No. 5 – Southern Illinois Edwardsville Cougars
The most important news of the Cougars’ offseason was the return of all-OVC guard Ray’Sean Taylor. The senior has amassed 1,314 points during his time in Edwardsville and is the unquestioned ‘face of the program’. While he has battled knee injuries his entire career, he has been a mainstay in Brian Barone’s building project.
After never posting a winning season in its Division 1 history, Barone’s team won 19 games in 2022-23 and ONLY 17 last year. In other words, the program is on firm footing.
Graduation hit SIUE hard. The Wright twins (Lamar and Shamar) played on all five of Barone’s teams (a covid season benefit) and rewrote much of the Cougar D1 record book. All OVC guard Damarco Minor left via the portal (Oregon State).
Returners Desmond Polk, Eddie Tirado, Arnas Sakenis, Brian Taylor II, and Jordan Pickett look to fill some of that void. Brian Taylor (Ray’Sean’s cousin) and Pickett played behind Ray’Sean Taylor and Minor last season, but the younger guards are ready to play more significant roles.
The 6’11 Sakenis is a work in progress, but has improved each season and could be very competitive in the Cougar post.
Barone landed some outstanding junior college players, one D1 transfer and two non-D1 players of note. Ring Malith may be the jewel of this recruiting class. Named the thirtieth best junior college player, he averaged 12.2 points and 4.6 rebounds for a 36-1 Barton Community College team. Malith is a 6’9 wing from The Sudan.
Malith’s teammate Myles Thompson actually had better numbers (14 points and 6.7 rebounds) than Malith and is now a Cougar. He and highly ranked Jordan Hamilton (Southern Idaho) are both 6’7 or taller and can work inside and out.
NAIA transfer Jo Valrie was a double-double machine for National Park College and D2 transfer Declan Dillon comes from a basketball playing family. His twin brother plays at Bradley and his younger brother is at Belmont.
Forward Kyle Thomas returns to the OVC after a year at Bradley. The 6’10 forward played his freshman season at Eastern Illinois.
SIUE has good size up front and one of the OVC’s best backcourts. This ranking might be too low.