The Massachusetts men’s basketball team’s roster is packed with new and old faces. With a roster that underwent serious changes this past offseason, consisting of 10 transfers and freshmen plus the seven returners, many questions circle what head coach Frank Martin’s squad will look like this season.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, here are my top three “X-factors” for a team with a lot of potential and high expectations to replicate last year’s success.
1. Rahsool Diggins
With the departures of UMass’s top two scorers from last season, Josh Cohen and Matt Cross, Diggins, who was third on the top-scoring list, now has his time to shine this year. The senior will take on many new responsibilities this season and can be expected to slide into that top-scorer role and be an ultimate leader on this squad.
Diggins is now the longest-tenured player for the Minutemen, the last face standing from the 2022-23 roster. With that longevity comes a major leadership role on and off the court this year.
As Diggins has been accustomed to Martin’s play style and philosophy going into his third year with the coach, he will be depended on to use his experience to get the rest of the team adjusted and ready for the start of the season.
When it comes to scoring, Diggins has proven himself as a sharpshooter, scoring 75 three-pointers last year, the most of anyone on the team. Diggins also started in every game UMass played last season, averaging 12.8 points per game. He ended last year with one of his best performances, with 21 points in the Minutemen’s loss to VCU in the A-10 tournament quarterfinals round.
No longer in the shadows, the senior emerges as the face of the program ahead of this season. And with another successful offseason with Martin, Diggins can be expected to have heightened his skills. He should build on the momentum he left off with last year to have a highly productive season.
2. Malek Abdelgowad
It’s never easy to predict where a transfer player will land on the roster, but based on the incredibly small sample size of the exhibition game, Abdelgowad is a name to watch this upcoming season.
The senior transfer student from Murray State stands at six-foot-10-inches, weighing in at 220 pounds. With the Racers, the forward averaged 3.5 points and 2.7 rebounds last season and saw minutes in 19 games for them.
Despite the numbers, Martin has been very high on Abdelgowad and the role he will play this year. His large frame will add much-needed physicality to the frontcourt which UMass lacked last year.
Abdelgowad will create a physical boost at the rim on both sides, and it can be expected for the senior to receive valuable minutes this season.
From the exhibition matchup versus Providence, Abdelgowad dropped a double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds, seven of which were offensive rebounds, in 16 minutes of action.
Although it was a dress rehearsal game, he displayed glimpses of a strong and versatile player. This coming season, Abdelgowad has a prime opportunity to raise the bar for the Minutemen’s presence around the rim and have a productive year under Martin’s guidance.
3. Jaylen Curry
Curry is one of the top names to watch among UMass’ sophomore class. Entering his second year under Martin, Curry had a successful outing where he was named to the A-10 All-Rookie team selection. He played in all 30 games for the Minutemen, with one start and averaged 7.4 points a game.
Curry had a lot of experienced players around him last season to learn from when he first arrived and now has the chance to truly establish his presence on the court. With a new perceived sense of confidence and now being paired with Diggins, the two will complement each other and be a dominant scoring duo.
Curry scored his career-high 18 points against Loyola Chicago where he netted four three-pointers. In this year’s exhibition game, he scored a team-high 16 points.
Heading into this season, the sophomore guard finds himself in a key position on the UMass squad. Developing into a dependable shooter and running a smooth and consistent offense will be his biggest tasks.
Curry has every trait necessary to take on that challenge and excel exactly where the Minutemen need him to. With an unconfirmed starting lineup from Martin, it can be assumed that Curry will find himself in that starting five and emerge as one of the top players.
UMass has a loaded roster and there are still so many other players not listed here to keep an eye on for this upcoming season. Jayden Ndjigue, Daniel Hankins-Sanford and Daniel Rivera are a few names that can also all be expected to make a major impact this year for the Minutemen.
Samantha Sands can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X at @samantha_sands_.
