WHEELING, W.Va. – The Concord University men's basketball team has been predicted to finish fifth in the Mountain East Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released Tuesday afternoon at MEC Media Day.
THE POLL
| Place |
Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
West Liberty (9) |
99 |
| 2. |
Fairmont State (1) |
87 |
| 3. |
Charleston (1) |
81 |
| 4. |
West Virginia State |
72 |
| 5. |
Concord |
69 |
| 6. |
Glenville State |
56 |
| 7. |
Point Park |
44 |
| 8. |
Davis & Elkins |
37 |
| 9. |
Wheeling |
29 |
| 10. |
Frostburg State |
20 |
| 11. |
West Virginia Wesleyan |
11 |
2023-24 REVIEW
Last year was a historical season for the Mountain Lions as they finished 22-8 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015-16. The 21 regular-season wins for Concord were tied for the most in a single season in program histroy, and the appearance in the MEC Tournament Semifinals was the first since 2019. Junior guard
Kollin Tolbert was an All-MEC First Team selection and junior forward
Rene Diop was All-MEC Honorable Mention.
2024-25 SCHEDULE
Concord is scheduled for 26 games this winter with 20 against conference foes and six outside of the MEC. The season gets underway at Virginia Union November 13 before a clash of two NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago when the Maroon and Gray travels to California (Pa.) November 16. The Mountain Lions renew their rivalry with Bluefield State November 20 and MEC play begins November 23 at Charleston. CU will be at home three times before the end of the calendar year: November 26 (West Virginia State), December 4 (Point Park) and December 15 (Fairmont State). 2025 opens at home versus West Virginia Wesleyan January 8. Bluefield State will be inside the Carter Center February 3, and West Liberty visits Athens February 22. The final game of the season will be March 1 against Glenville State.
THE RETURNERS
While Diop and Tolbert highlight the all-conference returns for the Mountain Lions, CU brings back more than 80 percent of its scoring from last season. Tolbert led CU in scoring last season as he scored 14.2 points per game while shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 83.9 percent from the foul line. The Cincinnati, Ohio native finished top 10 in the league in both scoring and free-throw shooting. Diop averaged 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He shot 62.8 percent from the floor and tallied five double-doubles. Graduate guard
Jordan Wooden, the most experienced CU player, has appeared in 90 games over his career. He scored 8.0 points per game a season ago and added 3.6 rebounds per contest. Senior forward
Amare Smith has seen the floor 86 times over his career. He scored 8.1 points per game in 2023-24 while shooting 44 percent form the floor and 83.6 percent at the foul line.
Senior guard
Corey Boston played a pivotal role to CU's success last season as he came off the bench in 28 of 30 games and averaged 6.3 points per game. Junior forward
Ayden Ince provided 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest in 29 games. And as freshmen, sophomore guard
Georges Archer and sophomore forward
Boubacar Djigo provided 3.1 and 2.1 points per game, respectively.
THE NEWCOMERS
Head coach
Todd May, whose next win puts him in fourth place at CU with 121 career victories, welcomed a new assistant coach to the program in
Drew Greene. Together, the Mountain Lions brought in nine new faces with the makeup consisting of eight freshmen and one transfer. The lone newcomer with collegiate experience is junior forward
Ken Sallee (Chicago, Ill./Parkland College). The rest of the new faces are guard
Riley Clevenger (Diana, W.Va./Webster County), guard
Noah Gergley (Fort Myers, Fla./Gateway), forward
Kraig Gilbert (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City), guard
Brandan Isaac (Hinton, W.Va./Summers County), guard
Cole Lambert (Pineville, W.Va./Wyoming East), guard
Dawson Lunsford (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington), forward
Jordan Reed (Woodbridge, Va./Massanutten Military Academy) and guard
Josiah Rickards (Chesapeake, Va./Catholic).
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