Despite what became a crazy conference tournament this past March, the Sun Belt doesn’t exactly get a ton of national attention during the college basketball season. It’s an FBS league, but most mid-majors are treated equally when football isn’t involved and that’s certainly the case in this conference even with some of these programs showing real promise in the last decade. Led by Dustin Kerns since 2019, Appalachian State is certainly one of those teams and they’ve put themselves in a notable position.
Return to the dance
Kerns took the Mountaineers to the Big Dance back in 2021, the first time the NCAA Tournament was held since he moved to Boone. Since then, he’s won a regular season title and has a pair of 2nd place finishes in a Sun Belt packed with talent, including this past season where his Mountaineers were part of that logjam capping off a 19-win campaign.
There hasn’t really been a fall off for this program across Kerns’ seven years at the helm, though some disappointment likely still remains from falling short in the Sun Belt Tournament after a 27-win season in 2024. Regardless, Kerns and his staff are dedicated to building a program that can compete in this league on a regular basis and they’ve accomplished that. Ironically, the only time the Mountaineers have finished below .500 in the league is in 2021 when they won the conference tournament.
Roster Outlook
Appalachian State has lost a few transfers and a decent crop of senior talent as expected, but we’re sitting here today considering just what they’ve done in the transfer portal so far. Programs like Appalachian State are situated in this weird in between where their best players are likely getting lured to high major programs soon after the season concludes, whereas they’re left to do the same with low majors or non-D1 programs.
The approach that Kerns and his staff have taken this season is not that at all and it’s the reason we’re looking at these Mountaineers. Appalachian State has taken a flier on two high major transfers who were not getting playing time and have a chance to really shine this upcoming season in the Sun Belt.
The first of those additions is 6-5 guard Corbin Allen, who has joined the Mountaineers after spending a redshirt season at Kansas in the Big 12. The Kansas City native stuck in Lawrence close to home but now sought actual opportunities on the court after putting up impressive numbers as a high schooler in recent years. Allen is an impressive athlete with solid physicality and great shooting potential, both as an outside shooter and closer to the rim.
The other new name to know in Boone is 7-1 center Rrezon Elezaj, fresh off a freshman season at UConn where he was on the court for just four minutes and barely got a chance to show himself. This big man from Istanbul clearly has great size but just wasn’t ready to play meaningful minutes in the Big East last season, sitting distantly on the bench for a very talented Huskies team.
We’re far from concrete on what Appalachian State’s rotation will look like in the fall, but they’re adding two highly-regarded pieces into the fold who just couldn’t find the court with elite programs. We might see both Allen and Elezaj given every opportunity to prove themselves as second-year players and perhaps the Mountaineers will be better for that. There’s also the chance that they both take that great step forward and then transfer next season after a year of development and on-court action.
What's it look like
Either way, Kerns and his staff are taking a chance on two intriguing prospects and hoping that another productive seasons comes for the Mountaineers as a result. These are the only two transfer additions in this class so far and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the Sun Belt this year. Do you think these two additions can help get Appalachian State back to a Sun Belt title again?
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