NCAA Basketball: 2023 Charleston Classic preview and predictions
By Joey Loose
Top Half Previews
North Texas (2-0)
First-year members of the AAC, North Texas is coming off a fantastic season that involved 31 wins and an NIT championship, though things are very different this season. Star Tylor Perry is at Kansas State and a few other important pieces are gone, most notable among them head coach Grant McCasland, who took the Texas Tech job in the offseason. A bevy of transfers have arrived and gotten a new era of Mean Green basketball off to a solid start.
A decent weapon last year, Aaron Scott has evolved into a major backcourt threat for North Texas, averaging 22 points in their first two games of the season. That early schedule involved an impressive overtime win against Northern Iowa, one in which Scott had 26 points and sophomore guard Jason Edwards put up 19. These initial games have shown us that the Mean Green are still for real even after they’ve reloaded their talent.
St. John’s (1-1)
Yet another team with plenty of new, St. John’s started anew this season with the hiring of Rick Pitino. An ageless wonder in this sport, Pitino is tasked with turning around a Red Storm program that frankly hasn’t been competitive in the Big East in recent memory. With a boatload of departures and incoming transfers, this is still a work in progress in New York and Pitino likely doesn’t have that type of team that can contend for a Big East title quite yet.
The significant returner is Joel Soriano, a senior frontcourt monster who had 22 points and 11 rebounds in a season opening win against Stony Brook. New pieces like Jordan Dingle, Chris Ledlum, and Daniss Jenkins should develop into important pieces for the Red Storm, but the defense is certainly still being worked on. St. John’s gave up 89 points in a rough loss to Michigan on Monday night and the team as a whole didn’t have the best offensive performance; but will that carry over to Charleston?
Dayton (1-1)
When the pandemic abruptly ceased the sporting world back in 2020, Dayton was one of the biggest victims, putting the finishing touches on perhaps the best season in program history. Nearly four years later they haven’t quite matched that level of performance and the Flyers haven’t reached the Big Dance at all since 2017. Unfortunately, with the injury news for point guard Malachi Smith, it seems like the hits keep coming.
The bright spot for the Flyers is junior forward DaRon Holmes II, who’s averaging 18.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists two games into the season. He was the A-10 Tournament MVP last season and is certainly one of the league’s brightest players. While the Flyers won their opener against SIU Edwardsville, they came up just short on the road at Northwestern last Friday and are hoping to make something off a statement in Charleston. They’ll need Holmes playing at his best, with support from Javon Bennett, Koby Brea and others.
LSU (1-1)
When Matt McMahon took the head coaching job at LSU back in 2022 he knew that it was going to be an uphill climb. He largely transformed the Tigers roster and is still dealing with the fallout from predecessor Will Wade and all of his issues. Last season was pretty tough, with a dead-last finish in the SEC. This season is getting off to an even tougher start, even with reinforcements.
LSU’s notable moment is a shocking home upset at the hands of Nicholls State this past Friday, dropping an 68-66 game that should’ve been a second straight comfortable win to open the season. The Tigers are really missing Jalen Cook, the Tulane transfer who had his eligibility waiver denied just before the season began. Instead, the Tigers are leaning on transfers like Will Baker and Jordan Wright and just haven’t gotten enough on offense, with significant challenges ahead in Charleston.