Queens aims to keep it simple and keep it moving in 2024-25

Queens coach Grant Leonard (center) and players Bryce Cash and Leo Colimerio speak with ESPN at ASUN Media Day.  (Brian Wilmer/Daly Dose of Hoops)

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CHARLOTTE -- When starting a basketball season where an NCAA tournament berth is not only an improbability but a total impossibility, it would be easy to have lowered expectations. Don’t look anywhere inside Curry Arena for those lowered expectations, though.

Queens University of Charlotte is in the penultimate year of its NCAA reclassification period, meaning that the Royals are only eligible for the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) or CIT (College Insider Tournament) postseason tourneys. Instead of seeing what the Royals can’t do, coach Grant Leonard and his staff have focused on what they can do:  building the program’s culture and setting a new standard after years of success at the Division II level.

“We don’t do very complicated things,” Leonard says. “We do simple things well.”

Those simple things have already put in place some encouraging results. Queens went 18-15 (7-11 ASUN) in its first year, followed by a 14-19 campaign with seven more league wins in 2023-24.

“I always tell people it’s not a light switch. You don’t flip it. It’s more like a dimmer,” Leonard says. “I think we’re moving ahead a little bit faster (in the reclassification process). We’ve won a game in the conference tournament. Just making the conference tournament is a big jump. We’ve not only made it, we’ve won a game.

“I think our guys are hungry to make the next step – not just winning a game, but to host a conference tournament game, to be in that top four (of the league) and to be in the conversation that we should be able to win the conference tournament.”

Whatever step the Royals make this year will be led by a new point guard – the third in three seasons in Charlotte. While the point guard will be new, the player won’t be. 6-5 sophomore Bryce Cash (7.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2 apg) will handle the ball – and the decision-making – for much of the Royals’ offense.

“(Bryce) is playing the point this year and wasn’t last year,” Leonard says. “I just found that we trust Bryce’s decision-making. Bryce makes great decisions, he makes easy plays, and he makes them look easy. I think that’s going to be a huge key to our success.

“I think he understands the goals of our offense better than any player we’ve had – maybe even better than (former Queens star) Kenny Dye. Bryce understands the entire concepts of what we’re doing, so he’s going to make the right decision. Some (opposing defenses) are different – pressing, drop, or conservative – but then, how do we attack that? Bryce’s understanding of that is the highest I’ve ever seen.”

Cash – a Charlottean who played just a few miles away from campus at Carmel Christian – embraces both the Royals’ style of play and the ability to play home games with his family in the stands.

“It’s family, man,” Cash says. “Even having cousins, aunts, uncles at all my games – that’s what I love, so that was a main decision behind why I came here. I have family from Charlotte that comes to my games. Queens presented me with a family culture, so it really matched well. I love my city. I love Charlotte. I love everything that Queens has to offer.”

Leonard’s offense is one of the things that Queens has to offer that Cash loves.

“G emphasizes for us to play fast and play smart,” Cash says. “Get two feet in the lane, make the right pass. It’s simple basketball, but not a lot of people can do it. It’s really fun basketball, so I feel that’s why it attracts a lot of players.”

Leonard’s style attracted an influx of talent to the 2024-25 club. The returners should play significant roles, as well.

6-2 senior guard Chris Ashby (9.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg, .391 3FG, .923 FT) and 6-4 senior guard Kalib Mathews (2.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.3 apg) provide veteran backcourt presence, while 6-7 senior forward Jaxon Pollard (3.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg) brings toughness and versatility to the Royals’ frontcourt.

7-0 senior center Malcolm Wilson (1.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg) collects praise from Leonard.

“His intentionality of figuring out what his strengths are – I’ve never seen a player grow so much in one year,” Leonard says. “He understands what he’s good at, and he’s only doing those things. He’s staying away from the trouble spots, which has really helped him. He has made himself a threat offensively by just being more aggressive, rolling to the rim, and being open for lobs, which is an NBA concept.

“Defensively, he’s on the same page – talking, communicating, and protecting the rim. I just think that he’s really understanding who he is as a player, which has made his value go up so much.”

Leonard’s style and the Queen City also allow the Royals to lure talented newcomers. 6-7 grad transfer Leo Colimerio (6.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg) joins the program from Fresno State, giving Leonard another talented wing with size.

“(Charlotte and the Queens community) allows us to attract players that might be a little bit above our level,” Leonard says. “Leo’s a four-year starter in the Mountain West. That’s not normal for an ASUN player to get a player that started that much in a much larger league, but he wanted to be here in Charlotte and wanted a bigger role on a team, and now he’s going to be able to have that.”

6-5 junior forward Nasir Mann (7.5 ppg, 6 rpg at McNeese State) and 6-10 freshman center Sawyer Mayhugh (redshirted at UMass) also enter the program from Division 1 schools. Mann’s brother, Tre, plays for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. 6-2 junior guard Asjon Anderson (20.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.5 apg at Ranger Junior College) provides quick scoring capability and is another former Division 1 player who started his career at Utah Tech. 6-4 junior guard Caleb Parr (13.7 ppg at Northeast Mississippi CC) also provides a veteran presence on the roster.

6-1 freshman guard DJ Shine (7.2 ppg last season) joins the Royals from prestigious Brewster Academy. Queens also adds a pair of players from outside the United States in 6-9 forward Maban Jabriel (15.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 4.8 blocks at Tri-City Prep in Canada) and 6-6 forward Yoav Berman, who played on Israel’s national teams and drew interest from schools like Illinois and Florida. 6-6 New York native guard Jacob Brandly averaged 23 points per game at the renowned Combine Academy and may see minutes.

Whatever becomes of Queens in the 2024-25 campaign will obviously be heavily dependent on the team’s grouping of talent. The more telling measure, however, may come in the form of the pillars Leonard and his staff have installed in the program.

“The most important thing is your culture, and your culture is set by the players that return,” Leonard says. “Bryce Cash, Kalib Mathews, Jaxon Pollard, Chris Ashby, Malcolm Wilson – they’re the core of who we are and they’re the ones who hold our standards solid. Those guys are actually the ones that do most of the recruiting. I start the recruiting process and we get the players to campus, but those guys choose this school because they want to be around guys like Bryce and Malcolm.”

Queens starts its regular season inside Curry Arena on Monday, Nov. 4, against the University of Lynchburg.