Chris Victor took over as head coach of Seattle U during the 2021-2022 season where he jumped out to a 23-9 record while going 14-4 in the WAC. While their final season in the WAC was disappointing, finishing just 14-18 overall in the 24-25’ season, their first season in the WCC was an important step to build their foundation in the conference. They finished 21-14 overall and 8-10 in conference, narrowly missing some huge games against Gonzaga, San Francisco, and Saint Mary’s. You may remember, they took the Zags to overtime on the road in The Kennel to open up 2026 on January 2nd. They also put up a fight against NIT Champions Auburn in the Sweet 16, falling 91-85 on the road.
Now, they are looking to build upon their solid start in a new conference. With Gonzaga leaving, it opens up a void for other teams to take advantage. Even with Randy Bennett leaving Saint Mary’s for Arizona State, the Gaels will still be right at the top of the conference. San Francisco and Santa Clara are both strong programs as well, and Herb Sendek is going to be vying for the top after the Broncos had a tremendous season last year.
While Seattle U lost some of their top talent, they retained two of their most crucial players from last season. Through adding additional talent in the portal, addressing the gaps, and finding some diamonds in the rough, on paper this is a team that looks like it can compete as well. Let’s take a look at how their roster is shaping up.
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Roster Turnover
Miles Amos (Senior) ~ TBD
1.8 points, 1.6 rebounds
Brayden Maldonado (Senior) ~ TBD
14.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals
Maleek Arington (Senior) ~ TBD
4.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.3 steals
JoJo Murphy (Senior) ~ TBD
5.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists
John Christoflis (Senior) ~ TBD
6.5 points, 1.1 rebounds
Houran Dan (Junior) ~ Hawaii
5.7 points, 2.5 rebounds
Stratos Papastavrou (Sophomore) ~ TBD
0.5 points, 1.8 rebounds (4 games / 7.8 minutes)
Brock Felder (Senior) ~ Weber St
3.1 points, 2.3 rebounds
Austin Maurer (Junior) ~ Stanford
7.2 points, 4.7 rebounds
There is no doubt this is a lot of turnover, but it was expected. While many of the key players in the rotation were younger, a lot of the depth pieces were upperclassmen. Now, many of them technically entered the transfer portal seeking another year of eligibility. Given that the semester has already started, the chance of that is slim.
Brayden Maldonado wrapped up a successful two-year stint with the Redhawks, averaging 14.7 points with 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Don’t be surprised to see him end up signing a contract overseas to join a professional team.
Among those that did transfer to another program, Austin Maurer showed a lot of promise. He took a solid step forward in his second year, jumping from one point per game to 7.2 with 4.7 rebounds and nearly one block. The 7’0 center will join Stanford, where I’m sure he got some decent NIL money and will look to further his career.
Returning Players
Junseok Yeo (Senior)
12 points, 4 rebounds, 1.6 assists
Will Heimbrodt (Junior)
12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.6 blocks
Jeremiah Harshman (Sophomore)
DNP
Ray Adams (Junior)
3.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals (5 games / 10.2 minutes)
Yuto Kawashima (Junior)
5 points, 2.8 rebounds (4 games / 8.3 minutes)
JT White (Senior)
DNP
Junseok Yeo (6’8)
After spending two seasons with Gonzaga, Seattle was looking for Yeo to have a breakout season in his first full-year opportunity at the Division I level. He appeared in and started 34 games while averaging 12 points, four rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting 43.3% overall and 29.5% from three-point on 5.2 attempts per game. He had some monster games, including strong stat lines against top WCC opponents. He finished with 24 and 20 points against Saint Mary’s while posting 17 points with 12 rebounds against Santa Clara.
Looking at his metrics, there is definitely even further room for growth this season. He finished with a 97.0 offensive rating, 53.6% true shooting percentage, 12.3% defensive rebounding percentage, and 10.5 assist rate. He did shoot 59.1% from inside the arc. If he is able to continue to improve from an efficiency standpoint he could be poised for a true career-defining season with the Redhawks.
