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

9. Stephen Croone

Croone is a 6’0 guard from Covington, Georgia who was a full-time starter for four years at Furman. He joined the program back in 2012, meaning our focus today will start with his sophomore season. Fortunately, Croone took a major step forward as a sophomore, giving us three pretty successful years with the Paladins to consider.

As a sophomore, he averaged 19.1 points per game under new head coach Niko Medved, which included a 40-point performance in a win over Liberty. The Paladins would struggle in the league those next two seasons, though Croone would help them make a run in the 2015 SoCon Tournament. He’d average at least 17 points a game in those three seasons, but his senior year was certainly the standout. He led Furman to a 3rd place finish in the league and a massive turnaround in the process.

Croone earned Second Team All-SoCon honors during two dreadful seasons for Furman, but was named the league’s Player of the Year for leading that success in his senior season. He finished just shy of 2000 career points and was one of the SoCon’s top scorers in each of those three years, with decent steals numbers as well. Croone played his role well in Medved’s system and helped turn Furman into the much greater program we know today.