Jacksonville State Basketball: In-depth look at senior guard Demaree King

Jacksonville State had an interesting path to the NCAA tournament a season ago. It was the Gamecocks’ first season as a member of the Atlantic Sun conference, and they were the regular-season champions who earned the one seed in the conference tournament. They were defeated in the conference tournament by Jacksonville but still earned the bid for the Atlantic Sun. They earned the bid because Bellarmine, who is still in their transition to Division 1 was not eligible for the NCAA tournament.

Due to Bellarmine being ineligible the conference said if Bellarmine were to qualify the big would go to the regular-season champion which was Jacksonville State. Bellarmine did win the conference tournament and that meant that the Jacksonville State Gamecocks were heading to their first NCAA tournament since 2015.

The Gamecocks presented a tough matchup for the Auburn Tigers and once again the Atlantic Sun held its own in the NCAA tournament and showed that they are a stronger conference than they get credit for. Heading into this season the Atlantic Sun is going to be loaded at the top with three teams who are going to win a lot of games. Bellarmine is still ineligible for the NCAA tournament, Liberty is always going to be a tough out because of the way they play, and Jacksonville State is going to be tough again because they have arguably the best collection of talent in the league and have the best three-point shooter in the country.

Normally when doing these articles, I try to highlight a player or team that didn’t make the NCAA tournament and was not in the spotlight. This one is going to be different though as DeMaree King is due for a breakout season. He was already a key player for the Gamecocks, but he didn’t start, and he was not one of the bigger names on the team.

King is going to be all over the NCAA record books this year and has a chance to be one of the most prolific shooters in Jacksonville State history. His role is going to expand due to graduations and transfers and he is one of the biggest breakout candidates in the country.