Will Heimbrodt (6’7)
Heimbrodt is a blossoming junior coming off a season where he took a huge step up from his first year. As a freshman, he averaged two points with two rebounds in 27 games. Last year, he started in 33 of the 34 games he appeared in while averaging 12.3 points with 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.6 blocks, and 1.3 steals and shooting 42.4% overall and 29.7% from three-point. He put up some ridiculous stat lines, including seven blocks against Stanford, 19 points with five rebounds, three assists, and five blocks against Saint Mary’s, and 24 points with four rebounds, five assists, five blocks, and four steals against Pepperdine.
His metrics line up with some of those stat lines. He finished with a 25.7% possession usage, 47% true shooting percentage, 16.2% defensive rebounding percentage, 15.7 assist rate, 9.8% block percentage (16th best in the country), 2.5% steal percentage, and a 37.4 free throw rate. Similarly, there is a lot of improvement to be had on the efficiency end. He featured just an 88.8 offensive rating and 44.3% effective field goal percentage.
He is already one of the most underrated players in college basketball, so retaining him immediately elevates Seattle’s potential this season. If he can improve from a shooting percentage standpoint, he’ll become one of the best players in the mid-major ranks.
Jeremiah Harshman (6’1)
The Seatac, Washington native redshirted during his freshman campaign. He had a dominant senior season at Annie Wright High School where he averaged 15.7 points with 8.1 assists, 7.5 rebounds, and three steals while leading the team to a state championship. Considering they loaded up on guards in the portal, it’ll be expected that Harshman plays a minimal role on the depth chart.
Ray Adams (6’8)
Another in-state resident of Washington, Ray Adams appeared in five games last season after redshirting during his first season in the 2024-2025 campaign. In five games, he finished with a line of 3.2 points with 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists. His statistics came from two games against non-division I opponents while he appeared in seven minutes total across his other three games.
Yuto Kawashima (6’9)
The Japanese native has nearly mirrored Adam’s journey with Seattle. He redshirted his original freshman season, then appeared in just a handful of games last year. In four games, he averaged five points with 2.8 rebounds with most of those statistics coming against their non-division I opponents. In his two other games, he finished with just two points and one rebound in five minutes.
JT White
White is a walk-on returning this season, so you can expect him to play a similar role on the roster this season.
Roster Additions
Mason Williams (Senior) ~ Iowa State
DNP (Injury)
13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals (Eastern Washington)
Kaden Hansen (Senior) ~ Saint Martin’s (D-II)
18.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals
Tyler Boston (Junior)
14.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists
Tomas Thrastarson (Junior) ~ Washington State
8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists
Halvine Dzellat (Senior) ~ Cincinnati
2.1 points, 2 rebounds
Ladji Coulibaly (Sophomore) ~ New Mexico JUCO
7.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 1.3 blocks
Jaden Bailes (Freshman)
Amare Larane (Freshman)
Guards
Mason Williams (6’5)
Williams spent his first two seasons in college basketball with Eastern Washington, where the Seattle native turned himself into a tremendous player. During his sophomore season, he appeared in 27 games and started 22 where he averaged 13.9 points with 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals while shooting 42.7% overall and 34.5% from beyond the arc. Following this strong sophomore season, he transferred to Iowa State, but he ultimately redshirted after a hip surgery held him out for the season.
During that successful season, Williams finished with a 97.6 offensive rating, 53.9% true shooting percentage, 13.2% defensive rebounding percentage, and a strong 82.6% free throw shooting percentage, which was 232nd overall. He was a focal part of Eastern Washington as he featured a 27.5% possession usage, which was 152nd best in the country.
As long as Williams is fully recovered from his injury, he’ll play a focal role for Seattle this coming season.
Kaden Hansen (6’2)
What a journey it has been for Hansen. He joined Saint Martin’s University in 2022 where he redshirted his first season, then put together a solid freshman campaign in the 2023-2024 season. He then missed the next season due to an injury, in which he followed it up last year with an outstanding performance that put him on the Division I map. He finished the season averaging 18.6 points, with 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He shot 43.2% overall from the floor and 35.8% from three-point. He put up some monster offensive performances, including 37 points against Western Washington, and a stretch of three 30+ performances across four games.
