This article is the first in a series previewing each team in the Ohio Valley Conference.
It's always difficult to replace your best player. It's even more difficult when you're coming off the high of the first winning season your school has had since entering Division I. It's three times more difficult when everyone from that team is gone, and it's back to square one. All of these things happened to Kyle Gerdeman during the offseason.
Surrounding this Lions roster is a clear bit of uncertainty. With every single player from last year's team electing to move out or move on , the coaching staff looks to rely on a multitude of new faces for success this season.
"The focus was just on how we rebuild our entire roster, and there was one thing that really helped do that, and that's that we finally were able to solidify a style of play [last year]," Gerdeman said. "After three years of getting through the transition of recruiting, I thought last year we finally got to the style of play that we wanted on offense. We got to the style of play we wanted on defense, and for the first time, really, we were able to really target guys that we thought were talented and fit our style of play vs. just grabbing talented guys and trying to squeeze them in, and I think that was kind of our approach to recruiting, to the transfer portal, [and] to everything was 'Let's make sure now that we can find guys that really fit what we want to do on both ends of the floor.'"
On the offensive side of the floor, Xavier Spencer looks to make an immediate impact in St. Charles for Gerdeman. The 6-foot-1 floor general averaged 11.9 points on 33.8 minutes per game for UMass Lowell and started all 33 games last season for the Riverhawks.
"What we needed was obviously some experience, and I thought he had that," Gerdeman said. "He played a ton of minutes last year at Lowell, played a big role for them. I think he can play some one, and I think he can play off the ball, and then really, [for] what we're doing in the half court, he can kind of combo it up a little bit. I think Mekhi Cooper was a great point guard for us, and I think Xavier gives us a little bit of that also, but I think he also kind of gives us a guy that can score and do more things than just a true point guard."
Other than Spencer in the backcourt, Kellen Robinson looks to return from injury to play his first collegiate basketball game for the Lions. Coming off an ACL tear the year prior, Robinson is the younger brother of former All-OVC First Teamer KK Robinson (now at New Mexico State), who had a standout year for Little Rock in 2023-24 before falling to two years of injury troubles. The younger Robinson now looks to prevent the injury bug after transferring from the Trojans. He was a standout for Bryant High School prior to college and was ranked the No. 3 prospect in the state of Arkansas after being a part of two straight state championship teams.
"When you come across a guy like Kellen, who was a redshirt freshman down there last year at Little Rock, I think everybody knew his talent," Gerdeman said. "So you know, now he's having a guy with some experience come in to kind of stabilize him a little bit at Xavier, and he's a guy that's hungry to get back on the court and who's obviously super talented."
Behind Robinson and Spencer are a slew of other guards who will look to carve out minutes: Shamiere Green (Lee College), Dom Clay (North Dakota State), Miles White (Lipscomb) and Malek Archie, who joined the team midway through last season after transferring from Tarleton State.
In the frontcourt, Gerdeman brought in length to pad the inside in Fresno State and Stetson transfers Makhan Diouf and Matar Diop, both of whom look to find a larger role at Lindenwood.
"What you get with Makhan is a guy that can play all over the place," Gerdeman said. "He's got tremendous guard skills, beyond being a forward or a four or five, so to speak. He can kind of give you that versatile guy. Matar Diop, coming from Stetson, kind of gives you that bouncy rim protector, that rim runner, that dunker spot guy."
Also coming in from Arizona Western College is Marsai Mason, who looks to be similar to what the Lions got from Jadis Jones in the past. The 6-foot-6 big man averaged 16.7 points and 9.9 rebounds on 51.4% shooting last season at the JUCO level. He looks to be a staple in the lineup along with 6-foot-11 North Macedonian big man Marko Lukanoski, who might be the best replacement for the loss of senior Milos Nenadic from last season.
"At this level it's hard to find good bigs," Gerdeman said. "Here's a high school kid coming in that has a chance to play some minutes as a freshman and do some things. When you find guys like that, I think you got to try to grab them."
