Written By
Written By
The Citadel replaces 86% of its scoring with 11 newcomers, banking on Mrus, Banks and improved rim protection to beat a 10th-place forecast.
Written By
Written By
The Citadel went 11-22 last season and 7-11 in the Southern Conference. Those seven league wins were the program's most since 2009-10. In Asheville the Bulldogs beat Chattanooga 88-85 in the first round, then lost to ETSU 83-76. Sola Adebisi made the all-tournament second team. It was a real team by March. Almost none of it is left.
The league's coaches picked The Citadel 10th with 21 points, ahead of only UNCG. No Bulldog made the preseason all-conference team. That is a fair read of a roster that returns six players who combined for 325 points last season.
Twelve players are gone. They scored 1,997 of The Citadel's 2,322 points, about 86 percent. The top six scorers all left.
Braxton Williams was the leading scorer at 14.6 points a game. The 6-foot-6 senior started 24 games and made 79 threes. He signed to play professionally with the Caledonia Gladiators in Scotland. Christian Moore was next at 11.2 points. He made 38.7 percent of his threes and started 23 games as a redshirt sophomore. He transferred to Butler.
Adebisi was the anchor inside. The 6-foot-7 forward started all 30 games he played and averaged 10.0 points and 5.8 rebounds. He shot 59.7 percent and led the team with 37 blocks and 36 steals. He signed with Akademik Bulteks 99 Plovdiv in Bulgaria.
Carter Kingsbury, a senior who came from Iowa, started 30 games and averaged 8.0 points and 3.9 rebounds. Logan Applegate, a senior guard, averaged 6.5 points off the bench. Neither is on the 2026-27 roster.
Eze Wali started 32 games at point guard and led the team with 76 assists. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds. He transferred to Division II West Florida. Dante Kearse, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, averaged 3.6 points and made 41.5 percent of his threes. He transferred to Queens.
Rowan Irelan transferred to Division II Middle Georgia State. Simeon German (15 starts, 1.8 points), Gabe Hernandez, Chase Williams, and Jack Walter are also off the roster.
That is the scoring, the rim protection, and the point guard. Conroy is starting over.
Keynan Davis is the leading returner. The 6-foot-5 senior from Chicago averaged 4.8 points in 32 games and eight starts. He saved his best for last. He scored 20 points with six threes against Chattanooga in the SoCon tournament, then added 11 against ETSU. He scored 17 at West Georgia in November. He shot only 26.5 percent from three over the full season, so the March version is the one Conroy needs.
Marcos Gonzales is the most interesting returner. The 6-foot-3 sophomore from Chicago averaged 4.4 points off the bench and had 44 assists in 12.6 minutes a game. He scored 20 against North Greenville and had 12 points, five rebounds, and four assists at VMI. He was the Chicago Catholic League player of the year in high school and an Illinois Mr. Basketball nominee. With Wali gone, he is a candidate to run the offense.
Cassius Bonjasky, a 6-foot-7 forward from the Netherlands, played 19 games off the bench and shot 57.1 percent. His father is three-time K-1 kickboxing world champion Remy Bonjasky. Logan Menefee, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, Aidan Alexander, and Jameson Heck all played sparingly.
Conroy added 11 players. Seven of them have played college basketball, and most are older.
Tyler Mrus is the shooter. The 6-foot-7 fifth-year forward from Bothell, Washington, who began his career at Alaska Fairbanks, averaged 9.7 points at Idaho in 2024-25 and shot 38.0 percent from three. He led the Vandals with 73 threes and ranked second in the Big Sky. He scored 22 against Weber State and made six threes against UC San Diego. Last season he played 27 games off the bench at BYU and scored 15 against Pacific.
Marcus Banks is the scorer. The 6-foot-2 senior from Clinton, Maryland, comes from Division II Shepherd. He made first-team All-PSAC East last season and scored 20 or more points 13 times. He averaged 13.8 points over three seasons there and scored 1,241 points with 342 assists.
Two guards already know the league. Eddrin Bronson, a 6-foot-4 senior from Tampa, played 34 games for Furman last season and averaged 5.4 points. He made 30 threes and blocked 12 shots. Chase Cormier, a 6-foot-2 fifth-year guard from Atlanta, made 52 threes for Wofford in 2023-24 and averaged 7.1 points. He played 32 games at Iona last season. Cormier's hometown matters on Dec. 9, when The Citadel plays at Georgia Tech.
The frontcourt adds length. Joe Hurlburt, a 6-foot-11 fifth-year forward, was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Dakota. He played at Colorado and Davidson. Ramel Bethea, a 6-foot-9 junior, played 30 games at Green Bay. He shot 74.6 percent and blocked 38 shots in 12.6 minutes a game. Colin McKenzie, a 6-foot-6 fifth-year guard from Charleston, played six games at South Carolina State.
The freshmen are Ja'Yon Alexander, a guard from SPIRE Academy; Jack Seiders, a 6-foot-7 forward from Austin, Texas; Aaron Ekwere, a 6-foot-6 wing from Finland; and Yaw Ansong, a 7-footer from Ghana.
The Citadel took 959 threes last season, almost 30 a game. That will not change. Mrus, Banks, Bronson, and Cormier can all shoot. Mrus, at 6-foot-7, is the most direct replacement for the threes Williams took.
The point guard spot is open. Wali started 32 games there. Gonzales has the vision, and Banks had 342 career assists at Shepherd. The answer probably comes from those two.
Defense was the problem last season. Opponents shot 48.7 percent and outscored The Citadel by 7.2 points a game. Adebisi was the best defender, and he is gone. Bethea and Hurlburt have to protect the rim. Bethea blocks shots at a high rate in short minutes. The question is whether he can do it in longer ones.
The nonconference schedule has two games that will get attention and several that will not. The Citadel opens at Loyola Chicago on Nov. 2 and plays at Clemson on Nov. 16. It plays at High Point on Nov. 28, at Charleston Southern on Dec. 1, at Georgia Tech on Dec. 9, and at North Carolina on Dec. 21. Home nonconference games include South Carolina State and USC Upstate, plus Erskine, Virginia Lynchburg, and Toccoa Falls from outside Division I. The Bulldogs have already played once, losing an outdoor exhibition 69-59 to College of Charleston at Credit One Stadium on Sept. 27. Marcus Banks scored 19.
League play starts at Western Carolina on Dec. 5. Tennessee Tech visits on Dec. 19. The Bulldogs play at UNCG on Dec. 30. The league home opener is Chattanooga on Jan. 2, a rematch of last year's tournament win. Wofford visits Jan. 6, Furman Jan. 13, and ETSU Jan. 18.
The middle of the schedule is busy. The Citadel plays at Samford on Jan. 9, at VMI on Jan. 16, at Wofford on Jan. 21, and at Mercer on Jan. 30. UNCG visits Feb. 3, and the Bulldogs play at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 6. They play at Chattanooga on Feb. 13 and at ETSU on Feb. 24. VMI comes to McAlister Field House on Feb. 20. The regular season ends at home against Mercer on Feb. 27.
Georgia Tech and North Carolina will show up in the record. They will not show whether this team can win eight league games. Conroy got to seven with a veteran group that had been through a season together. Now he has to do it with players who have barely practiced together.
Tenth is a reasonable spot. The ceiling depends on Mrus shooting like he did at Idaho and Banks scoring like he did in Division II. If both happen, and if Bethea or Hurlburt can hold up inside, The Citadel can climb into the middle of the league again. If not, the tournament win over Chattanooga will be the high point for a while.
