Central Connecticut State: Jay Rodgers, 6’3 165 junior
Entering his second season replacing former UConn great Donyell Marshall, Patrick Sellers is ready to build a roster with almost entirely his commits. This season, incoming transfer Jay Rodgers is poised to be a major piece in the backcourt with guards Ian Krishnan, Tre Mitchell and Zach Newkirk all not opting into their extra year of eligibility.
Receiving seven D1 offers out of high school, Rodgers played sparingly in his first season at New Orleans and played last season at Cochise College, a JuCo program where Rodgers averaged 17.8 points, 3.2 assists and nearly three three-pointers made per game shooting 40.1% from three. A poor shooting program during Marshall’s tenure, last season the Blue Devils attempted 39.2% of their field goals from three, their highest ratio ever. Rodgers’ smooth perimeter shooting will be a major asset for his case to earn a starting role this season and possibly finish the season as one of the Blue Devils’ top scorers.
Fairleigh Dickinson: Demetre Roberts, 5’8 165 fifth-year senior
After nine seasons and two tournament appearances under the head coach Greg Herenda, a 13-38 record across the last two seasons left the program to move on (arguably quick-triggered) from Herenda to hire Tobin Anderson from neighboring D2 program St. Thomas Aquinas where he was a five-time MBWA Coach of the Year in only the last nine seasons.
Like many coaches who move up to D1, Anderson is arriving at Fairleigh Dickinson with some of his top players from last year, led by undersized point guard Demetre Roberts. Averaging 16.4 points, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals last year while shooting 35.7% from three, Roberts will have every opportunity to start from Day 1 and instill his skill, leadership and the past winning ways to his new teammates. The NEC is a guard-heavy league and Roberts has the potential to be one of the best this upcoming season.
Merrimack: Jaylen Stinson, 6’0 170 sophomore
With both of Merrimack’s top point guards transferring (starting point guard Mikey Watkins to UMass-Lowell and part-time starter Malik Edmead to Albany), James Madison transfer Jaylen Stinson has a prime opportunity to earn the starting point guard spot on a talented team with four seniors in their projected starting lineup.
Playing only a total of 23 minutes last season at James Madison, Stinson was a sought after high school prospect at Archbishop Wood in Philadelphia, picking the Dukes over thirteen other D1 schools. It’s always a good recruiting strategy to bring in players from winning programs and in what Stinson lacks in D1 experience, his moxie, selflessness and leadership traits from high school should fit in excellently with the Warriors’ veterans.
Sacred Heart: Joey Reilly, 6’0 170 senior
With Tyler Thomas transferring to Hofstra, Aaron Clarke transferring to Stony Brook and Alex Watson graduating, there will be a major change of the guard within Sacred Heart’s backcourt: the trio averaged 39.4 points per game and started nearly every game together.
To help, Anthony Latina and his staff added a three-man transfer class, all of which played last season in the MAAC. Amongst that group, Niagara’s Raheem Solomon is smooth shooting guard and Siena’s Aidan Carpenter is a slashing wing, but neither are candidates to help replace last year’s starting point guard Aaron Clarke, allowing Joey Reilly every opportunity to take over the starting role.
Reilly is an efficient and patient guard in a league surrounded with inefficient and occasionally haphazard guard play. Last season his 1.7 to 0.8 assist to turnover ratio makes him the perfect pass-first technician who can also make his own shot, averaging 38.5% last season from three. A backcourt rotation of Reilly, Mike Sixsmith and Solomon provides the Pioneers with three very good perimeter options, opening up the floor for stud forward Nico Gallette and slashers Brendan McGuire and Aidan Carpenter to utilize spacing.
LIU: Kyndall Davis, 6’5 200 junior
It’s been a weird offseason for LIU, waiting until June 30th to fire head coach Derek Kellogg, who led the Sharks to the tournament in his first season and finished .500 or better in conference play each season of his tenure.
