North Andover, Massachusetts does not have an official city motto, yet is often referred to as "A Town for All Seasons."

Residents and loyal Merrimack College supporters who were less familiar with college basketball transition rules were smacked with a crude revelation in March of 2023. There was a season not welcome in North Andover. March Madness season for their beloved Warriors. Because it was inaccessible.

What took place on March 7, 2023 was the opposite of everything typical of Division I basketball in March. The team cutting down the nets on national television, the team that celebrated hysterically, rocking its championship T-shirts and the traditional cutting of the nets, is not going to the NCAA tournament, while the team that lost is - Fairleigh Dickinson.

FDU's story is now etched in stone. Knights crushed Texas Southern in the First Four, followed by the historic shell shocking of Purdue to become the second 16-seed in NCAA history to beat a 1-seed.

For decades, the NCAA's Division I transition process was iron-clad: four years of waiting. Four years of recruiting disadvantages. Four years of watching March Madness from home. Programs like North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, and UC Davis all served their full sentences. Grand Canyon, Seattle U, and UTRGV did the same. Even recent transitions like Bellarmine, UC San Diego, California Baptist, and our heartbroken friends at Merrimack were still counting down their mandatory four-year clocks.

This past January, a major breakthrough finally came to light. Reclassifying institutions were given a chance to complete the reclassification process in three years (or four in the case of St. Thomas), provided they meet updated academic, financial, and operational benchmarks. All six of the impacted programs have met the standards, which were recommended by the NCAA Strategic Vision and Planning Committee and ultimately approved by the D1 Board of Directors.

These six in alphabetical order are: East Texas A&M (Southland), Lindenwood (OVC), Queens (ASUN), Southern Indiana (OVC), St. Thomas (Summit), and Stonehill (NEC).

Queens & St. Thomas
Based on a myriad of factors these two dedicated institutions were identified to be in the best position to breakthrough and be part of a March Madness bracket in your hands soon. I had the privilege to spend some quality time with both of their head coaches this offseason. Attending a Queens practice in July, and interviewing both head coaches.

Please find both full interviews at the bottom of the article, the commitment to excellence is beyond apparent within both programs.

East Texas A&M
The artists formerly known as a Texas A&M-Commerce officially flipped to ETAMU in the early part of the 2023-24 college hoops season, much to the chagrin of many databases, including Ken Pomeroy. Created some wide-scale confusion for the past year and a half. The updated "ETAMU" brand name still has perhaps some trying to catching on.

A school that has a proud football tradition, including wins in the D2 College Football playoffs each year between 2015-19, and several NFL players including three who are on current rosters. In Football, ETAMU and Tarleton play for the President's Cup annually. A matchup between the two largest institutions in the Texas A&M system not named Texas A&M.

A lot of the drive to become D1 as an athletic department has been predicated on football dreams. When the Lions joined the Southland Conference initially, the conference was struggling to retain members, and it looked like a ripe opportunity for success. Today, the Lions are in a much-deeper Southland. The conference finished as the 19th best league in D1 a season ago. The climb to the top of the Southland mountain is steeper than once imagined because of recent McNeese success, and very invested rosters headed into 2025-26.

A pair of productive Junior transfers will enter the ETAMU program. Ronnie Harrison (6-9, via Tarleton) and Kollin Tolbert (averaged 21.2 PPG at D2 Concord) bring hope and some promise for a Cinderella run in Lake Charles. Realistically, an appearance in Lake Charles at all would be a perceived success. The conference possesses 12 members, only eight qualify for the conference tournament. ETAMU was a distant 11th last season, finishing four games out of 10th.

Lindenwood
The Lions roared into D1 transition with its own heavy-focus on football. Basketball has had to earn every inch of progress thus far, despite joining the OVC during a time when the OVC had dropped to a low-major league. In the three years of hoops thus far, Lindenwood has been searching for answers and talent. The first two years represented deeply traditional D1 transition struggles with the Lions finishing 6-12 and 3-15 in OVC play.

The issue? Modern college basketball has provided us with more transitional success examples in D1 than failures. It was a clear sign that men's basketball was not where it needed to be.

Last year was a marked improvement. Lions finished 10-10 in the league and progressed by winning its first OVC Tournament game. At times, the Lions leaned on the OVC Freshman of the Year, Jadis Jones. Jones tested the portal waters this offseason and opted to return for 2025-26. Later in the process, Anias Futrell opted to return after exploring portal options. Futrell's presence was not accounted for at press time per the Torvik projections and effectively makes Lindenwood a top 260 squad (per the Torvik algorithm). Taking that at face value, gives this Lions program plenty of hope as they look to compete with league favorites Little Rock and SEMO for an OVC title.

