THE BOARD: Troy Basketball

The number

50.7 — That's how many points per game walked out the door when Troy's top four scorers entered the transfer portal this spring. Thomas Dowd — the Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player — signed with Auburn. Victor Valdes followed Scott Cross to Georgia Tech. Cooper Campbell and his brother Cobi left for Liberty. Combined: 50.7 PPG gone from a team that averaged 79.3.

Troy went 22-12 in 2025-26. Won the Sun Belt regular season title. Won the Sun Belt Tournament for the second straight year — the first team to repeat as tournament champions since Georgia State in 2018-19. Made the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. Cross was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year.

Then Georgia Tech called. Cross took the job on March 20. The roster followed him to the portal.

Nine days later, Troy had a new head coach. Adam Howard had been here before.

The fit

Howard was an assistant at Troy from 2016 to 2018 under Phil Cunningham. He was part of the staff that won the 2017 Sun Belt Tournament Championship. He still has the ring.

"I want to thank Phil Cunningham for giving me an opportunity to come to Troy at a time when I need it the most," Howard said at his introductory press conference on March 30. "That opportunity is where my journey began. Without Troy, I wouldn't have been able to go on and do the things that I've done with my career."

The career since Troy reads like a coaching resume built one stop at a time. South Alabama with Richie Riley, where Howard was promoted to associate head coach. Three years at Nebraska with Fred Hoiberg, where he helped the Huskers reach the 2024 NCAA Tournament — their first in a decade. Then one season at NC State under Will Wade.

"I really believe that my time in Nebraska prepared me to be a head coach," Howard said. "I've been a lot of places before that. I had a lot of success at other places. But I wasn't ready to be a head coach."

AD Kyle George didn't stumble into the hire. George said the search started in October — five months before Cross's departure became official.

"You look at Coach Cross, you knew he was going to have opportunities out there," George said. "So you always have to be ready for whatever comes next."

George started with nearly 50 names, narrowed to 20, then to five in-person finalists. The background checks came back the same way every time.

"Everybody raved about what he brings to the table as an offensive guru, a defensive technician," George said. "He knows the game of basketball through and through."

George cited one reference in particular: "One of the things that was told to me by Fred Hoiberg is he set the stage for where Nebraska basketball is now."

Howard laid out the blueprint: aggressive offense, connected defense, development at the core.

"Offensively, we'll work every possession to get the highest quality shot that we possibly can for Troy University," Howard said. "We'll have great player movement, ball movement, and we will be the most aggressive team attacking, going from possession to possession, action to action, to keep pressure on the defense."

On defense: "... We're going to be tough, disciplined, and connected. We want teams to feel us physically and mentally for 40 minutes."

On philosophy: "The teams that stay at the top of their league develop better than anybody else. This will be a development-based program, skill development tied to our system."

He acknowledged the road ahead without flinching from it.

"We got a lot of work ahead of us," Howard said. "Today's climate is a little different. There's going to be a lot of new faces. We understand that. We accept that."

Then the line that landed hardest in the room: "This opportunity to lead this program means the world to me because I didn't grow up in Troy. I didn't go to college at Troy. But Troy gave me something that no place in America could have given me. It gave my family another shot at our future."

The departures

Cross didn't just leave. He created a gravitational pull that stripped the roster of its best talent.

AD George gave Cross his full credit at the presser: five 20-win seasons, four championships in two years and back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids. "That certainly made this job a desirable one for many candidates across the entire country," George said.

Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. went deeper. "The wins and losses are the surface," Hawkins said. "It's not the real meaning. The real meaning of any leader, I think, is the ability to unite, pull together, do what's in the best interest of those we're privileged to serve. And Scott Cross was a servant leader, is a servant leader, and wherever he goes, he's going to win because he is a winner."

Cross won. And when he left, the players he built the program around left with him.

Transfer portal:

Thomas Dowd (Auburn) — 14.4 PPG, 10.1 RPG in 34 games. All-Sun Belt First Team. Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player — 23 points and 13 rebounds in the championship game, where he surpassed 1,000 career points. His 17th double-double of the season. The production drain from Dowd alone — scoring and rebounding — represents more than most Sun Belt teams lose in an entire offseason.

Victor Valdes (Georgia Tech) — 14.8 PPG, 4.5 APG in 33 games. All-Sun Belt Third Team. Eight 20-point games. Followed Cross to Atlanta.

Cooper Campbell (Liberty) — 12.5 PPG, 4.2 APG, 1.6 SPG in 34 games.

Cobi Campbell (Liberty) — 9.0 PPG in 33 games. Left with his brother.

Javen Colbert (destination TBD) — Freshman guard. Played 19 games. Entered the portal with three years of eligibility remaining.

Signing class:

Haiden Harper — Four-star guard from the November 2025 signing class. Flipped his commitment to Georgia Tech on April 9, following Cross.

