One Breakout Player In Each Power Conference Entering 2023-24

Big East – David Joplin (Marquette)

The reigning Big East Champions will be returning four of their five starters from last season’s team, and this time around they’ll be hoping to end things with a deep March run. The one starter that will not return is Power Forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who blew up in the months leading up to the NBA Draft and all of a sudden Marquette lost someone who many expected to be an important piece after a tremendous 2023. In his place comes David Joplin, who has been in the program every step of the Shaka Smart era and can help Marquette in a totally different way than Prosper.  

What made Prosper so intriguing to the NBA Draft scouts was his length, and ability to help stretch the floor, while also being able to Guard the other team’s best player. Joplin is the best pure shooter on this Marquette team, and with a really good defender in Stevie Mitchell already on the wing, that offensive help can be something that the Golden Eagles really need. As a Sophomore last year playing predominantly off the bench, Joplin averaged 9.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.9% from three.  

That included leading Marquette to a massive victory in the Big East Tournament over the eventual National Champions UConn, when he scored 17 points while shooting 4/5 from downtown. This game definitely gave the Marquette staff some confidence that Joplin can be a major contributor on a team with legitimate title aspirations heading into the season. With eight of the Golden Eagles top nine leading scorers returning from last season, there is a lot of continuity and a lot to like and Joplin is right in the middle of that conversation.  

Big 12 – Pop Pop Isaacs (Texas Tech)

It isn’t very often that a true Freshman averages over 11 points per game and shoots over 35% from three in the Big 12 Conference, and it goes under the radar. However, that is exactly what happened to Isaacs last season, and a lot of it had to do with Texas Tech’s struggles. The Red Raiders entered last season with a ton of high expectations, after adding a handful of what looked like quality transfers in the offseason.  

Things then got out of hand quickly however, when they lost each of their first eight games in Big 12 Conference play. The lone bright spot during that stretch was Isaacs, and he showed that he belongs in the best conference in College Basketball in a major way. The true Freshman led the Red Raiders in scoring in their first conference game against TCU with 17 points and followed that up with 23 points in Tech’s loss at Texas in mid-January. The issue was that Texas Tech’s season basically felt over before it even started and there were so many bad vibes around this program. So much so, that Isaac’s impressive Freshman season was completely off the radar.  

With an elite defensive mind now Coaching this team in Grant McCasland and a much more well-balanced organized roster, there is no doubt that Tech will be significantly more competitive this season. McCasland coached the Conference USA player of the Year last season in Tylor Perry, and I expect Pop-Pop’s season to be very similar. Keep in mind, that conference featured other really good teams including an FAU squad that got to the Final 4 and UAB, who will be one of the better teams in the American Athletic Conference this season. Issacs will be a major reason why and as the Red Raiders clear cut go to scorer, he will not only breakout but also become one of the premier players in the Big 12 Conference this season.  

Pac-12 – Kylan Boswell (Arizona)

In one of the most noticeable moves of the offseason, Arizona’s Starting Point Guard in each of the last two seasons, Kerr Kriisa decided to leave the program and transfer. Arizona had won a combined 61 games in each of the last two seasons, but after losing in the Round of 64 to Princeton in embarrassing fashion, a change needed to be made.  

The keys to the car will now be handed to former Top 50 recruit Kylan Boswell, who showed great flashes of potential towards the backend of last season. Coming to Tucson as a reclassified Freshman, Boswell wasn’t heavily involved early on in the season. However, he ended 2023 on a high note, including scoring 14 points in both of Arizona’s final two games of the season against USC and UCLA.  

It is very underestimated just how difficult it is for a reclassified Freshman to adjust to playing Division I College Basketball when they really should still be in high school. With a large amount of talent around him this season, including transfers Caleb Love from North Carolina, Jaden Bradley from Alabama, and Keshad Johnson from San Diego State. It is also important to remember that Kriisa was at Arizona dating back to prior to the arrival of Head Coach Tommy Lloyd, so Boswell will be the first starting Point Guard Coach Lloyd has brought in under his watch.  