Southern Indiana
OVC friends of the Lions. That is about where the commonalities between USI and Lindenwood stop. No football here. USI is a unique basketball program with 29 NCAA Tournaments at the D2 level, including the 1995 D2 National Championship trophy. That magical '95 title team was led by the sensational Stan Gouard. Gouard had actually led the Screaming Eagles to the National Championship Game in 1994, and despite falling short that year was named the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player (MOP). An achievement that Gouard repeated during the 1995 run. The D2 star was a two-time first-team all-American and the only two-time MOP in NCAA D2 history. Oh by the way, he's the sitting head coach at Southern Indiana today!

This, of course, is all just review for the diehard OVC community and greater Evansville region. Based in Evansville, the USI basketball success has found itself over the decades in the shadows of its crosstown D1 neighbor, the Purple Aces.

The dawn of the 2019-2020 season marked a particularly interesting time for basketball in the city of Evansville. USI was nationally ranked in D2 during that preseason, and Evansville had a bunch of roster-hype led by DeAndre Williams. In an exhibition game that always sticks in my memory, Evansville had to fight to win in OT to withstand the tough Screaming Eagles. Two weeks later, Evansville upset John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena. The biggest upset we've seen in November in a long while on the national level. Many USI supporters can claim that USI had Evansville toughened up to have a chance in the now famous upset.

By the time 2022-23 arrived, Evansville had crashed and burned through a couple of coaches and David Ragland was starting over from the ground up. Southern Indiana became a D1 school and began its transition process. The series has still yet to happen while both Evansville and USI have been D1.

Southern Indiana began where they left off in D1 with some moderate success in year one. This journey has played out to be somewhat as the opposite track that Lindenwood has had. USI's first ever home game was a demolition of the mighty Southern Illinois Salukis. And later the Screaming Eagles achieved a monumental home win over Top 100 Indiana State, an 88-85 OT thriller. They started OVC play at 6-3 and looked to be right in the conference title race halfway through league play, and ended up accepting a bid to the 2023 CBI. Marking a highly successful intro to D1.

The subsequent years for Coach Gouard have proven to be more challenging however. Dipping from 285 to 328 to 335 a season ago per Ken Pomeroy. A natural revitalization is in place through this accelerated push to NCAA Tournament eligibility. Gouard cleaned house. His top nine projected players this coming season are all incoming upperclassmen transfers. The Screaming Eagles made a bold MTE commitment by joining an event with High Point, UIC, and Incarnate Word. All three of which are known spenders in the portal.

Like we said with Lindenwood, the OVC has two known favorites in Little Rock and SEMO, but there is always room for a surprise. USI brings a D2 National Title and history of success. The Screaming Eagles are officially on the clock.

Stonehill
The Skyhawks tasted the NCAA Tournament 15 times in Division II and made a couple of Final Fours. Basketball excellence in the basketball hotbed of the Northeast is part of the culture. Stonehill is one of a recent line of schools who made the leap from the NE-10 Conference (D2) to the NEC.

The NEC has tons of history. With that history comes sadness, as Saint Francis-Brooklyn completely closed the doors to their college over a year ago. More on the NEC coming next week, but the old guard is either stepping aside or moving up. The aforementioned Merrimack Warriors have provided a blueprint. Winning the NEC Title on both ends, then moving up in class to MAAC. That path may not be for Stonehill per se, but it is reason for optimism to win this league in any given year.

Skyhawks will have the unique challenge of climbing a mountain that includes Central Connecticut and LIU. CCSU has been dominant and a Top-200 squad the past two campaigns, but simply has not been able to come through on NEC Championship Tuesday in both cases. Now, LIU brings back Malachi Nelson and formidable group of Sharks poised to win the 2026 NEC title.

Stonehill's edge may come from the perimeter. Nobody fired a higher percentage of triples in league-play than the Skyhawks last year and nobody took away the perimeter from opponents better than the Skyhawks. That leaves a lot of Stonehill results up to shooting prowess and regression. One of the bigger variables on the margin of winning and losing, and that should offer Stonehill a schematic chance regardless of their eventual seed at the 2026 NEC Tournament.

Several Skyhawk question marks are on the roster. Stonehill will need to buy into Head Coach Chris Kraus's process and lean on Senior Ethan Meuser for leadership in order to compete at a high level.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with St. Thomas HC Johnny Tauer

audio-thumbnail
Johnny Tauer Interview
0:00
/2466.298775510204

EXCUSIVE INTERVIEW with Queens HC Grant Leonard

audio-thumbnail
Grant Leonard Interview
0:00
/1552.5877551020408