Five things to know about Ball State basketball before the 2026-27 season

College basketball season is looming large, and Ball State basketball is ready to begin a new era for the program.Ball State is coming off a 12-19 season which marked its third consecutive year finishing below .500 and missing the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Cardinals' struggles led to a change in leadership as head coach Michael Lewis was fired after four seasons and replaced with Chris Capko, a first-year head coach. Capko will look to bring the Cardinals back to the postseason for the first time since 2023.More: Five things to know about Ball State women's basketball before 2026-27 seasonBall State will tip off its 2026-27 season on the road at Georgia Southern on Monday, Nov. 2. Here are five things to know about Ball State basketball before the season begins.Who is the new coach for Ball State basketball?Capko was officially hired to lead the Ball State basketball program on March 20, becoming the 21st head coach in program history. He spent the last decade as an assistant coach under Andy Enfield with eight years at Southern California and the last two as the associate head coach at Southern Methodist. Prior to his time with Enfield, Capko also served as an assistant coach at Florida International, Georgia Southern, Stetson and Marshall. He also played four years of collegiate hoops as a point guard at South Florida from 2003-07.Capko also brought in a (mostly) new crop of assistant coaches. Pershin Williams joined the fold after spending the last three seasons as an assistant at Georgia Tech and also helped develop Kennesaw State into an NCAA Tournament team as an assistant coach there for four years. Jordan Surenkamp spent last season as an assistant at Radford and has a decade of experience as an NBA G-League coach. Manny Dosanjh brings some MAC experience to the table after spending the last four years as an assistant at Western Michigan and was highlighted as one of the top 100 most impactful assistant coaches in the nation by Silver Waves Media. Capko also welcomed in Beruk Asfaw as director of basketball operations and Ellis Spar as director of analytics and strategy.More: New coach Chris Capko is ready to lead Ball State basketball revivalThe lone holdover from last year's coaching staff is John Clancy. He joined the Cardinals in 2025 as an assistant on Lewis' staff and was retained by Capko for the 2026 season. He has previously served as an assistant coach at Western Illinois and as a head coach at Triton College.Who is returning for Ball State basketball?Only two players from Ball State's 2025-26 roster stuck around through the coaching transition — Joey Hart and Mason Jones. Both players are entering their fourth season of college basketball, with Jones having spent his whole career at Ball State and Hart entering his third season at Ball State after spending his freshman year at Kentucky.Jones started 30 games last season and averaged 4.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 steals in 30.9 minutes per game, while Hart dealt with a nagging foot injury and only played in four games with averages of 9.0 points and 1.8 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game.Hart and Jones have been roommates for the last two seasons and have become even closer as the only two holdovers from last year's roster. Both of them cited Capko's plan for the roster and his belief in that plan as something that convinced them to stick around, as well as the fact that the other one also planned to stay."With all these changes, it's nice to have a rock," Jones said. "We've lived together for two and a half years, essentially, so just having him around, one of my best buddies, getting to play basketball, come to practice, even just driving from the apartment every morning, it's a blessing for sure."Who are the new transfers for Ball State basketball?Of the 14 players on Ball State's roster, a whopping 10 of them are transfer players. Capko and his staff were very aggressive in the transfer portal, and they were successful at acquiring the players they really wanted. All in all, Ball State added seven guards — Sean Blake from Vermont, Trey Lewis from Western Michigan, Javion Guy-King from Central Arkansas, Aaron Fine from Purdue, Jazz Henderson Jr. from Texas Tech, K'Jei Parker from UMass and Zaon Collins from Fresno State — and three bigs — Jaden Smith from St. Joseph's, Babatunde Durodola from Temple and Kijani Wright from Vanderbilt.At guard, Capko prioritized depth, playmaking and shooting. Blake (9.9 points, 3.9 assists per game at Vermont last season) has impressed in the Cardinals' scrimmages so far and projects as the team's starting point guard, while players like Lewis (38.5%), Guy-King (34.1%), Parker (40.1%) and Collins (30.9%) all shot at least 30% from beyond the arc last season. Lewis and Parker also bring experience within the MAC to the table from their previous stops at Western Michigan and UMass, respectively."I feel like last year in the MAC, it was never a dull night," Lewis said. "You have to bring your game every night, and I feel like it's going to be the same thing this year, but I'm ready for that too."Ball State lacked size last year with its tallest player being 6-foot-9 freshman Preston Copeland, who has since transferred to Miami (Ohio). This year, the Cardinals got a lot bigger with the additions of Smith (6-11, 220 pounds), Durodola (6-8, 230) and Wright (6-8, 225). Smith, in particular, has impressed in practices and scrimmages and should give the Cardinals a strong rebounding and defensive presence in the paint.Overall, the Cardinals' heavy dose of transfers gives them a very experienced roster. All 10 transfers have at least two seasons of college basketball under their belt already, so they all know what it takes to succeed and produce at this level. Capko is still working out the starters and the rotations, but the depth and experience of the roster has given him reason for excitement."When I first got the job, I did not anticipate us being able to be that experienced, so we're able to start an older lineup, then go to the bench and maintain that same level of experience," Capko said.Who are the new freshmen for Ball State basketball?Capko brought in two freshmen signees as part of his first Ball State recruiting class. The first signee was Kamden McGilveary, a guard from Fort Worth, Texas, who played his senior season at Dynamic Prep, one of the nation's top prep school programs. The second was Kai McGrew, a forward who was an in-state prospect from nearby Fishers High School.At 6-1, 170 pounds, McGilveary has a light but long frame with plenty of room to bulk up. He uses his length well as a perimeter defender and possesses strong natural scoring ability. It may be tough for him to crack the rotation early in his career playing on a roster with so much experienced guard talent, but McGilveary's skill has drawn some early praise from his teammates.McGrew, meanwhile, measures 6-9, 220 pounds, and represents the first example of Capko's pledge to commit top high school talent from the state of Indiana. Per 247sports, he was rated as a 3-star prospect coming out of Fishers and was the ninth-ranked recruit in the state for the Class of 2026. Like McGilveary, he has gotten some positive attention from his teammates already and could emerge as an early contributor in the Cardinals' frontcourt."Kai has been working really hard and practicing, and Kam is really, really good," Collins said. "He's only going to get better. Both of them, they're nowhere near their potential yet. They're pretty young, and I hope to see them just keep maturing and getting better."Cardinals will be short-handed to start the seasonCapko informed the media that Ball State would be without two of its transfer players — Collins and Wright — to begin the season for various reasons. Collins, who spent his first season at Salt Lake Community College before spending the last two years at Fresno State, is academically ineligible and will miss the first few games of the season. Capko said that Collins is working hard with Ball State to complete his degree and anticipates him being available by the Cardinals' home matchup with Evansville on Dec. 8. Collins started 24 games at Fresno State last season while averaging 11.6 points per game, and he is expected to be a difference-maker for Ball State once he is eligible to play.Wright's situation is much more up in the air. A former McDonald's All-American who prepped at Sierra Canyon High School, he began his career at USC while Capko was an assistant coach there. He appeared in 57 games for the Trojans during his first two seasons before transferring to Vanderbilt ahead of the 2024-25 season. However, a medical issue prevented him from ever suiting up for the Commodores, and he spent last season out of college basketball as he recovered. Wright signed with Ball State upon receiving medical clearance to play, but a separate medical issue arose shortly after his arrival on campus and will sideline him indefinitely.Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Five things to know about Ball State basketball before the 2026-27 season