The Cats are a jump-shot reliant team at the end of the day, ranking 2nd in the A-10 in 3P FGA and 1st in 3P% (37.3%) in 2018-19. Outside of JAG, Davidson rarely gets buckets via the drive and instead of crashing the boards, McKillop sends all five guys back on defense in an effort to slow the opposing offense and limit transition opportunities.

JAG’s return to the fold is the main reason pundits everywhere are calling the Cats a potential top-25 squad. The 6’4” senior took over last season as the team’s alpha, capturing the A-10 Player of the Year award in the process. A nightly triple-double threat, the Icelandic superstar does everything: he’s a sure-handed ball handler that gets to the foul line with ease; he’s money from outside the arc; and he ranked 13th in the country in minutes played (2nd in the A-10) in 2018-19. His counterpart, Grady, took a step back from his uber-efficient freshman season, perhaps hampered at times by a knee sprain that forced him to sit out four games in late December, but he still managed to lead the Cats in scoring and earn a spot on the A-10 First Team All-Conference squad. Grady is a high-volume shooter and scorer, and like JAG, is an iron horse from a minutes perspective.

Grady and Gudmundsson were expected to shine last season, but few could predict the type of year McKillop’s two freshman phenoms enjoyed. Luke Frampton embodied the role of “three-point specialist” in his inaugural year, attempting 252 threes to just 32 twos. He ranked 3rd in the conference in 3P% (42.3%) and added acres of spacing to McKillop’s offense. The now-sophomore is absolutely money from downtown and this season he’ll look to add more to his game than just catch-and-shoot.

Sophomore big man Luka Brajkovic occupied the middle in Davidson’s 4-out attack. Another pleasant freshman surprise, Brajkovic provided muscle in the paint to an otherwise thin team, ranking 7th in the A-10 in block rate and 8th in offensive rebounding rate. The 6’10” Austrian does most of his damage on the block with an array of hooks with either hand, but he’s also a willing passer and capable of stepping out behind the arc. This year’s squad still lacks frontcourt depth, with freshman David Kristensen likely a year or two away from contributing and junior Bates Jones serving as the primary backup, so Brajkovic is essential to Davidson’s A-10 title and NCAA Tourney hopes.

McKillop himself admitted that his short bench affected the Cats later in the season, so expect to see more of the aforementioned Jones, sophomore David Czerapowicz, and junior Carter Collins. KiShawn Pritchett returns to continue his role as McKillop’s de facto 4-man. Pritchett led the A-10 in 3P% last season and adds yet another smoking gun to the three-point arsenal. Despite always struggling with ball protection, Pritchett took a step in the right direction last season, reducing his TO Rate from 27.6% in ’17-18 to 20.0%.

Defense has always been the Achilles Heel for McKillop-coached teams, but the Cats have been near the top of the A-10 in adjusted defensive efficiency each of the past two years. 2018-19 featured McKillop’s best defense since 2009 and ranked 4th overall in the A-10. As mentioned earlier, the Cats do not crash the boards on offense, and instead retreat to the defensive end in an effort to limit fast break opportunities – last season, Davidson allowed the 20th fewest FGA in transition in the country. The Cats want to make opposing offenses work in the half court and mix in a healthy amount of zone with traditional man-to-man looks. Like any well-coached team, Davidson is a superb defensive glass squad (a common theme with most McKillop teams over the years), boxing out as a unit and grabbing “team rebounds” at a high rate.

Bottom Line: Davidson should compete for an A-10 title this year with the likes of VCU and Dayton. Inconsistencies that plagued the Cats last season should hopefully be cured by the uptick in experience and upperclassmen leadership from the guard position. Expect the offense to return to a nationally elite level and the defense to continue to be solid, as McKillop goes for his first at-large Tourney bid since 2015.