The Men’s Other Top 25: Saint Louis starts at the top

We are just days away from the start of the new college basketball season, and the Men’s Other Top 25 preseason poll is here. Four different teams received at least one first-place vote.

Saint Louis owns the top spot with two of those first-place votes. Fellow A-10 member VCU came second with one vote also. Grand Canyon placed third with a pair of first-place votes. New Mexico and Saint Mary’s rounded out the top five. Utah State finished sixth and had the final first-place vote.

The Billikens’ returning core is led by Trey Green, who shot an Atlantic 10-best 44.2% from 3 and scored 10.7 points per game. Amari McCottry is also a double-digit returner with 10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists a night. Kellen Thames followed with 9.7 points and 4.7 boards. Ishan Sharma was also dangerous from deep at 41.7% on his way to 9.1 points. Quentin Jones also averaged 9.1 points per game. Robbie Avila’s eligibility remains an x-factor, despite a recent favorable court ruling.

Get your calendar ready because Josh Schertz’s group plays Missouri, High Point, Saint Mary’s, Grand Canyon, South Florida, and DePaul in the non-conference.

VCU was second, just four points behind its conference rival. The Rams have been to 14 of the last 20 NCAA Tournaments, including the last two. Phil Martelli Jr. led VCU to the second round with a massive comeback against North Carolina in his first season last March.

Lazar Djokovic is the top returner with 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Nyk Lewis had a breakout first season and won A-10 Rookie of the Year with 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds a night. Brandon Jennings had a similar stat line with 8.5 points and 3.6 rebounds.

Grand Canyon faces the highest expectations the program has ever experienced. Year two in the Mountain West sees Bryce Drew try to return to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time this decade.

The Lopes have a trio of big returners in Jaden Henley (17.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg), Makaih Williams (14 ppg, 2.5 apg) and Efe Demirel (8.5 ppg, five rpg). They hit the portal hard, and Dylan Darling (seven ppg, 2.5. rpg, 2.5 apg) from St. John’s headlines the haul.

New Mexico reeled off a run to the NIT semifinals last season in the first year of Eric Olen in Albuquerque. The Lobos have won at least 26 games in each of the last three seasons and reached the two previous NCAA Tournaments.

Jake Hall has a monster rookie season and was named the MW Freshman of the Year. He poured in 16.4 points per game and drained a school-record 117 3’s. Uriah Tenette was also a major player last year with 10.6 points, 3.7 boards and 2.8 assists.

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Saint Mary’s has a different look this season as it is the first time Randy Bennett is not leading the charge in a quarter century. Mickey McConnell takes over as head coach. The Gaels’ top returner is Joshua Dent, who averaged 13.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game last season.

Utah State continues to win no matter who the head coach is. The Aggies have been to the last four NCAA Tournaments with three different head coaches. This season will have another first-year head man in Ben Jacobson, who comes to Logan after a long history of success at Northern Iowa. He retained Mason Falslev (16 ppg, 5.7 rpg, three apg) and Karson Templin (8.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg) as USU navigates the newly-formed Pac-12 for the first time.

High Point comes in at No. 7 following back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. Flynn Clayman led the Panthers to their first-ever win in the Big Dance this past March. Cam’Ron Fletcher is back after averaging 13.2 points and a team-best 7.1 rebounds. Some notable portal adds include Jason Rivera Torres (15.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.1 spg, 1.1 bpg at Monmouth), CJ Brown (10.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.7 apg at South Florida) and Isaac Garrett (13.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.1 spg at Oakland).

Santa Clara is No. 8 following the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996. Herb Sendek’s group is headlined by Jake Ensminger, who notched 6.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. Sash Gavalyugov came on strong at the WCC tournament last season with nine points, 14 rebounds and 5.7 assists during the Broncos’ run.

San Diego State placed ninth in the ranking and is set to embark on the new Pac-12. Brian Dutcher’s squad includes returners Elzie Harrington (eight ppg) and Tae Simmons (5.8 ppg) as well as transfers Isaiah Sy (10 ppg, 4.6 rpg at Oregon State), Nick Anderson (15.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 40% from deep at Rice), Bear Cherry (15.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg at Sac. State) and Chance Gladden (14.4 ppg at Boston University).

Dayton rounds out the top 10. The Flyers look to make the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four seasons under Anthony Grant. Amaël L’Etang will be a big part of that after averaging 11.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 blocks. Aiden Derkack contributed 9.2 points, 4.8 boards and 2.5 assists.

Men’s Other Top 25 Full Rankings

Others receiving votes: Illinois Chicago 22; Liberty 20; UNC Wilmington 19; Yale 19; Furman 18; Tulsa 17; Illinois St. 16; UC Irvine 16; UNLV 12; Charlotte 8; Wyoming 7; South Alabama 7; Vermont 6; North Texas 4; Charleston 3; Montana St. 2; San Diego 2; LIU 2; UMBC 2; Utah Valley 1; Siena 1