News On The Horizon 8/14/2021

College basketball: Undersized mid-major star players to watch for 2021-22--Heat Check CBB

Breaking down five college basketball mid-major guards whose height don’t hold back their production.

There is nothing college basketball fans love more than an underdog. In a game filled with players who are much taller than the general population, it can be refreshing to see successful players who look like them.

Let’s take a look at five mid-major players, each under 6-foot tall, who could win their respective conference’s Player of the Year award this season.

Jalen Moore, Oakland

• 17.9 ppg, 8.4 apg, 4.1 rpg, 1.7 spg
• Sr. | 5-11/155

Moore led Div. 1 in assists last season. In fact, he was the only Div. 1 player who averaged eight or more assists per game last season, and he is one of only two players returning — Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler was the other — who averaged seven or more assists per game last season. Moore led Oakland in points, assists, minutes played, and double-doubles last season, which helped him be named first team All-Horizon League and All-District last season.

While Oakland will only return one player, Moore, in double figures, it brings back four of its top six scorers from last season’s team who finished 12-18 (10-10) and fifth in the Horizon. Moore’s father William Moore averaged 12 points per game during his career at Murray State in the mid-90s.

Moore graduated from Cloverdale (Ind.) High School where he committed to Olney Central College, a JUCO in Illinois. Last season was his first in Div. 1 basketball.

Damian Chong-Qui, Fort Wayne

• 15.1 ppg, 5.3 apg, 4.2 rpg (Mount St. Mary’s)
• Sr. | 5-8/155

Chong-Qui was voted 1^st Team All-NEC and All-District last season after leading his Mount St. Mary’s team to a conference title and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Chong-Qui has quite the story of mental strength and overcoming obstacles that include his mother being shot and killed and his father being shot and paralyzed. He led the NEC in assists per game at 5.3 last season, also bringing a toughness and relentlessness to the floor while maintaining a penchant for the big play. Fort Wayne brings back four of its top five scorers, including all three who finished in double figures off last year’s 8-15 (6-14) team who finished 11^th in the Horizon.

Chong-Qui graduated from Baltimore (Md.) McDunough High School and did a prep season at Bronx (N.Y.) Our Savior Lutheran. Chong-Qui walked on at Mount St. Mary’s where he played for three seasons prior to transferring to Fort Wayne.