WELCOME TO THE METRO. MIND THE STAGS.

Welcome to Metro basketball, where the new name arrives with two enormous loose ends. Fairfield is leaving for the CAA after this season, and Quinnipiac is waiting to learn whether Asim Jones will be allowed to come back. Either story could decide who cuts down the nets in Atlantic City. Fairfield has the cleanest foundation. Declan Wucherpfennig averaged 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds as a freshman, and Qadir Martin arrives from Mercyhurst after posting 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and an NEC-best 2.4 blocks. That pairing can own the glass and erase mistakes around the rim. The reconstruction is split across two parts of the roster. Braden Sparks and Deuce Turner take 25.6 points and 137 made threes out of the backcourt. Brandon Benjamin was a 6-foot-8 forward, and losing his 14.2 points, league-leading 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks removes a second interior star. Eric Mejia, Tony Williams and the freshman guards must replace Sparks's creation, while Martin, Marko Radunovic and Isaac Munkadi help Wucherpfennig absorb Benjamin's work up front. Then there is Asim Jones, the Metro's most consequential maybe. Jones announced in early August that he would return after a court ruling opened a fifth season to players who started college in 2022. An appeals court later paused that order, and Quinnipiac has not yet added him to its published roster. Everyone in the league is waiting. Jones averaged 12.5 points and 3.9 assists, buried 46.4 percent of his threes and scored 30 against Manhattan. Put him back in Tom Pecora's lineup and the Bobcats get the league's best proven point guard, the organizer for a rebuilt perimeter and our Player of the Year favorite. Lucas Sekasi and Tayeshawn Cunningham-Pemberton become secondary creators instead of emergency replacements. If the door closes again, they inherit the hardest job in the conference and Keith McKnight has to become the hub of the offense. Merrimack remains the team nobody enjoys preparing for, but Tye Dorset's torn ACL changes the scale of the problem in North Andover. The injury came in the Metro championship game and will keep the Warriors' best returning guard out all season, stripping 11.7 points, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals from a roster that had already lost Kevair Kennedy and Ernest Shelton. Todd Brogna is now the essential holdover, the passer and defensive organizer who can keep Joe Gallo's hybrid intact while Jeremiah Anderson, Denver Anglin and AJ Lesburt build a new perimeter hierarchy around him. Eli Wilborn gives them a finisher and another rebounder, but the burden has shifted. The system will still steal possessions. Merrimack's season now depends on whether a new guard group can turn that disruption into dependable offense and whether the frontcourt can finish possessions on the glass. Fifth feels more honest than first, even for a program nobody will want to draw in Atlantic City. Iona brings the cleanest shooting plan. Kevon Vanderhorst can organize lineups with Luke Jungers and Martin Kheil around several different centers, giving Dan Geriot room to hunt favorable matchups. Siena, the defending tournament champion, is almost starting over under Nevada Smith, with Tan Yildizoglu, Pace Prosser and an international freshman class carrying the transition. Manhattan added two huge junior-college producers in Anthony Pacciarelli and Isaac Johnson. Marist kept its defensive compass in Jadin Collins-Roberts and found scoring at several levels. Saint Peter's still wants every game played in traffic, while Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart and Niagara each have enough length to ambush a favorite. The first Metro season will not wait for the legal picture or new roles to become tidy. Fairfield has the strongest certainty. Quinnipiac owns the biggest possible upgrade. Merrimack guarantees that nobody gets to play a normal game. Atlantic City will reward the team that settles its unanswered questions before March forces the issue.