NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Alaska of last decade

5. Jeremiah Bailey – Pacific

Bailey left his hometown of Fairbanks to star at Pima College before winding up at Pacific in 2018. He played four seasons, including the extra-COVID year, for the Tigers, one of the seemingly forgotten teams in the WCC. Bailey was an important contributor during his four seasons, spending all but his sophomore year in the starting lineup.

The talented forward started 20 games his first season before settling into a bench role in his junior year. He got his third season at Pacific off to a hot start with a 25-point outburst against UC Riverside, settling into a starting role and averaging better than 11 points per game. In fact, in each of his final two seasons, he was averaging at least 6 rebounds a game as well.

Pacific really struggled this past season, but Bailey contributed to a pair of pretty solid Tigers teams before that, by far the highest-scoring forward on the roster the last two seasons. It’s hard for a team like Pacific to make much headway in this conference, but Bailey certainly helped move the needle, even if just for a couple of years. Named All-WCC Honorable Mention, he also had a pair of 20-point games near the end of his career as the struggling Tigers vied for positioning.