There will be plenty of eyes on Boswell this season, with very high expectations and the fact that Arizona’s 2023 season ended in such disastrous fashion. Considering just how good he looked in the limited time and Tommy Lloyd’s confidence to hand over the reins of the starting Point Guard position to him, I will buy the hype on a breakout season in 2023-2024 for the youngster. 

ACC – Isaac McKneely (Virginia)

Over the course of the past decade, there have been plenty of very good players to come out of this Virginia program that haven’t necessarily made the biggest impact as Freshman. From Malcom Brogdon, to Kyle Guy, to Ty Jerome and others, you have to be able to get the system down and earn Tony Bennett’s trust if you want to get on the floor. I believe the next great player to fit that mold within this program is Isaac McKneely, who played sparingly as Freshman last season, while also showing tons of potential.  

The former Top 60 recruit out of High School, averaged 6.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 28.6% from three last season in only 21.5 minutes per game. However, McKneely had a handful of really impressive moments towards the backend of last season, including tying his career high 12 points in Virginia’s narrow NCAA Tournament loss to Furman. I remember watching this game and thinking that McKneely was Virginia’s scariest threat from behind the three-point line. I expect each of those numbers to increase in a big way this season with a much bigger role.  

With guys like Kihei Clark and Armaan Franklin no longer in the program, the door should be open for McKneely to have a much bigger role as a Sophomore. Virginia is one of the rare programs in today’s era of College Basketball that still doesn’t fully invest into the Transfer Portal and Coach Bennett still values the experience of developing and buying into his program over the course of multiple seasons.  

While it is unknown if that will continue to lead Virginia to as much success as they’ve experienced recently, McKneely is definitely capable of being one of the top players for a team that expects to get back to the NCAA Tournament. There aren’t many better pure three-point shooters in the ACC than McKneely, and that will be on full display in 2023-2024.  

SEC – Jahmai Mashack (Tennessee)

The Tennessee Basketball Program has won a combined 52 games over the course of the last two seasons. There haven’t been many programs in the sport who has won more during that span, however there aren’t enough postseason results for Rick Barnes to get the proper attention he deserved for what he’s done in the last two seasons.  

This should finally be the year he gets that credit, due to the fact that Tennessee should be the favorites in the SEC entering 2023-2024 and the personnel and this team fits better than at any time in the last two seasons. Mashack has a lot to do with that, as there aren’t many better on ball defenders in the entire country than the 6 ‘4’ Guard. Mashack only played in 18.1 minutes per game last season, but really saw his role increase as the games got more important.  

Mashack had four steals in Tennessee’s three NCAA Tournament games, and played 25.3 minutes per game in the big dance. Anyone who has watched this Tennessee team knows how good they’ve been on the defensive side of the ball, and now they have a clearcut, elite perimeter defender on the wing to help shut down the opposition’s best player. Mashack is also capable of shooting the basketball, with a 33.3% mark with not a ton of volume. This is a player that will be playing at least 30 minutes a game for this Tennessee team, that will be a major factor on both ends of the floor for one of the premier teams in College Basketball.  

Big Ten – Roddy Gayle (Ohio State)

While the 2022-2023 season will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in the history of the Ohio State Basketball program, Buckeyes fans should enter this season with some optimism. Primarily, Ohio State finished last season on a high note, winning five of their final ten games and making it all the way to the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. This was after starting 3-14 in Big Ten Conference play.  

As the season went on Coach Chris Holtmann really started to embrace the idea of playing his younger players more, and really see what he had for this upcoming season. One of those freshmen that stepped up in a big way was Gayle, who is a former Top 50 recruit out of High School, played phenomenal down the stretch for the Buckeyes. Gayle scored 15 points in Ohio State’s Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals victory over Michigan State, and shot over 80% from three-point range throughout the Big Ten Tournament. That included scoring 20 points in Ohio State’s final game of the season in the Big Ten Tournament against Purdue, which gave Buckeye fans a flash of what to expect from Gayle this season.  

In a somewhat limited sample size of only playing 16.3 minutes per game last season, Gayle shot 42.9% from three. Gayle’s shooting ability will be on full display in 2023-2024, and with guys like Bruce Thornton running the point and Felix Okpara down low, Gayle should have plenty of good looks. I’m still a big believer in Chris Holtmann as a coach and trust him to get things turned around and Gayle is going to be a major reason why.