Kennesaw State Basketball - Updates and Humor by Keith Spillett

11/9/2025

Kennesaw State Basketball Season Preview and Week One Report

Antoine Pettway and the crew at Kennesaw State had an impressive first week to start the 2025-26 campaign.  Pettway enters his third season at the helm of a program that seems finally and mercifully headed in the right direction.  Long ago, Kennesaw State was a Division II powerhouse winning a National Championship in 2003. It looked like only a matter of time before this fast-growing Atlanta area school was going to be a midmajor force to be reckoned with.  Instead, the school spent the better part of two decades after their jump to D1 as the perennial doormat in the Atlantic Sun Conference.  

A long string of talented coaches watched their souls ripped from their bodies by teams that rarely managed double digit wins.  When Amir Abdul-Rahim took over, the school celebrated his arrival by putting together one of the most listless seasons in the history of the sport, a 1-28 monstrosity in which they went winless in the A-Sun and staved off historical ineptitude by snagging one win against Gardner-Webb.  Inexplicably, Abdur-Rahim managed one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of the sport, building the team into a 26-win juggernaut that came out of absolutely nowhere to win the conference in 2023, nearly knocking off an outstanding Xavier team in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  The late coach Abdur-Rahim moved on to pull off another rebuilding miracle at South Florida before his tragic passing at the age of 44.  

The talent level and expectations of the program jumped substantially as they moved into Conference USA two years ago.  Enter Coach Antoine Pettway, a talented Alabama assistant who was tasked with sustaining the incredible momentum of a program that had made the college basketball world stand up and take notice.

In his third year, the Owls seem at a crossroads.  They struggled through a 15-win season in his first year but began to show genuine improvement, winning 19 games and finishing 4th in Conference USA last year.  This is very much a make or break year for the program.  With a strong core of talent and some impressive newcomers on board, they were picked to finish 2nd in the conference by sportswriters and coaches.

The key piece of the roster is returning guard Simeon Cottle, a thinking fan’s point guard who sees the floor beautifully and does an outstanding job of keeping everyone involved offensively.  Cottle is a fourth year senior who has spent his tenure at KSU giving the team a little bit of everything.  He’s a fantastic passer, a consistent scorer and a rock solid defender.  Cottle is the consensus pick as pre-season Conference USA Player of the Year going into this season.  Also returning is Breadon Lue, an explosive 6-9 forward who showed flashes of elite talent as a scorer and rebounder as a freshman last year.  Several high impact transfers and one of the top freshman classes in school history round out a roster that has the potential to overwhelm the rest of the conference and return to the NCAA tournament.  

They opened the season by making Division III opponent Paine College live up to their name by holding them to 30 points and running away with a 75-point victory.  Their first real challenge came on Saturday afternoon on the road against a modestly talented Florida A&M squad.  While FAMU is hardly a threat to win a National Championship this year, they have an intriguing roster that features the children of many football players you watched 20 years ago at Florida State.  This Nepo-team is led by forward Anquon Boldin Jr., son of the former star wide receiver, and enough kids with the name Junior as a suffix to make you think they were intentionally trying to create an homage to the 1990s comedy featuring Danny Devito and a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger. They are even coached by former FSU Heisman Trophy winner and Knick point guard Charlie Ward.  Had he not shuffled off the old mortal coil, it would not have been astonishing to pick up the program and find former Florida State running back Burt “The Bandit” Reynolds on the coaching staff.

Winning on the road early in the season is never an easy task, even when faced with a less talented opponent.  Also, playing in a gym with a green and orange color scheme more appropriate for a dystopian Stanley Kubrick film than a basketball game presents its own set of problems. But, the Owls rolled into Tallahassee determined to take FAMU out of the game early and keep them that way.  

They jumped on the Rattlers early and often, carving them up with laser-like passes from Cottle to RJ Johnson, who finished with a game high 16 points and Ramone “Clubbing Baby” Seals who finished with a strong 12 point, 7 rebound performance. Frankquon “Frankquonstein” Sherman started the game off with an elegant layup and a breathtaking dunk to set the tone and KSU never looked back, taking a 14-point halftime lead and turning it into a 20-point victory.  

The Owls have a tune up against Point University scheduled for Wednesday, before their first major test of the season.  A Sunday home court battle against a South Florida team coming off a 23-11 season and is expected to challenge Memphis for dominance in the American Conference.  A win against USF would go a long way in proving that this year’s Kennesaw State squad is back and here to stay.