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

5. Jalen Cannon

While it’s disappointing that St. Francis Brooklyn abandoned their athletics program this offseason, we can still focus on their history, and they had one of this league’s most exciting frontcourt players of the decade. Cannon is a 6’6 forward from Allentown, Pennsylvania who came to New York back in 2011. He carved out his role in the lineup by his sophomore season and turned into quite the monster as an upperclassman.

As a junior, he helped guide the Terriers to an 18-win season by averaging 14.9 points and 8.2 rebounds a game, including a double-double in their season-opening upset win at Miami. His senior season was even more impressive for all involved. Cannon would average 16.1 points and 10.5 rebounds, becoming a double-double machine who took St. Francis to the regular season title in the NEC, though they’d come up short in the conference tournament. Still, a 23-win season and trip to the NIT wasn’t bad consolation.

Cannon was one of the nation’s best offensive rebounders late in his career and was named NEC Player of the Year as a senior. He was one of his league’s best-scoring forwards and by far the most talented rebounder, especially after averaging a double-double in that final campaign. Cannon was a monstrous weapon on both sides of the ball for the Terriers and made a quality impact at St. Francis; it’s just a shame that nobody will follow in his footsteps a decade later.