Head coach:

Scott Cross (Georgia Tech) — 125-99 in seven seasons at Troy. Five straight 20-win seasons. Back-to-back Sun Belt regular season and tournament championships. Back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2025-26.

The arrivals

Howard has two confirmed portal additions and a high school signee still committed following the coaching change. He's building from a foundation of returning players who were role players under Cross — now elevated to primary roles.

Transfer portal:

Robert Davis Jr. (Old Dominion) — G, 6-6. Made 116 three-pointers in 2024-25 — eighth nationally — setting Old Dominion's single-season record while leading the country in three-point attempts (348). Named the 2025-26 Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year entering his junior season at ODU. Scored in double figures 28 times and posted eight 20-point games during his breakout year, including a career-high 32 against ULM. Howard called him "an elite shot maker with great positional size." Davis gives Troy a proven perimeter weapon — the kind of shooter who forces defenses to account for him on every possession.

Romain Valakou (BCM Gravelines Dunkerque U21, France) — Combo G, 6-4. Averaged 20.5 PPG in the French Espoirs ELITE League — second in the league in scoring — with 5.4 RPG and 3.6 APG. Member of the French U18 national team. Howard said Valakou "has positional size as a combo guard and his versatility as a scorer and a playmaker will allow him to have an immediate impact on our program." Signed May 20.

• Jacoi Hutchinson (Longwood, previously George Washington) — G, 6-3. 12.3 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.2 APG at Longwood in 2025-26. Spent two seasons at George Washington before transferring to Longwood. Originally from Bradenton, Fla. (IMG Academy). Signed May 21.

High school:

Tucker Wadsworth (Enterprise HS, Auburn, Ala.) — G, 6-1. Averaged 11.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 2.1 APG across three varsity seasons. Three-time Best Offensive Player at Enterprise. Remained committed through the coaching change.

Willie Piggott Jr. (Arizona Compass Prep / Tampa Catholic HS) — G: Piggott played the majority of his high school career at Tampa Catholic, where he was named District 3A Player of the Year for 2024-25 and earned All-County honors. He eclipsed 1,000 career points by the end of his junior season. He spent his final prep year at Arizona Compass Prep, whose squad earned the No. 1 seed in the Chipotle Nationals before falling to Montverde Academy in the semifinals. Howard said Piggott brings “a toughness and a competitive spirit to him that you don’t always find in young guys at this stage of their careers” and called him “as versatile as anyone we have in our program.”

Of Troy's four November 2025 signees, Harper flipped to Georgia Tech and Wadsworth is confirmed. The status of Kaleb Corbitt (F, 6-8, Miami Country Day) and Quintin Mansfield (F, 6-7, Gainesville HS, Ga.) has not been confirmed publicly.

Returners:

Jerrell Bellamy — C, 6-9, 235. 7.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG in 34 games. Stepped into the starting lineup when Theo Seng went down with a knee injury in February and delivered — 18.5 PPG and 3 blocks per game across two Sun Belt Tournament games, earning All-Tournament honors. Rising senior. Bellamy is the clearest example of a role player ready for a larger role.

Theo Seng — C, 6-9, 225. 12.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG in 28 games before a knee injury shelved him for six games. Returned for the NCAA Tournament game against Nebraska. Graduate student — eligibility status for 2026-27 has not been confirmed. If Seng returns, Troy has its most productive returning scorer and a tested interior presence. If not, the frontcourt gap widens.

Austin Cross — G, 6-3, 200. Redshirt freshman. The son of Scott Cross, he stayed at Troy when his father left for Georgia Tech.

Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow — G, 6-2, 185. Senior. First cousin of NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Came to Troy from Toronto Metropolitan, where he averaged 12.5 PPG and 4.6 APG in 24 starts.

Kerrington Kiel — F, 6-5, 195. Sophomore from Birmingham.

Evan Griffin — F, 6-9, 230. Redshirt freshman from Geneva, Ala. One of the few players on the roster with size to play the 4 or 5.

The targets

Davis, Valakou and Hutchinson give Howard three portal additions with proven scoring punch, but Troy's portal rebuild isn't finished. Howard still needs additional frontcourt depth — and the portal window is closing.

"Every day is a challenge in terms of building a roster, getting your staff in place and taking your time to make sure you get it right," Howard told the Troy Messenger.

The core of the pitch is the same pitch Howard made at his press conference: development, opportunity and a program with championship equity. Troy has won four conference championships in two years. The infrastructure is real. The brand is established. For a portal prospect weighing options, the sell is that Howard's track record — Nebraska's rise, NC State's recent run — suggests he can develop talent, and the roster is wide open for immediate playing time.

But the math is the math. Troy lost 50.7 points per game from four players, its head coach and a four-star signee. Howard won a championship here nine years ago as an assistant. Now he has to rebuild from the rubble of one — as the head coach, this time.

George closed the presser with the right framing: "My favorite championship is our next championship."

Howard closed it with his own: "We're going to show up. We're going to keep our promises. We're going to appreciate what we have, and we'll make no excuses."