He isn’t a point guard, which is why they brought in the next player on the list, but Hansen will provide a huge offensive boost on this team. He’ll help fill the void that Brayden Maldonado left as primarily a scoring weapon in the rotation.
Tyler Boston (6’0)
After spending the past two seasons with Holy Cross, Boston is making the jump to the WCC following a solid sophomore year. He appeared and started in 32 games last season while averaging 14.2 points with 3.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. The 6’0 guard shot 42.8% overall and 35.9% from three-point. He had some tremendous games against tough competition. Against Providence, he finished with 25 points, four rebounds, and six assists, in which he then had 12 points against #8 BYU, and nine points with five assists and five rebounds against Utah.
While Holy Cross was ranked just 330th in KenPom, Boston’s metrics shined. He featured a 110.8 offensive rating, 56.9% true shooting percentage, 13% defensive rebounding percentage, 25.2 assist rate (200th best in the country), and an 83.1% free throw shooting percentage (230th best in the nation).
With their turnover amongst the guards, Boston is going to emerge as the primary point guard for the Redhawks this season. While it can be skewed as you look at his stats because you can argue that he was a tremendous player on a bad team, you have to remember that he was able to prevail while being pressured even harder by opponents. He has the ability to serve as a floor general while creating his own offense. Expect him to be on the radar for a big year.
Tomas Thrastarson (6’7)
You don’t see many players come to college basketball from Iceland, but Thrastarson has had no problem thus far. He’s spent the last two seasons at Washington State where he’s appeared in 50 games and started 24. Last season, he averaged 8.8 points with 4.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 43.9% overall and 28.8% from three-point in 22.9 minutes per game. Unfortunately, a stress fracture in his foot held him to just 19 games.
Despite the Cougars having their own set of problems, he was a bright spot on the roster. His freshman season, he finished with a 120.0 offensive rating, which did drop to a still respectable 105.7 last season. He also featured a 56.3% true shooting percentage, 17% defensive rebounding percentage, 1.8% block percentage, all while shooting 54.4% from inside the arc.
With his experience, he’ll slot into a high-impact role in the rotation this season for the Redhawks.
Jaden Bailes (6’2)
The three-star recruit out of San Juan Capistrano, California, was highly sought after from a lot of fellow mid-major programs. The 6’2 guard ranked 343rd overall in the class of 2026 and 27th in the state of California. The kid is electric on the court. I highlight with Boston that I believe he’ll be the primary point guard, but Bailes will be seeing time in the rotation as a freshman. They don’t have an insane amount of depth, plus they’ll be looking to develop Bailes for the coming season. He can knock it down from deep, create his own offense, and he already looks like he can serve as a facilitator.
Bailes held offers from San Francisco, California, Yale, UC San Diego, Cal Baptist, and more.
Amare Larane (6’3)
While he wasn’t as highly recruited as Bailes, that doesn’t mean that Larane is going to make any less of an impact. He played at Knight High School, the same as Paul George, where he ended up becoming the all-time leading scorer to pass George. He averaged 27.1 points with 6.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game as a senior. Larane is insanely athletic. He has a natural ability to score the ball, one that will translate into a solid career in college basketball. He can also throw down some electric dunks, making him a huge fast-break threat. While I don’t think he’ll play as much as Bailes this season, I’d be shocked if we don’t see him some in the rotation as he develops.
Larane held one other offer from UC Riverside.
Centers
Halvine Dzellat (6’10)
The 6’10 big man from France has spent the past two seasons with the Cincinnati Bearcats where he’s seen minimal action. Over two years, he’s appeared in 36 games off the bench. Last season, he appeared in 26 games while averaging 2.1 points and two rebounds in 8.3 minutes per contest. He does bring experience from overseas where he played with Blois for two seasons and Lille in the final year prior to making the journey to the NCAA. For Lille in the 2023-2024 season, he averaged 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds, but he averaged 14.3 points with 7.4 rebounds in 34 games for Blois U21 the year prior.
The potential is there, and there is a lack of depth with height on this roster. In his minimal playing time last year, he featured a 111.9 offensive rating with a 59.1% true shooting percentage, 14.3% offensive rebounding percentage, and 11.9% defensive rebounding percentage. He’ll receive the opportunity to show what he can do in an expanded role this season.
