Put the preseason awards and the hype aside, we now have on-court results and while it’s beyond early to draw any conclusions, it’s always fun to hand out some hype. Through at least two games per team so far this season, here are some guys who started things off right that I think might be worth keeping an eye on this season (in no particular order).
- De’Shayne Montgomery (Dayton) – A 6’4 guard from Fort Lauderdale, De’Shayne has learned that variety is the spice of life and thus, is on his third team in three years, as is common in today’s NIL era of college athletics. Montgomery started his career in the MAAC where he burst onto the scene as a freshman, scoring 13.2 points per game for Mount St. Mary’s, parlaying that success into a spot on last season’s Georgia Bulldogs squad. With a dip in minutes (-12.2 per game) and production (-6.5 per game) he is hoping Dayton is the perfect spot now in his junior season. So far so good, as Montgomery is averaging a career-best 13.5 ppg per contest for the Flyers. That average is nice, but what catches my attention is his current conference leading box plus/minus (+28.5 via sports-reference.com), A-10 third-best player efficiency rating (32.2) and top-3 win shares numbers. Again, we are working with an insanely small sample size here, but note that this was one of the best MAAC players two years ago in just his freshman year. He’s played MAAC level competition through two games this season, so it will be fun to see what he and the Flyers can do tonight at Cincinnati.
- Ishan Sharma (Saint Louis) – The Billikens had the task of replacing sharpshooter and LOOONGTIME SLU guard, Gibson Jimerson, this offseason after what felt like a decade of play and UVA transfer, Ishan Sharma, could just be the guy to fill that void. The Canadian shooting guard found his way to the ACC and UVA as a three-star recruit where he averaged 12.8 minutes his freshman season. He hit a very average 33.3% of his attempts to start his college career, but has looked super impressive so far as a Billiken, connecting on 10 of his 17 attempts from distance (58.8%) and has averaged 16 ppg his last two contest in 21 minutes per game. Keeping that pace throughout a season will likely prove impossible, but so far so good for the man from up North and he’s been a huge reason Saint Louis has flashed the most impressive bit of offense from an A-10 team early this season.
- Tarence Guinyard (Duquesne) – The 6’2 transfer guard from Tennessee Martin did not see his name on any preseason all-conference teams and appears to be taking it out on the competition so far for the Dukes, ranking second currently in points per game among Atlantic 10 players at 22 per and doing that on a lights out 81.4% true shooting percentage. Guinyard leads the league in a number of advanced statistical categories, but perhaps most importantly to Dukes fans he’s another promising guard that has helped them to a 2-0 start to the season. While the regular season competition hasn’t been murderers row so far, Guinyard chipped in a game-high 21 in a preseason win at Virginia Tech as well (59.5% true shooting percentage that night) and grabbed eight rebounds and three steals that night, this against a Hokies team that just picked up a decent win against Providence, helping prove my point to A-10 fans that this is a player worth watching throughout the year.
- Kory Mincy (George Mason) – Mincy didn’t make his way to the A-10 via as sexy a pedigree as a number of transfers who earned preseason honors, but is proving if you can ball… you can ball. The 2024 Big South All-Freshman selectee averaged 15 per game at Presbyterian his sophomore season and is off to a 23.5 per night start at George Mason. The Patriots needed every bit of that most recently in a 6-point win against an always pesky Winthrop program, with the 6’2 guard scoring 29 points on a ridiculous 76% true shooting percentage night. Feels a bit unfair to name yet another high score guard as “under-the-radar”, but again, this is likely the first time you are hearing the name, so remember it.
