43. Michigan State Spartans

44. Michigan Wolverines

45. VCU Rams

46. Dayton Flyers

47. St Mary’s Gaels

48. Washington Huskies

49. UCF Knights

50. Louisville Cardinals

51. Boise State Broncos

52. Clemson Tigers

53. New Mexico Lobos

54. Arizona State Sun Devils

55. Utah State Aggies

56. Colorado State Rams

57. Seton Hall Pirates

58. SMU Mustangs

59. South Carolina Gamecocks

60. Nevada Wolfpack

61. TCU Horned Frogs

62. Villanova Wildcats

63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

64. Saint Louis Billikens

65. Syracuse Orange

66. Nebraska Cornhuskers

67. Pittsburgh Panthers

68. Iowa Hawkeyes

69. NC State Wolfpack

70. Butler Bulldogs

71. Princeton Tigers

72. Virginia Cavaliers

73. Saint Joseph’s Hawks

74. Oklahoma Sooners

75. West Virginia Mountaineers

76. Georgia Bulldogs

77. UAB Blazers

78: Wisconsin Badgers

79. San Diego State Aztecs

80. Missouri Tigers

81. Northwestern Wildcats

82. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Here’s where our analysts each had McNeese ranked:

Steven	Maxwell	Kam	Cody
37	42	52	42

Will Wade is one of a few coaches in the entire country that could turn a team playing in the Southland Conference into “Gonzaga East”. With Wade on the bench, the Cowboys went 30-4 last season. The crazy part is, this year they’re expected to be even better. Wade’s squad is returning 55% of their minutes from last season which includes three starters. Those three starters were second, third, and fourth last season in both total points and minutes from last season. Additionally, overall they return five of their top eight in the rotation. First, Christian Shumate returns. Shumate was the Southland Defensive Player of the Year last season as well as First Team All-Conference. Also back is former UMass point guard, Jahvon Garcia. Garcia, a 44% three point shooter last season, will have the ball in his hands far more frequently this year with Shahada Wells now playing pro. The final returning starter is DJ Richards, who shot 45% from three last season on a whopping 184 attempts. However, it is unlikely that Richards starts on a consistent basis this season. Other returners include former Utah Ute, Mike Saunders, and former starter, Omar Cooper. Of these five mentioned returners, four are seniors.

Evan Miya’s class transfer rankings had McNeese 46th best class in the country while 247sports had McNeese 48th. While these rankings may be a little flawed, the fact that a Southland team like McNeese has a top 50 transfer class is a huge credit to Coach Wade. Either way, this transfer class is better than these sites anticipate. First is senior Sincere Parker, who led St. Louis in scoring last season. Despite only playing 16 games last season, Parker shot 42.5% from three last season. Additionally, McNeese adds former Syracuse swiss army knife, Quadir Copeland. Copeland gives this team a ton of versatility in terms of his ability to play up or down the lineup and defend the 1-4. Copeland came in second in sixth man of the year voting in the ACC last season. Additionally, the starting five man will likely be Joe Charles from Louisiana. Charles was All-Conference Third Team last season in the Sun Belt and both Charles and Shumate are walking double doubles. Not many teams will be able to outrebound this team when those guys are on the court together. Not even high majors.

The transfers don’t stop there. Brandon Murray is another major addition for this McNeese squad. McNeese is Murray’s fourth stop, as he’s previously played for LSU, Ole Miss, and Georgetown. He was a starter at both LSU and Georgetown, but ironically will likely come off the bench for this McNeese team. Also ironically, Murray played for Coach Wade as a freshman at LSU. Clearly Murray enjoyed his freshman year under Wade, as the two will reunite and accomplish something they couldn’t together in 2021-22, win a game in the NCAA tournament. Wade’s 30 win team last year ran into a juggernaut Gonzaga squad at the wrong time last year and ended up losing by 21 points. Other transfers on this team include Bryant Salebangue from Arizona State, Alyn Breed who was out for the year last season but previously played for Providence, and Jerome Brewer for Texas A&M Commerce.

In total, this McNeese team goes 12 deep and despite an easier conference schedule due to playing in the Southland, Will Wade made sure his team will give the committee something to talk about if the Southland tournament doesn’t go as planned. If this McNeese teams wins 30 games again, the committee will highly consider the Cowboys for an at-large bid. In the non-conference, McNeese will play preseason top 5 team, Alabama. Additionally, they’ll play South Dakota State on a neutral court game (even though it’s being held in Sioux Falls), and a home game against Santa Clara. They will also play Mississippi State. McNeese is also participating in the Paradise Jam being held in the Virgin Islands. Their first opponent will be Illinois State. Assuming they handle their business, they would likely set up a matchup with UAB, another team that’ll be in the at-large discussion. There’s also a chance they could play Big 12 team, Kansas State, if things break right. Despite a relatively difficult non-conference schedule, expect this team to win close to 28 games next year. McNeese may end up being the best true mid-major in the nation next year, and Will Wade is the catalyst behind it.