Arkansas Tech University is the preseason favorite to win the 2024-25 Great American Conference men’s basketball championship.
The Wonder Boys, at No. 24, are ranked in the National Association of Basketball Coaches NCAA Division II top 25 preseason poll for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
ATU is back in the national conversation in NCAA Division II men’s basketball due to one of the most successful seasons in program history. The 2023-24 Wonder Boys finished 25-7 overall, earned a share of the GAC regular season championship, won the GAC Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
It was just the 10th 25-win campaign in the 101-season history of Arkansas Tech men’s basketball.
“We did three things really well,” said Mark Downey, ATU head men’s basketball coach. “Our chemistry was unbelievable. Everybody was about winning. Nobody really cared who got the credit. We really defended, and then we shot the ball really well. It was a fun group to coach. Those groups don’t come along very often. It was a blessing, and it’s nice to have a lot of those guys back.”
The returnees include senior guard Cassius Brooks, who averaged 13.2 points per game last season. Brooks took his game to another level in March, averaging 21.3 points per game to earn GAC Tournament most valuable player honors and then pouring in 22 points against eventual national champion Minnesota State University in the NCAA Tournament first round.
“Now, we need that production every night,” said Downey.
Senior Kade Shaffer is back at point guard after a breakout season in 2023-24. Shaffer averaged 4.6 assists per game a year ago, including a single-game school record 16 assists against East Central University on Feb. 3, 2024.
“Kade looks like a choir boy, but he’s got a little dog in him,” said Downey.
Other returnees include senior forward Sean Cobb, who averaged 5.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in 2023-24; junior guard Trey Allen, who scored a career-high 8 points in the 2024 GAC Tournament championship game and is primed to play a larger role in 2024-25; sophomore guard Braden Tanner, who shot 40 percent from 3-point range as a freshman; and graduate student forward Seybian Sims, who could be a GAC defensive player of the year candidate after battling through two injury-plagued seasons.
Seven newcomers appear on the Wonder Boys’ active roster. When asked which ones he expects to contribute from day one, Downey mentioned junior forward Albright Obode, junior guard Jakob Zenon and sophomore forward Robert Millard.
Obode is a transfer from Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville, where he averaged 12.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game last season.
Zenon was the 2023-24 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national player of the year at Dallas College North Lake, where he averaged 18.8 points per game and led his team to the national championship in 2023-24.
A native of Dardanelle, Millard comes home to the Arkansas River Valley after playing at Oberlin College (Ohio) as a freshman last season. He shot 41 percent from 3-point range in 2023-24.
Arkansas Tech will begin its 102nd men’s basketball season by hosting Missouri Southern State University at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, and Newman University at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at Tucker Coliseum.
Tickets are available at www.arkansastechsports.com/tickets.
Live coverage will be available at www.arkansastechsports.com and the ATU Athletics YouTube channel.
Radio coverage of Wonder Boys basketball for the 2024-25 season on KCJC 102.3 FM and the EAB Media Group app will begin with the Nov. 18 game against Mission University.
Talk to you on the radio.
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
