The first month of the DII men’s basketball season has flown by, but here we are, ready for December and conference play. Nova Southeastern is 7-0 — one of 17 remaining undefeated teams — and scoring 111.0 points per game — one of eight teams in November to break the century mark per game.
The player stats have been equally impressive, so it is probably no doubt that the Sharks’ Dallas Graziani headlines our first DII men’s basketball all-stats team of 2024-25.
Welcome to year six of the all-stats starting five. For those new to the all-stats team, this is a monthly dream team based on statistical leaders in DII men’s basketball. Some may be outright No. 1 in a single category, while others are sometimes top five in several categories. Almost every team has played fewer than eight games, so some of these numbers may be inflated, but it is fun snapshot of the current landscape across the division.
DII MEN’S BASKETBALL CENTRAL
The November DII men’s basketball All-Stats Starting Five
(Note: All stats through Nov. 30 per NCAA.org)
Guard: Dallas Graziani, Nova Southeastern. Graziani leads DII men’s basketball in assists with 10.7 per game — a pace that could still meet my prediction that he breaks the single-season assist record. He also has the second-most double-doubles in DII because he scores a ton of points as well. Pace’s Tray Alexander dishes the ball very well also, but what got Graziani the nod at guard here is the fact that he also averages 3.71 steals per game for a team that scores 111 points per game. The Sharks are deep in talent, but he is the spark plug that makes the No. 1 team in DII go.
Guard: Max Alexander, Northwestern Oklahoma. On Oct. 6 in my way-too-early season predictions, I said Michigan Tech’s Marcus Tomashek would lead DII men’s basketball in scoring this season. He is right up there, third overall through November, but it is Alexander leading the way by 0.07 points with 27.8 points per game. Alexander transferred from Pittsburg State, where he averaged 14.5 points a year ago, but that was nearly half of what he is doing right now. Alexander already has a pair of 30-point games and contributes 4.5 rebounds per game and a team-high 5.1 assists per game. He took home the GAC player of the week in his first week in the conference. Not too shabby.
Also considered: Tray Alexander, Pace; Daniel Halldorsson, Southeastern Oklahoma State; Cooper Jackson, Eastern New Mexico; Antwan Kimmons, Concordia-St. Paul; Adrian McIntyre, Westmont; Trey Phipps, Northeastern State; Marcus Tomashek, Michigan Tech
Forward: Lakeem McAliley, East Stroudsburg. It was close, but McAliley is the leading scoring forward in DII men’s basketball and gets the nod this month. He also leads the PSAC in scoring… a conference well-represented in this first all-stats team. For November, he racked up 25.5 points per game on a very nice 59.1 percent shooting. He contributes 6.0 rebounds per game and leads the team in blocks. He has yet to score below 20 points in any game and went out in November with a bang, scoring a season-high 31 points — 22 of which came in the second half to propel the Warriors to victory — hitting 13 of 14 free throws, a spot where he excels on the floors shooting better than 91 percent from the charity stripe this season.
Forward: Cenker Evran, Edinboro. Evran is tied for the lead in DII men’s basketball in rebounds with 14.3 points per game, and double doubles with 6. He has been an absolute beast in his first year at Edinboro, adding a career-high 15.0 points per game on 74.1 percent shooting, which is also a top-10 mark in the division. The Fighting Scots had a mere seven wins last year and with Evran in the lineup, they are more than halfway there… through nine games.
Also considered: Aliou Cisse, Bridgeport; Paul Greene, Southern New Hampshire; Tasman Goodrick, Gannon; Tim Hall Jr., Georgia Southwestern; Maceo Williams, Ashland
Center: Sergey Grishaev, Rollins. Listed at 6-10 and now a full-time starter, Grishaev has been as big in the box score as he is on the floor. He is posting career highs in scoring (16.8 points per game), rebounding (8.0 per game), and already has two double-doubles, all top-three marks among centers in DII. He’s shooting 48.9 percent from the floor, but he can also hit it from outside the arc, hitting 10 of 23 3-point shots for a 43.5% success rate. Throw in that he leads the team in blocks, and you have a big man that can do a little of it all.
Also considered: Max Amadasun, Augusta; Benjamin Bill, Daemen; Nathan Claerbaut, Ferris State.