Ladji Coulibaly (6’10)
After making the jump to the United States, Coulibaly spent last season with New Mexico Junior College where he averaged 7.9 points with 7.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game in just 17.3 minutes per game. He’s not a three-point threat, but he did shoot 56.5% overall from the floor. He’s a raw talent, one that has spent time in the AfroBasket U16, World Cup U17 & U19, and the NBA Global Academy.
Like I mentioned with Dzellat, they don’t have a ton of experience at the traditional center spot. Heimbrodt and Yeo will hold down the forward positions, so it was clear they wanted to solidify the five spot and they’ve picked up a couple of intriguing prospects. I feel like Dzellat will edge Coulibaly out, but you’ll still be seeing plenty of him in his first Division I season.
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Expectations
The WCC has a completely different look this year. With teams leaving, and new coaches joining the ranks, it has the potential to be a wide-open conference with Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara most likely being the favorites. However, if you want a dark horse, Seattle could be the team for you. Let’s take a look at what their starting lineup could look like:
Tyler Boston
Mason Williams / Tomas Thrastarson
Will Heimbrodt
Junseok Yeo
Halvine Dzellat / Ladji Coulibaly
Will Heimbrodt and Junseok Yeo are both locks for the starting lineup once again this season. I highlighted throughout this review that if their shooting efficiencies could tick up, they could both be set to make an even larger impact this season. With Tyler Boston joining the roster, I think they will have that opportunity. Last year, the Redhawks had Maleek Arington as the main point guard, but he wasn’t much of an offensive threat. Boston is a much better offensive player, and he has the playmaking capabilities to help set up the rest of the team with better shot opportunities. Keep in mind, this team was just 291st in offensive adjusted efficiency last season.
The two-spot will most likely be a toss-up between Mason Williams & Tomas Thrastarson, with Thrastarson most likely having the edge over Williams. With his experience in the WCC already at Washington State, he’s proven that he can play in the conference at a high level. Williams is battling back from a season-long injury, but if he does slide to the bench, he is someone that will provide a massive offensive boost as a six man. He was tremendous at Eastern Washington, so don’t be surprised that if he is back at 100% that he swaps into the starting lineup over Thrastarson. Don’t forget, you also have Kaden Hansen who was lights out last season at Saint Martin’s. It’s hard to predict how he’ll jump to the Division I level; however, this is a team that could use improvement on the offensive end. Don’t be surprised if he could come off the bench and give you 8+ points per game.
My largest question is the center-position. They have two unknowns with Halvine Dzellat and Ladji Coulibaly. Dzellat has some experience in Division I, but it’s minimal. Coulibaly showed some tremendous upside on defense last season in JUCO, but will that translate in his first year in Division I college basketball? Hard to say. This will ultimately come down to who looks better in practice, but it’d be obvious to me that Dzellat has the first edge. At the very least, Coulibaly could be a valuable defensive asset to come off the bench when you bring in extra offensive firepower with the guards on the roster.
If you noticed a trend while reading this, you’ll note that last season there was a focus on the defensive end underneath Head Coach Chris Victor. The Redhawks ranked 21st in defensive adjusted efficiency, while allowing an opponent to score 90+ points just twice (Saint Mary’s and Auburn), and allowing 80+ just five times. Heimbrodt was a master with both blocks and steals, then you had three players that ranked nationally in steal percentage. Heimbrodt was 16th in blocking percentage, while Maleek Arington was 16th in steal percentage. I highlighted earlier that Tyler Boston was an offensive upgrade, but they still kept a focus on defense with other players. Mason Williams, Kaden Hansen, and Ladji Coulibaly all bring in defensive pressure to help relieve the void of Arington, Brayden Maldonado, and Austin Maurer.
Overall, they upgraded the offense, but there will be a slight slide on defense in my opinion. However, if you are able to jump to the 100s in offensive efficiency, while staying in the top-50 or top-60 of defensive efficiency, then the gains outweigh the losses. This is a team that should finish in the top half of the WCC this season.