OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – New Johnson County Community College men's basketball coach Rand Chappell has not coached a game and already the expectations are running high for his program entering the 2020-21 campaign.
Last week the Kansas Jayhawk D-II Conference coaches picked the Cavaliers to finish second behind rival Kansas City Kansas in the conference race, but yesterday, they were ranked No. 8 by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in their preseason poll for Division II men's basketball. That is 11 spots higher than the Blue Devils, and seven better than Highland, who was picked to finish third by the conference coaches.
Kirkwood Community College earned the No. 1 spot, followed by South Suburban College, Davidson-Davie Community College, Schoolcraft College and Muskegon Community College.
Chappell inherits a program that finished 25-7 and ranked 15th in final NJCAA D-II poll last year. Only two players from last year's squad return, and only one of them, Braijion Barnes, saw significant playing time.
While Rand welcomes 14 new players to JCCC, they are not all newcomers to college basketball. Of those 14 players, four are sophomore transfers and one attended a post-graduate program and three served a redshirt season.