What College Basketball Programs Are Going To Make The Jump To Relevancy/Contender?

It’s a question that’s asked nearly all the time, especially as we get close to the season. What college basketball programs will make the jump this year? We’ll take it a bit further out than that and look at the next couple of years and what programs can make the jump to either relevancy or contender.

Now, there are some ones like Louisville after a down year, but we’re not going to count them. We’re looking at teams that are typically not contenders or not relevant. Now, everything is relative and that’s important to remember. What’s successful at Duke isn’t the same as being successful at somewhere like Tulsa. I know everyone will say UConn, because it’s obvious, so we’re going to leave them off the list too. There’s no doubt that Hurley should be more consistently successful than Kevin Ollie. That’s the program that everyone will look at.

So with that in mind here are the programs that I expect to make the jump in the next two years. These are in no specific order, so don’t get mad if you see your team listed lower than someone else.

St. Louis – And just like that Travis Ford is ready to compete in the A-10. The biggest reason why? His ability to recruit. More specifically, his ability to recruit Cart’Are Gordon. He’s a top-100 recruit that picked St. Louis while he also had offers from Kansas, Illinois, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Texas. However, he wanted to stay home and play for St. Louis. After years of finishing in the bottom of the A-10 and struggling to get back to the years when they were a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Gordon is step 1. If Gordon is able to be successful at St. Louis we could see more people from the talent-rich St. Louis area stay home and play for Ford. His ability to recruit has always been there, it’s just a matter of making the talent work together.

UMass – We’re staying in the A-10 here as UMass is another program that should make a jump back to relevancy. It’s also part of the Travis Ford run we’re on here. UMass has made the NCAA Tournament just once in the last 13 years. They lost in the first round as a No. 6 seed. That should change with Matt McCall and possibly this year. The group that UMass has is young and can build around Luwane Pipkins. They have a top-100 class coming in this year with 3-stars Samba Diallo and Tre Wood. UMass won 5 conference games last season. I don’t think they’ll be a Tournament team this year, but you’ll see a jump to a .500 record in the A-10 this year and then a winning record the next year. Step 1 is just be relevant again.

Georgetown – Patrick Ewing really impressed me last year. There were questions about how he’d adjust to coaching at the collegiate level, especially as his first head coaching job. When Ewing was hired it felt like he was just the press conference win hire. Now, the schedule sucked last year. It’s not like they were winning impressive games. But, they did get wins against Butler and Seton Hall. They pushed Syracuse and Xavier to overtime. Jessie Govan is a possible Big East Player of the Year this year and Ewing is bringing in one hell of a recruiting class led by James Akigno, Josh LeBlanc, Grayson Carter and Mac McClung. Akigno is someone who can be the face of the program for 3-4 years. If he lives up to the hype, Georgetown will be in the NCAA Tournament before he leaves.

Washington – The core of Nowell, Dickerson, Crisp and Thybulle is what the focus should be on. In Mike Hopkins’ first year at Washington, they actually surprised people. Think about it. You lose your best player – Markelle Fultz – and don’t really have this sure fire recruiting class coming in yet you still win 21 games including one vs Kansas. What’s arguably even more impressive is the fact they did it all without a senior on the roster. They are a top-35 team this year and Hopkins is really embracing recruiting the talent-rich Seattle area. If Hopkins keeps doing that + this group of Nowell, Dickerson, Crisp and Thybulle, we’ll have another top-30 consistent team in the Pac-12 which is much needed.

LSU – Can I interest you in what Will Wade is doing recruiting at LSU? Tremont Waters is an All-American this year. Now throw in Naz Reid and Emmitt Williams and you have a top-25 team in year two for Wade. LSU had wins over Michigan and Houston in the nonconference last season. We’re going to see a massive jump with LSU this year. Wade is going to recruit well at LSU. He’s already in the mix for 5-star Trendon Watford, 4-stars CJ Walker, Kofi Cockburn, Jahimus Ramsey and Omar Payne. They’ll be a consistent NCAA Tournament team again starting this year.

Pacific – This is one that I’m going out on a limb on and also banking on Damon Stoudamire not leaving in the next 2 years. Pacific is going to be one of the consistent top-4 teams in the WCC. In his second year, Stoudamire went from 4 wins in the WCC to a 9-9 record last year. This year? Don’t be surprised if they jump St. Mary’s or BYU in the standings. Even though they lose Miles Reynolds, they return a good bunch from last year and Stoudamire is bringing in JuCo transfers who will contribute right away. Now, will they contend? Obviously not. But, we can see a bump in the WCC which is huge for Gonzaga.

Mississippi State – Don’t look now, but we have a top-20 team in the country and only getting better. Somehow Ben Howland is reigniting his career down in Starkville and this year’s class of Reggie Perry, DJ Stewart and Robert Woodard is just setting up for the future as well. Think about where Mississippi State was a couple years ago. Everyone thought Malik Newman was the one that would bring MSU back, but we know what happened there. They obviously will lose a couple of guys to the NBA after this year, but the group of Lamar Peters, Nick Weatherspoon, Tyson Carter and Abdul Ado to go with that freshman group is something to keep an eye on.