MBB: UT Arlington Mavericks: 2024-2025 Team Preview
MBB: UT Arlington Mavericks: 2024-2025 Team Preview
K.T. Turner has reloaded his Mavericks heading into year two. What can the Mavs do for an encore?
The WAC looks a little different come the start of the academic 2024-25 year for many nationwide. But for the remaining nine programs vying for a WAC Championship this fall, the journey hasn’t changed.
Maybe just becoming a quicker away flight than in years past.
As we wrap up UT Arlington preview week, we’ll take a look at the roster put together by the Mavericks second year head coach, K.T. Turner.
Head Coach:
KT Turner, Second Season (20-14 overall, 13-7 WAC)
KT Turner returns for his second year at the helm of the UT Arlington Mavericks program. Turner arrived in Arlington with quite the assistant coaching resume, but no direct Division I head coaching experience.
Sort of like a college graduate looking for their first career job.
Except Turner brought decades of experience under some of the biggest and best head coaches in the game.
Turner’s hire seemed like a potential knock out of the park back in the Spring of 2023.
But the question remained, was he truly a home run hire, maybe a double or triple, or simply a pop fly?
His inaugural season in north Texas should be summed up as a success by most accounts.
Turner took over a program that hadn’t registered a 20-win season in five years, or logged above .500 in conference play in four years, and lastly hadn’t won a conference tournament game in over four years.
In year one, the Turner-led Mavs made a run towards a top-3 WAC finish and made it all the way to the WAC Tournament title game in Las Vegas. It is a concrete embodiment of his heralded potential.
Now, heading into year two. KT Turner embarks on almost a brand new mission.
That mission is attempting to top a conference with a strong frontrunner who has only gotten stronger since their last meeting.
UTA is all-too-familiar with that frontrunner after a getting swept by said-frontrunner in 2023-24, including in the WAC Tournament title game.
The Second-Year Roster
Things will look very different inside the College Park Center this fall. Unfortunately, the Mavs were not immune to the major roster turnover that took place this offseason.
Like others in the WAC, K.T. Turner’s coaching staff might have managed to build a stronger squad than the one that gave Grand Canyon a few runs for their money during the 2023-24 regular season.
Gone are six out of the seven players who found themselves starting at some point of the season. Dajuan Gordon, Shemar Wilson, Aaron Cash and Akili Vining are all out of eligibility.
While others like Sterling Gaston-Chapman, Dwayne Koroma, Chauncey Gibson, Freds Pauls Bagatskis, Fabio Basili, superb freshman Makaih Williams and leading scorer Phillip Russell hit the portal looking for different pastures.
The losses of Russell and Williams is especially tough as the pair would have formed one of the best backcourts in the conference. Russell landed in the Atlantic Ten at VCU, while Williams made his way west to join the monster build that took place in Phoenix over the offseason.
Brandyn Talbot is the lone returning starter from year one in Arlington. On paper he will likely come off of the bench to support an impressive starting lineup filled with incoming transfers.
Predicted Starting Lineup:
F Lance Ware 6-9 235 Gr.
F Diante Smith 6-7 200 Gr.
F Raysean Seamster 6-7 185 Jr.
G Darius Burford 6-0 175 Gr.
Brody Robinson 5-10 160 Jr. (Garden City C.C.)
Sophomore Kade Douglas, D-II transfer Jaden Wells or Talbot could all make a run at starting minutes during the season. However, it seems more likely that all three will come off of the bench to provide offensive boosts if needed.
Post man Lance Ware should be the frontrunner for starting minutes in the paint given the inexperience of freshman Cameron Jackson, and the lack of true D-I experience from JUCO transfers Tuscan Onuoha (Dodge City C.C.) and Jaxon Ellingsworth (Gulf Coast C.C.).
The former Top-50 recruit whose previous stops were at blue chip programs Kentucky and Villanova could be a dark horse candidate for WAC Player of the Year.
Replacing All-WAC Defense & All-WAC selection Shemar Wilson won’t be an easy task, regardless of the recruiting pedigree. Wilson’s presence as a go-to option in the post along with his role as the Mavericks key rim protector is a hard act to follow.
Ware’s likely running mate in the frontcourt is Troy Hupstead.
Hupstead is one of three transfers who averaged double-digits last season in Division-I, and the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Former Nichols State Colonel Diante Smith will man either the wing in some larger rotations & likely the four similar to Aaron Cash & Dejuan Gordon last season.
