MAAC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

3. Jalen Pickett

Certainly known more recently for his heroics at Penn State, Pickett did begin his collegiate career in the MAAC. He joined Siena back in 2018 under new head coach Jamion Christian and would stay through his junior season, becoming quite the star for the Saints. Obviously, his star power would significantly rise in the Big Ten this past season, but those three years at Siena were still pretty special.

As a freshman, Pickett averaged 15.8 points and 6.7 assists, putting up extremely impressive numbers fresh out the gate. He led the Saints to a 2nd place finish in the MAAC and would have quite a leadership role while in the league. He had 46 points and 13 assists in a triple-overtime game against Quinnipiac. With similar stats, Pickett led Siena to top finishes in the MAAC regular season in each of the next two seasons, albeit a pair of years altered by the pandemic, but did play in the Big Dance while in the MAAC.

Pickett was named MAAC Rookie of the Year as a freshman, MAAC Player of the Year as a sophomore, and earned First Team honors in the league in all three seasons. He led the conference in assists per game in all three of those season and was a solid scorer and rebounder, becoming the total package during a successful run for the Saints. Pickett was recently a Second Team All-American for his production at Penn State, but we can’t forget those great early seasons at the mid-major level.