BASKETBALL CHECK-IN: #1 STILL ISN'T RETIRED
Emptying out the Owls basketball notebook.
I think I’m addicted to Summer League. Are the games any good? Nope. But it’s still basketball. That’s enough for me this time of year.
Watching our guy Chris Youngblood (yes, our guy) grind for a roster spot led me to a hot take: College basketball should scrap the secret scrimmages and figure out how to do about a hundred different versions of what the NBA hosts in Vegas, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. Let freshman, transfers, and reserves suit up in some regional showcases, sell tickets, put it on ESPN+, etc. I’d pay an embarrassing amount of money for a ticket to watch Pettway’s newcomers play a few chaotic games somewhere like Chattanooga. It’s a horrible idea that would do absolute numbers with the sickos out there.
My other thought was that I really need to catch up on Kennesaw State basketball news. All the signings, hires, and other headlines from Jerry Mack’s football rebuild mean that Pettway’s team is flying under the radar right now. Let’s run through some of the latest stories from the men’s basketball program.
OOC schedule: 99.9% done
Kennesaw State learned a lot during the first season in CUSA. One of those valuable lessons came on the scheduling front: Don’t send a young team across North America three separate times during the non-conference slate. More specifically, don’t spend Thanksgiving freezing in an Alberta gulag Holiday Inn Express and minor league hockey arena.
That’s changed this time around, with schedule news trickling out from reporters like Kai Millette of the Sentinel, who I think broke basically every one of these scheduling agreements. I tried my hand at some light journalism with the Alabama contract, but was sadly a couple minutes slow on the trigger finger in a duel with Rocco Miller. I’m not built for that life.
As it stands, this is how the Owls will build up to CUSA play:
Nov. 10 - at Florida A&M
Nov. 12 - Point (NAIA)
Nov. 16 - USF
Nov. 24-26 - Multi-team event at FGCU
Dec. 2 - Jackson State
Dec. 5 - Georgia State
Dec 12 - Southern Wesleyan (D2)
Dec. 21 - against Alabama (Huntsville)
That’s 10 reported matchups, leaving anywhere from 1-3 openings depending on how many league games CUSA ends up scheduling after the addition of Delaware and Missouri State. If the league opts for 20 games, my uneducated guess is that we’ll see one more non-D1 team added as the season opener - around Nov. 5 or so - before heading down to Tallahassee. That’s been the template for the last few years: Tip off against a local-ish non-D1 that you pay in Papa Johns, play a one-game D1 road trip, and then come back home for another pizza party. If CUSA opts for 18 games again, that would open up a couple extra spots. I don’t think the league office has indicated which direction they’ll go.
Initial thought: KSU kinda cooked here, at least compared to last year. As usual, the non-D1 stuff sucks, but there’s no way around it. You get three D1 matchups with a real emotional draw - the Love Wins Classic against USF, running back a budding rivalry with GSU, and Pettway’s Tide reunion at the site of the CUSA tourney. Solid chance the Alabama and USF games end up on national TV, given the reported Sunday dates. I’m all for more HBCU connections, and that FAMU trip gives a reloading KSU team road experience against a Rattlers squad that will likely be down in KenPom’s 300 range.
Programs at KSU’s level likely have to look at scheduling on a more regional basis now, in order to cut costs for revenue sharing purposes. An OOC lineup that goes no further west than Huntsville is an effective way to start saving money. Based on what’s out there from the schedule, the Owls might only take two flights total for the entirety of the non-conference.
For the MTE, I’m very curious as to who else FGCU will get in the building. That could be another sneaky good mid-major field - and a trip that feels like much less of a punishment than the Western Slam in Alberta last winter. We’ll check back in and play the full schedule game once that field - and the rest of the slate - gets announced in full.
Who’s the target audience for an eight-week roster reveal? Me, I guess. I love the thought of fans frantically refreshing the @ksuowlsmbb feed, trying to see who’s on the squad one week and one highlight at a time. Does Simeon Cottle still play for the Owls? Folks, find out in the season finale of the roster reveal.
We’ve made it to the end of the countdown, and KSU finally updated the full online roster now that the team’s on campus and practicing. Six true freshmen and two transfers join the returners from last season’s CUSA semifinalists. You already knew that if you have internet access and a passing interest in Owls basketball.