In the wake of shocking news, two of LIU’s best players, Eral Penn (DePaul) and Isaac Kante (undecided) transferred out instead of using their extra year of eligibility with the Sharks. Penn's late departure opened up a golden opportunity for Kyndall Davis to take over a more ball-dominant role in LIU’s electric offense.
Picking LIU over seven D1 programs, including St. Bonaventure, Davis’ role really picked up in January, with him averaging 9.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks over the last seventeen games. Playing last season at the 2 and 3 guard spots, Davis’ strength and stat-stuffing versatility will help him play all over the court. In fact, LIU’s frenetic offensive pace (ranked 6th in tempo last season) profiles nicely to Davis even getting time at the 4. As their best returning scorer on a team who puts up a ton of points, Davis has all-NEC conference team potential.
St. Francis Brooklyn: Tedrick Wilcox. 6’6 188 senior
Last season, the Terriers spent most of the season finding the right balance in their frontcourt that experienced a lot of turnover from the previous season. Once head coach Glenn Braica settled on his rotations, Tedrick Wilcox became one of his most trusted options, playing both the 3 and 4 spots. Over the last nineteen games of last season, Wilcox became a full-time starter, averaging 9.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.8 steals and shooting 50.7 2p% and 33.3 3p%.
With last year’s top two scorers Michael Cubbage (played about half of his minutes at the 3) graduating and Patrick Emelin (played about half his minutes at the 4) transferring to Maryland, Wilcox is poised to soak up most of their minutes. With his solid efficiency and more shots available, Wilcox is a good bet to finish next season as an All-Conference selection.
St. Francis PA: Zahree Harrison, 6’0 190 junior
The second player on this list who finished his high school career at Archbishop Wood, Zahree Harrison is poised to take over the starting point guard spot with Ramiir Dixon-Conover graduating.
Part of an excellent incoming junior class that features returning double-digit scorers Josh Cohen, Maxwell Land and Ronell Giles, Harrison averaged just 3.5 points and 2.0 assists last season backing up Dixon-Conover, but Dixon-Conover’s late season injury showed a glimpse of what Harrison can do as the primary point guard: over the last five games of the season, Harrison averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals.
So far, Harrison has been a poor outside shooter (career 9.5% from three) and gives up too many turnovers (almost a one-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio) but Harrison’s athleticism, ability to attack the rim and vision makes him one of the more intriguing breakout candidates in the NEC.
Stonehill: Max Zegarowski, 6’6 201 senior
Playing his last two seasons at Franklin Pierce, Max Zegarowski will make his D1 debut in Stonehill’s first season in the NEC and in Division 1.
The younger brother of Creighton great Marcus Zegarowski, Max was an efficient stretch forward at Franklin Pierce, averaging 14.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 threes made at 43.0% with only 1.3 turnovers per game. Zegarowski’s smooth shooting paired with his ability to secure rebounds helps him to be a candidate to start at either forward spot.
Wagner: Zaire Williams, 6’4 180 sophomore
After a strong decade replacing Dan Hurley as the head coach at Wagner, Bashir Mason was hired by Saint Peter’s as Shaheen Holloway’s replacement. This changing of the guard at Wagner applies also to its roster as its incredible graduating senior quartet of Alex Morales, Will Martinez, Raekwon Rodgers and Elijah Ford (combined 52.7 points per game) will leave the door open for others to step in and take the scoring lead.
Some of their production will be replaced by Wagner’s three-man transfer haul, but the backcourt returnees of Delonnie Hunt and Zaire Williams will be major factors this season. While Hunt is the steady, mistake-limiting point guard, Zaire Williams is poised to step up as a top scoring guard, earning some of the shot opportunities available with Martinez and Morales taking up most of the rim-attacking opportunities last season, leaving Williams as mostly a perimeter option (about 70% of Williams’ shot attempts were from three). Picking Wagner over five other D1 programs, including Missouri, Williams has high-end potential to become one of the Seahawks’ leaders in his sophomore season.
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