It’s November. That means National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) basketball is weeks away. Three Bahamians are a part of those programs in different capacities that currently enjoy the pre-season nod in Top 25 rankings. The season officially opens on November 25.
Those Bahamians are the University of Texas Longhorns forward Kai Jones; Mikhail McLean, University of Houston Cougars assistant director for player development; and Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr., Michigan State University Spartans graduate assistant.
In the NCAA.com rankings by Andy Katz, the Spartans are ranked at number 12, the Longhorns are ranked at number 20 and the Cougars are two below at number 22.
Over on the latest CBS rankings by Gary Parrish, the Spartans are ranked at number 11, the Cougars are ranked at number 15 and the Longhorns are at number 19.
Jones had a quiet season in his freshman year last season. He averaged 3.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, while averaging 16.7 minutes per game. The Longhorns finished the 2019-2020 season with a 19-12 win/loss record, 9-9 in Big 12 Conference play.
The Longhorns open play in a home game against the University of Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros on Wednesday, November 25, in Austin, Texas. Following that game, they will play in the 2020 Maui Invitational in Asheville, North Carolina. Conference play for Jones and his team will be a matchup against the Baylor University Bears on December 13 in Waco, Texas.
Going forward, the big man has a lot of expectations this season. He was recently named to Sports Illustrated’s Top 30 2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft Big Board.
In the second-to-last game before the season got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Jones erupted for 20 points, seven rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block against Oklahoma State University. That was his best statistical game of the season. He played 32 minutes and shot a blistering 66 percent from the field.
He is very athletic and dominant on the court when his number is called. He can be seen around the rim slam dunking home alley-oops. The former Bahamas junior national team player has added some muscles this off-season and has been busy putting in a lot of work over the summer that also includes working on his perimeter shot.
Longhorns Head Coach Shaka Smart has most of his players returning this season and has added Greg Brown, a five-star recruit, to his team’s roster.
Nairn, a former Spartan from 2014 to 2018, joined coach Tom Izzo’s coaching staff in September 2019. They finished the last season 22-9 including 14-6 in Big Ten Conference competition.
Their 2020-2021 schedule has not been posted as yet.
The Spartans lost forward Xavier Tillman and guard Cassius Winston to this year’s NBA Draft. They have added transfer forward Joey Hauser to their roster.
The Bahamian helped to capture two Big Ten championships for the Spartans as a player. The Spartans had a deep run in the 2015 NCAA DI Tournament when they made the Final Four when Nairn was a freshman.
Prior to going to Michigan State last year, he wrote an autobiography, entitled “Purpose Driven”. After graduating from Michigan State, the guard was on the NBA’s Phoenix Sun’s front office staff in a player development capacity – an opportunity he was happy to have gotten.
McLean, a former Cougar from 2010-2015, has been in the assistant director for development role from 2016. Before that, he was the Cougars’ staff in internal operations role from 2015-2016.
The Cougars were impressive last season as they finished with a 23-8 record, and 13-5 in American Athletic Conference (AAC) play. They captured their second straight regular-season title for the second time in school history. They are the favorites to win the AAC conference this season.
As a player, McLean was awarded several accolades for his achievements as a student-athlete including Conference-USA (C-USA) Commissioner’s Honor Roll, AAC Conference All-Academic Team and C-USA Winter Spirit of Service Award.
The team’s 2020-2021 schedule has not been officially announced as yet.
The NCAA stopped all sports including the NCAA DI Basketball Tournament back in March of this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of their conferences have resumed sports this fall.
The post Bahamians in Top 25 NCAA DI rankings appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/bahamians-in-top-25-ncaa-di-rankings/
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