poetic paragraph about how SLU was just a 10 minute per game backup center away from the NCAA Tournament.

Here are the biggest roster needs remaining for each A-10 program this offseason.

*All players who were over 10.0 mpg in over 15 games last season are listed as (likely) returning or leaving

DAVIDSON (2021-22 1st place)

Returning: G Foster Loyer (16.2 ppg, 3.3 apg), F Sam Mennenga (8.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg), G Grant Huffman (4.2 ppg), W Desmond Watson (2.9 ppg)

??: F Hyunjung Lee (15.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg/NBA Draft)

Leaving: F Luka Brajkovic (14.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg/Graduate), W Micheal Jones (11.8 ppg, 42.1 3pt %/Grad Transfer), C Nelson Boachie-Yiadom (2.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg/Graduate)

Davidson could still be bringing back a pair of All-Conference stars in Foster Loyer and Hyunjung Lee, although losing either would likely send the Wildcats into a reload year. With uncertainty lingering, the biggest positive for Davidson is that Sam Mennenga finally gets a chance to slide over to his natural center position.

The Wildcat’s history indicates that a trio of young perimeter players (Grant Huffman, Desmond Watson, and Emory Lanier) will be called upon to take up many of the available minutes.  However, Coach Bob McKillop has already brought in a potential starter in William & Mary transfer Connor Kochera (10.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg), the 2020-21 CAA Rookie of the Year, making this the first time Davidson has brought in a transfer in back-to-back years.

Needs

1. Sharpshooter

Davidson has finished Top 105 in the nation in three-point shooting eight of the last ten years and could do so again on the backs of Lee and Loyer, but opposing teams have shown that they will happily shape their defense to take out Lee and forces others to hurt them.

Unless Mennenga can replace Luka Brajkovic’s production with a surprise Player of the Year season of his own, then the Wildcats’ other wings need to come through.  Grant Huffman shot 37.1% from 3 on low attempts, best of Davidson’s bench, so they may need to find a veteran to serve as the third reliable shooter.

2. Center

While Davidson has primarily used a double big lineup the last two seasons, that is atypical of their history, and this year’s roster looks set to go smaller at forward.  But right now, Sam Mennenga is the only big with any decent experience and he has no backup.  This seems like the perfect spot for McKillop to bring in a developmental freshman option who can serve in a low-minute backup role this year.

Perfect Addition: G Devin Askew, Texas

This is a complete shot in the dark, as Davidson hasn’t been linked to the former five-star recruit but if this becomes a reload year, then bringing in the super talented guard after he flamed out at Texas and Kentucky after reclassifying and entering college a year early, would be an interesting challenge for McKillop. He’s gotten the most out of mid-tier recruits for decades and it’s time to find out what he can do for the career of a struggling, elite recruit.