Steve Alford looks to finally win an NCAA Tournament game after back-to-back successful seasons with Nevada basketball
The tradition continues! CBB Review is again ranking the top 100 teams heading into the new college basketball season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Nevada basketball.
Nevada basketball has enjoyed recent success under Alford, winning 20+ games in back-to-back seasons and making the tournament in both. However, they haven’t been able to do much once they’ve made it there, losing by 25 in the first four, and suffering a meltdown last year, blowing a 17-point lead with 7:36 to go in the second half.
If they want to make another tournament appearance, they’ll have to do it without Jarod Lucas and Keenan Blackshear, the two stars from last season. The two combined to average 33 points a game, meaning they’ll need to replace about 44% of their scoring from last year.
The top candidate to replace that scoring is Nick Davidson, who averaged 12 a game last year. He, paired with Kobe Sanders, the Cal Poly transfer who averaged 19.6 a game last year, can be a dynamic duo of their own.
Interestingly, this Nevada team has zero incoming freshmen, so the experience will definitely play a part in this Nevada basketball team. Eight of their projected top ten rotation pieces are upperclassmen.
The Mountain West won’t be easy once again, but with Alford in charge, don’t be surprised to see this team in bubble talks for the third straight year.
Click here to learn more about our preseason top 100 teams heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Head coach: Steve Alford (6th season at Nevada, 30th season overall)
2023-24 record: 26-8 (13-5)
2024 postseason finish: NCAA Tournament Round of 64 Appearance
Notable departures:
- Jarod Lucas (17.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 1.4 APG)
- Kenan Blackshear (15.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 5.0 APG)
- Hunter McIntosh (5.9 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 1.3 APG)
Notable non-conference games:
- Santa Clara (November 11)
Projected Rotation
PG: Daniel Foster (6-6, 215, Gr.-Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 4.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 49.5 FG%, 35.5 3P%
SG: Xavier DuSell (6-5, 200, Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 11.5 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.6 SPG, 39.5 3P% (Fresno State)
SF: Kobe Sanders (6-9, 207, Gr.-Sr.)
2023-2024 stats: 19.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.2 APG, 0.8 SPG, 45.9 FG%, 87.4 FT% (Cal Poly)
PF: Tre Coleman (6-7, 225, Gr.-Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 8.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.3 SPG, 37.0 3P%
C: Nick Davidson (6-10, 238, Jr.)
2023-24 stats: 12.2 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 54.5 FG%, 75.7 FG%
6: KJ Hymes (6-10, 225, Gr.-Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 5.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.8 BPG, 60.8 FG%
7: Daniel Foster (6-6, 215, Gr.-Sr.)
2023-2024 stats: 4.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 49.5 FG%
8: Tyler Rolison (6-0, 186, So.)
2023-24 stats: 3.8 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.6 SPG
9: Brandon Love (6-10, 230, Sr.)
2023-24 stats: 10.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.4 BPG, 54.9 FG% (Texas State)
10: Justin McBride (6-7, 238, So.)
2023-24 stats: 2.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 6.5 minutes per game (Oklahoma State)
Nevada Basketball Team MVP: Nick Davidson
EvanMiya is an analytical model that measured over 3000 college basketball player’s ratings from last year. Unsurprisingly, Zach Edey was #1, but coming in at #59 was none other than Nick Davidson. That’s ahead of guys like Isaiah Stevens, Tyson Walker, and his teammate Kenan Blackshear. Davidson really took advantage of the extra opportunity after a productive freshman year. He started all 34 games and played his role perfectly as the third guy. He has a really good feel for the game and his a high basketball IQ.
On the box score, you won’t see much, but defensively his 6-9 fame makes him really difficult to get by. This allowed his perimeter defenders to feel more comfortable and hold teams to 66.9 a game, the 46th best in the country. Now, the team is his. Going from a role player to starter, to star, is a big leap to take, but he has performed well and done exactly what he needs to at every level. This team will run through him, and he should be a first-team all-Mountain West player next year.
Nevada Basketball make-or-break player: Kobe Sanders
As we mentioned, the reason for Nevada basketball’s success last year was the dynamic guard duo. With both of those players gone, they’ll need a new guard to come in and be a high-level scorer. He was phenomenal all season last year with Cal Poly, scoring just under 20 points on decent shooting splits. He scored 30+ six times last year, and scored in double figures every game.
Here’s the thing. His team, Cal Poly, went 0-17 in conference play and 4-28 overall. In fact, the best season his team has had in his four years with Cal Poly was in 2021, when they team went 3-12 in conference play and 7-21 overall. So, none of the games that he’s played have really had any meaning in his college career in the sense that they’re playing for a postseason appearance. With Nevada basketball, that will never be the case, so making that adjustment might be difficult.
If he can average 12-14 points a game, that is everything they can want from Sanders and more. At 6-8, he’s a tall guard who can really take advantage of his matchup. If the situation is too much of an adjustment, the lack of guard scoring can really bite the Wolfpack.
Key analytic: Percentage of Points from 3 Pointers
The great thing about college basketball is how different styles of offense can all succeed. We saw teams like BYU and Creighton, take and make threes at a high level succeed, but we also saw Kansas and Gonzaga succeed while prioritizing two-point scoring. Nevada basketball falls into the latter category, finishing 287th. Jarod Lucas made 36% of the team’s threes last year with 80, with the next highest being Hunter McIntosh’s 80.
Both players are gone from the team, but in comes Xavier DuSell, who made 88 threes last year, and 60th-best in the country. While he most likely won’t take Lucas’ role as the primary scorer, he can fill the hole from an outside shooting standpoint.
This team has really good size, with all but one player in the projected rotation listed at 6-6 or taller. This will allow them to create mismatches on offense and should generate easier shots on both pullups and post shots.
Nevada Basketball 2024-25 projections
Projected conference finish: 4th in the Mountain West
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Round of 64 Appearance