Atlantic 10 Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2024-25 season

7. George Mason Patriots

2023-24 season record: 20-12 (9-9)

Considering it was a rebuild after losing Kim English to Providence, Tony Skinn had a rather successful first season with the Patriots, winning 20 games. But they do lose three of the top four scorers, including star forward Keyshawn Hall (16.6 ppg and 8.1 rpg), who transferred to UCF.

Losing Hall and starting big man Amari Kelly hurts but the Patriots were able to land a couple of bigs via the portal. Zach Anderson (12.8 ppg and 5.1 rpg) was an all-league performer from FGCU, shooting 46% from three-point range on 3.5 attempts a game. Giovanni Emejuru (11.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg) is a 6’10 and nearly 270-pound big man from Siena who’ll be the starting center. Plus, Jalen Haynes, who averaged 14.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg at ETSU two years ago, will be able to play after sitting out this past season.

The one key piece back for George Mason is veteran guard Darius Maddox, who averaged 14.0 ppg on 41% shooting from the field. He has a great chance to earn all-league honors, joined by returning guards, Austin Ball and Jared Billups. Two transfers to watch are Brayden O’Connor (9.9 ppg at UMass Lowell) and Jeremiah Quigley (10.8 ppg and 3.3 apg as a freshman at Iona).

Ultimately, the success or failure of the Patriots could come down to Auburn transfer, KD Johnson. In four years at Georgia and Auburn, he averaged 10 ppg on 39% shooting and was prone to both big outings or inefficient poor games. If he can clean the consistency up, Johnson and Maddox can be a premier backcourt in the A-10.