Five things to know as Queens Royals prepare to open basketball season

You don’t want to sleep on this season’s Queens University men’s basketball team — literally.

The Royals will open their 2025-26 season before many of you have finished breakfast Monday.

Queens and Winthrop will tip off the nation’s Division I men’s basketball season at 8 a.m. Monday — which is opening day for Division I basketball — at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center.

It could be a historic season for the Royals, if the media following the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Conference are right. They’ve picked Queens to win the championship ... but more about that in a moment.

Here are five things you want to know about Queens University men’s (and women’s) basketball this season:

They’re picked to win

The Royals are ASUN Conference media members’ pick to win the conference title.

Conference head coaches picked Queens for third place, behind North Alabama and Eastern Kentucky, but you get the idea. It looks as if the Royals could be an NCAA Tournament contender this season.

Queens made its first postseason tournament appearance after the 2024-25 season, in its third season as an NCAA Division I member. The Royals finished 20-15, losing in the conference tournament semifinals, but gaining a berth in the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Queens beat Northern Arizona in the first round of the CBI before losing to Cleveland State in Round 2.

Winning means something

The Royals couldn’t have played in the NCAA tournament last year, even if they’d won the ASUN tournament. That’s because the NCAA requires new Division 1 members to go through a three-year reclassification period before they are eligible to play in the NCAA tourney.

Queens completed its transition period on June 24. The ASUN tournament champion gains an automatic NCAA tourney berth.

The Royals were regular qualifiers for the NCAA Division 2 tournament before making the switch to D1.

Head coach Grant Leonard said his team was close to something big last season.

“We were literally 12 possessions away from winning the regular-season title,” said Leonard, entering his third season as head coach. “So our focus this season is on the little things. We want to get 12 to 20 possessions better.”

It starts with Chris Ashby

In addition to being media members’ No. 1 pick, Queens also has the ASUN preseason player of the year — 6-foot-2 guard Chris Ashby.

Ashby was the team’s No. 2 scorer last season, averaging 12.7 points a game.

“He’ a lead-by-example guy,” Leonard said. “I’ve been doing this 20-plus years, and I’ve never had a player with the practice pace that Chris has. Every single rep he takes is at game speed — 100 percent.”

“It is contagious to the rest of our guys,” Leonard added.

Also back is the No. 3 scorer from last season — 6-6 wing Yoav Berman. He averaged 8.2 points a contest.

By the way, there also are a couple local names of interest. The roster includes freshmen Jordan Watford (Lancaster), Isaiah Henry (Cannon School) and Tyler Crider (Weddington). Watford was an all-state selection in South Carolina last season.

There will be challenges

Should the Royals win the ASUN Tournament and reach the NCAA, they shouldn’t be star-struck.

Their schedule includes road games against Villanova (Nov. 8), Virginia (Nov. 28), Wake Forest (Dec. 14) and Auburn (Dec. 20). And the Royals will jump right into the thick of things when they open conference play Jan. 1. Their ASUN opener is against Eastern Kentucky, expected to contend for the conference championship.

Queens women face a challenge

The outlook for the Royals’ women’s team is a bit more challenging than for the men.

Queens was picked by coaches to finish 11th of the ASUN’s 12 teams, and media members picked them for last place.

Queens, 10-19 last season, returns its No. 3 and 4 scorers from a year ago — Ana Barreto (8.3 points per game) and Jermany Map (8.2). There’s one local player on the roster — 5-7 guard Alyssa Lewis, of Hickory Ridge High and N.C. State.

The Royals are coached by Jen Brown, in her fifth season. They open play at 7 p.m. Monday, at home against Gardner-Webb.