We’ll have plenty of time to go in-depth on important topics like “how on Earth do you replace Adrian Wooley?” before the season gets here. For now, here are some highly important takes on the full roster:
How many teams in the country brought in six high school recruits? 247’s class rankings only list 6 such schools from the power conference ranks, but doesn’t track MM classes very well. Kennesaw’s youth certainly stands out as Pettway doubles down on high school recruiting. One-time Murray State signees Kaden Rickard and Trey Simpson join the original recruiting class announced in the winter. This six-man freshman class - and Pettway’s overall strategy - is definitely worth a full breakdown before November. We’ll skip writing 10K words for now.
KSU’s walk-ons all survived the new roster limits from the House settlement. Starting this season, college basketball teams are allotted 15 roster spots, but a late revision allowed exceptions for players who would’ve lost their spot based on the new restrictions. That means Chuck Stone, Dozie Onyirimba, and EJ Holland all stayed in the program, bringing the Owls roster to 18. Good omen for the culture while bringing in 8 new faces.
Braedan Lue allegedly grew an inch and gained 12 pounds. That looks much better for your starting center on paper, even if it doesn’t change his play style. We all know the measurable on college rosters are always accurate. Cottle also hit the weight room for an extra 10 pounds. Sadly, incoming NC Central transfer Perry Smith shrunk an inch during his trip down I-85. He checks in at 6’8”, 241 after being listed at 6’9”, 230 last year. Grayson product Amir Taylor weighs in at 250 pounds ahead of his freshman year, when he was listed in the 235 range as a recruit.
Wake Forest transfer Davin Cosby Jr. will wear #1. Did I daydream Pettway saying that he retired Terrell Burden’s jersey? Maybe so. That’s two straight seasons of an Owls guard wearing #1 after it was supposedly going up in the rafters. Cosby’s number selection made the graphic, but he’s not currently listed on the KSU Owls dot com roster. Weird.
KSU lists Ramone Seals as a forward this year. That might not mean much on the offensive end, given the negligible difference between the 3 and 4 in Pettway’s system. Seals reminds me of a Chris Youngblood-type guy on defense in a way, with a solid enough frame that he’s able to defend “up” a position. Worth mentioning, as the sophomore could open up the door to some ultra-switchable lineups if he can play credible post defense. His position change could also be a sign that Pettway loves what he’s getting from his trio of bigger freshman guards - Washington, Rickard, and Tousignaut.
One of Kennesaw State’s underrated losses this offseason is Director of Basketball Operations Dan McDonald moving on to opportunities away from coaching.
McDonald, a KSU grad, joined Pettway’s first staff from LakePoint, where he served as the basketball program director. You can’t really talk about Kennesaw’s recent recruiting success without acknowledging McDonald’s deep connections to the travel circuit and high school programs. He was one part of the machine, but let’s hope he gets his due credit when the full story’s written on the Pettway era.
McDonald announced the news on Twitter a few weeks back:
About a month ago, I informed Coach Pettway of my decision to resign from my spot on his staff to pursue other opportunities outside of coaching (we agreed I would stay thru team camp last weekend). Not entirely sure what’s next in my journey, but I have some leads and hope to have something figured out soon.
I loved my time working at my alma mater and will forever be thankful to Coach Pettway for the opportunity to live out a dream. There is no doubt in my mind that the Owls will be doing big things going forward with the great kids we recruited the last few years. I can’t wait to be back at the Convo in November as a rowdy fan!
Open invite to talk hoops on this website whenever you want, Coach. You know McDonald’s a true poster because his first move after the announcement was to fire off some evals from the GBCA team camps at LakePoint.
KSU’s roster already lists Perkins Carden, a former Alabama GA, as the new director of operations. That’s one of those jobs that could mean almost anything - the main question is if Carden’s duties extend into the revenue sharing/NIL realm. If not, I would bet Pettway brings in a general manager at some point soon, in line with what Mack did by hiring Mike Kershaw.
Last week, we talked about the strange Milton Overton situation and how it could impact the push/pull between different programs fighting for dollars to use in talent acquisition. Every school in FBS will deal with the football school vs. basketball school debate at some point. Whoever ends up being Pettway’s legalized bag man could be one of the most powerful people on campus in this new era.