NCAA Basketball: 10 bold predictions for 2022-23 season

Mar 18, 2022; Greenville, SC, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts during the during the second half against the Davidson Wildcats during the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

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NCAA Basketball Bryant University Bulldogs guard Charles Pride Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /

Charles Pride will lead the nation in scoring

Last season, Peter Kiss of Bryant led all of NCAA Basketball with 25.2 ppg. The offensively-friendly system that Coach Jared Grasso and the team having superior talent compared to other mid-major foes helped lead them to the NCAA Tournament.

Kiss is gone and there are two candidates this season with a great shot at leading the country in scoring. One is Darius McGee, who averaged 24.1 ppg at Liberty, and also had a 48-point game against Florida Gulf Coast. The other is Max Abmas, who was part of Oral Roberts’ Sweet 16 team a couple of years ago and produced 22.8 ppg last season.

Both players have a great shot to lead the country but for my pick, I’m sticking with Bryant and another top player that is back in Charles Pride. The 6’4 guard averaged 17.7 ppg and 8.6 rpg and was on the All-Northeast Conference team. He had 11 games of at least 20 points, including two games of 44 and 32 points when Kiss was out.

With Kiss permanently gone, Pride will be the focal point of the offense for the Bulldogs this season in the America East, which outside of Vermont, is fairly comparable to the Northeast. He’s surrounded by a ton of talent, led by a number of transfers, including former top-50 prospect, Earl Timberlake.

Pride has already shown that he can produce some big numbers without Kiss in a small sample size, I think he can do that for 30+ games this year.

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