Smith has made stops in the Big 12 at TCU & the Sun Belt at South Alabama. Though he found the most success at Nichols State, where the All-Southland 1st team selection averaged 16.0 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 3.0 APG & 1.9 SPG. His size, experience & defensive ability will be invaluable in key matchups for the Mavericks this season.
Another likely starter could be Raysean Seamster. A player with great length, size & athleticism who could find minutes at several positions on the floor. Seamster spent the last two seasons at Eastern Arizona, where he received over a dozen offers before committing to UT Arlington.
In the backcourt, Darius Burford seems like an ideal replacement for the now-departed Makaih Williams. At least in terms of what each brought to the table as a scorer. The former Illinois State Redbird doesn’t have the exact same size as Williams.
Though Burford’s ball control will be an upgrade on the former Maverick freshman’s 2.9 turnovers a game. Where both guards are the most similar is how they put the ball in the basket. With both possessing the ability to score from all three levels.
This year’s floor general, combo guard Phillip Russell, could likely be newcomer Brody Robinson. A Juco recruit and former freshman at Chattanooga who garnered dozens of Division I offers after enrolling at Garden City C.C. for his sophomore season.
Russell did a bit of everything for the Mavericks, including creating offense for others. On paper, Robinson looks like the only player on the roaster with elite stats in the ball handling & distribution department, even if logged at the JUCO level.
Overall I see KT Turner heading in a similar direction to that of last year’s roster. With one true post, a pair of lengthy wings who can hit the glass and score when needed, all led by one distributor who can also put the ball in the basket when needed.
With the incoming class, coach Turner appears to have found a winning formula & looks to head into the 2024-2025 season with the 2.0 version of said roster build.
The Schedule:
UT Arlington’s non-conference schedule will be released in the coming weeks, as announced in their recent release of their conference schedule. For now we only have word of a few games having been made official by the great Rocco Miller (RoccoMiller8).
@ Missouri State, November 19th, 2024
@ Arkansas State, December 12th, 2024
Home vs. Evansville December 18th, 2024
Another reminder is that UT Arlington will take part in the C-USA/WAC after being left out last season.
WAC Play:
The conference schedule was announced on Monday with a home and home set up with each team playing all eight others twice.
In regards to the Mavericks format, they’ll head on the road for the first three games of the new year. There will be stops in Stephenville, St. George, and Cedar City before heading home for a two-game homestand against Utah Valley and Seattle.
Opening the season at Tarleton State is a good test to gauge Arlington’s readiness for conference play. Billy Gillispie’s offseason has been quiet, but bringing back former All-WAC forward and double digit scorer Freddy Hicks from his one-year stint at Arkansas State was a huge offseason win.
Both games between the Mavs and Texans came down to the final possession. And both times, Tarleton pulled out the win. However, the Mavs got some revenge in the WAC Tournament with a win in the WAC semifinals over the Texans.
A key thing to note is KT Turner’s squad won’t face Grand Canyon until the second half of the conference season.
The first meeting takes place inside the College Park Center on February 15th. The return trip to Phoenix is booked a few weeks later on February 27th. The regular season title could be decided in those last few weeks in February along with any at-large bid hopes.
If Arlington can survive the likes of Seattle U (Home-Jan. 23rd & Away-Feb. 8th) and California Baptist (Home-Feb. 13th) before that first meeting with the Antelopes, they should be in a key position to challenge for a regular season championship when they face Grand Canyon.
The Outlook:
All in all, UT Arlington is in a great position to build on a competitive year one under KT Turner. The Mavs lost the majority of the roster, but with the connections of the staff were able to build a roster that might be even better than in 2023-24.
It’s all about how this squad comes together on the floor or develops team chemistry. Will it be quick enough or will it take some time?
The team chemistry that once took a few years to develop is a luxury in today’s game. As programs continue to see roster turnover at a previously unfathomable rate, the ability to put together a winning roster on the fly with only one offseason under your belt is a newfound skill.
After the initial success last season from a Mavs program that returned just three players from their previous, increasing the win total from 11 in 2022-23 to 20 in 2023-24 set the standard high under KT Turner.
So, given the caliber of transfers brought in along with the previously shown ability to put together a competitive roster on the fly, the Mavericks should once again compete for a top-4 finish in the WAC come March.
As mentioned prior, in the latest iteration of the WAC, that may not mean what it did in the past few years.
However, K.T. Turner and his Mavericks are in a prime position to establish themselves as a powerhouse of the conference given Grand Canyon and Seattle U’s exit to the WCC next Summer.