- Nyk Lewis (VCU) – Five Rams earned preseason all-conference and none of them were named Nyk Lewis. Sure, he came to Broad St. with quite the resume, playing a little with Team USA as a top-60 nationally rated recruit, but still managed to slide a bit under the radar among conference preseason voters. Through two contests Lewis has looked beyond his years, averaging 14.5 ppg through two including a 19-point night against a loaded Utah State team (kenpom No.38) including seven points over the final two and a half minutes of action as a part of a huge VCU run that turned an 18-point deficit into a tie contest. The Rams didn’t pull out what would’ve certainly been a big resume win for both the black and gold and the Atlantic 10, but Lewis should have put the Atlantic 10 on notice that he has come to DI college hoops ready and his time is now.
- Jaeden Marshall (La Salle) – After spending a season at Niagara following two at Nebraska Omaha, the Hinesville, Georgia native has trimmed his family’s drive time down to the shortest distance since the 6’5 guard has been a DI hooper, down to a mere 11.5 hours. That has felt close enough to home so far for Marshall, averaging 20.5 and 3.5 assists per contest to start the season. The senior is shooting just 25% from distance a year after posting a 37% average, but has knocked down all 16 of his free throws while drawing 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes. The Explorers will get their toughest challenge of the season tonight in a Big 5 matchup at Temple, so it will be fun to see if Marshall can continue his production in a game that has extra meaning for all the dedicated Gola Boys out there watching.
- Tyrone Marshall (George Washington) – The Revolutionaries enter the season with their highest expectations in some time thanks largely to returning star, Raphael Castro, but in order to truly find a spot among the conference big boys and improve on last season’s 9-9 A-10 record, Castro needs help. That help, so far, appears to be in part provided by Western Kentucky transfer, Tyrone Marshall. Through two games the 6’8 big has been one of the conference’s better rebounders and checks in just behind Castro on the Revs with a 22.3 PER and +5.2 box plus/minus. No other GW player is really close (Tre Dinkins checks in with a +1.1 box +/- via sports-reference.com), but they’ll need Marshall to continue that pace and find more help from others, otherwise that top-4 predicted A-10 finish might prove harder than expected.
- Keeyan Itejere (Rhode Island) – A bit of a deep cut following three consecutive sub-500 A-10 seasons from Archie Miller’s Rhode Island squad, Itejere started his career under Shaka Smart at Marquette before spending the last two years at Northern Kentucky where he was about a 7 and 5 guy for the Norse. The 6’9 forward is off to a good start for Rhody, at 11.5 ppg, 5 rpg, has yet to miss any of his eight attempts (easy when a large majority are highlights dunks) and is 7-8 from the free throw stripe. Itejere has been a hyper-efficient lesser-used player for Archie & Co., but can he become a true star as a more involved player or is he destined to be a sneaky good glue guy for the Keaney blue?
- Joe Grahovac (St. Bonaventure) – Grahovac looks like a cross between Bill Walton and famous University of Richmond alumnus, David “Lil Dicky” Burd, and let’s be honest…when you look like that and can hoop you won’t stay under the radar for long. So far the Fullerton College transfer looks like a promising pickup for Mark Schmidt & Co., averaging 11.5 points, 6 rebs, 2.5 blocks and a steal per contest through two while posting a top-10 conference plus/minus (No.6). He’s taken exactly 14 shots, seven inside the arc (71.4%) and seven out (42.9%) and has been a key part of Bona’s 2-0 start that includes one of the conference’s better wins so far, a 69-63 victory over kenpom No.104 Bradley.
- Aiden Argabright (Richmond) – Coming off a 15-point win against a solid East Carolina squad, Chris Mooney’s Spiders played 11 players double-digit minutes in the victory. One of those players was local freshman, Aiden Argabright. The pesky guard from Richmond, VA scored 14 points in 14 minutes, went 3-6 from the field and hit all seven of his free throws. He’s averaging 12.5 points per contest to start his career in just 15.5 minutes per game on a 73.7% true shooting percentage and is on a 6.5 steals per 40 pace. Argabright was a state champ in high school at national powerhouse, John Marshall High and while he flew somewhat under the radar as a recruit himself despite all his high school success, it looks like he could prove to be another steal of a guard for Chris Mooney & Co. at the University of Richmond.
