Toledo men's basketball is back in a familiar place

The 2024 offseason for the University of Toledo men’s basketball program was the same as the previous three.

The Rockets said goodbye to several starters in the transfer portal, replenished the roster via the same mechanism, and, once again, they might be the best team in the Mid-American Conference.

“I like this team,” coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “A little worried about some chemistry things regarding rotations and who’s going to get playing time, but we are deep. We may have some guys that may not play as much as they would like. Overall, it’s a team that has a chance to grow and get better and be very good.”

Toledo is coming off its fourth consecutive outright MAC championship and its sixth 20-win season in seven years. The transfer portal losses, however, were significant. The team’s three leading scorers — Dante Maddox, Jr., Ra’Heim Moss, and Tyler Cochran — decamped for Xavier, Oregon, and Minnesota, respectively.

That’s when Kowalczyk and Co. sprang into action, bringing in Buffalo guard Isaiah Adams, Western Michigan guard Seth Hubbard, and 6-foot-8 forward Colin O’Rourke from Division II Wisconsin-Parkside. The trio averaged 43.0 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game last season.

And that’s not all. UT returns MAC freshman of the year Javan Simmons (12.2 points, 5.0 rebounds), point guard Sonny Wilson (8.0 points), 3-point ace Andre Lorentsson (47.2 percent from 3), Sam Lewis, arguably the most naturally talented player on the roster, sure-shooting Bryce Ford, and Grgur Brcic, a work in progress with upside.

True freshmen Jaylan Ouwinga and Tyler Ode arrive with numerous accolades in the state of Michigan.

“I think we could be really good defensively,” Simmons said. “I think we’re one of the longest teams we’ve had. I think we’re deeper. I think our makeup is very good. I just want us to establish our identity on defense, and that's the main thing. We were one of the last teams in the country in defensive percentages last year. If we establish our defensive identity right now, we’ll be unbeatable.”

Simmons isn’t sugarcoating it, as Toledo ranked 345th out of 362 in defensive field goal percentage (54.5 percent) and 255th in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Kowaczyk’s teams are known for their offense, but last year’s defensive numbers were among the worst of his 22-year head-coaching career.

There’s ample evidence to believe it will be better in 2024-25. And not just because coaches and players are saying so. For one, last season’s deficiencies were not the norm. While traditionally not great at defense, the Rockets also aren’t horrible. But the biggest change — literally, in some sense — is the size of UT’s rotation.

Brcic is 6-foot-10, Lorentsson is 6-9, Ouwinga is 6-9, O’Rourke is 6-8, Simmons is 6-7, Adams is 6-6, Lewis is 6-6, Ode is 6-5, and Hubbard is 6-4. It provides Toledo with the requisite length and athleticism to challenge opposing offenses and force low-percentage shots.

Fans have pined for years about UT’s lack of a 7-foot 1980s and ’90s center. Basketball playing styles have moved on, however, with a positionless, offensive-centric game emerging. A plodding 7-foot center would slow down offenses and create defensive mismatches for the defense, not the offense, on 90 percent of teams.

“We’ve always looked at our defenses as giving life and energy to our offense,” Kowalczyk said. “The more we can create offense off of screens, [the better]. Our team certainly has more height than we’ve ever had. Better positional size. I’m hopeful that it’ll translate to being a much better defensive team.”

The potential centerpiece of this season’s team — and a MAC player of the year candidate — is someone who’s never worn a Toledo jersey before but is already well-known to the Rockets: Adams. In four career games against Toledo, he averaged 18.2 points on 58 percent shooting from the field while converting half of his shots from beyond the arc.

The Jacksonville native has been a high-level Division I college basketball player since he stepped foot on Central Florida’s campus. Adams was named to the AAC all-freshman team, averaging 9.9 points per game for the Golden Knights. He started 57 of 58 games for Buffalo the past two seasons, averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 2022-23 and 12.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.0 steals last season.

“It’s a different feeling being somewhere where there’s a winning program and a winning culture,” Adams said. “It’s definitely a great situation. This is about development and just getting better all around every day.”

Kowalczyk watched Adams from the opposite sideline for two seasons and liked what he saw — the energy, the toughness, the composure. Before playing Buffalo last season, Kowalczyk commented about Adams’ talent and scoring ability, labeling him one of the best players in the MAC. A few months later, Adams — who also considered Florida State — was a Rocket.

“He’s every bit as good as I thought he’d be,” Kowalczyk said. “Really good guy. A little bit quiet, but I’m really impressed by his basketball knowledge. He’s got a great feel. He’s a willing passer. Doesn’t take bad shots. …He’s learning how to win and what it takes to win.”

Which presents the $64,000 question: Is this the season Toledo breaks through? The Rockets can win games. Everyone knows that. No one in the MAC has won more in the past decade than UT.

But what about the biggest game(s) of the season, the ones played in Cleveland during the second week of March? The only reason the talking point has grown tired is because it’s been discussed for more than four decades.

To Kowalczyk’s credit, he’s attacking it head-on.

“Our anger is about the conference tournament,” he said. “We went 10 to 21 from the free-throw line. I want us to be angry about it. We’ve tried everything with sports psychology. This year, the theme is we’re going to play with a little chip on our shoulder and be angry.”

And perhaps rewrite the ending.