Preseason MVP: Myles Smith is the team’s leading scorer and best 3-pointer shooter. After averaging 13.5 points per game, the guard will be asked to take his game up a notch his senior season.

The Ceiling: After piecing together a 14-win campaign, the Islanders look like a squad that could finish in the top half of the Southland Conference standings if things fall in place. That would assure the team of playing in the league tournament, where they would get a swing at earning an NCAA berth or a minor tournament bid.

The Floor: With so much depending on newcomers for this team, it could struggle finding its chemistry. Another thing: This team is top-heavy with guards. If an inside game is not established, the Islanders could sink to the lower half of the league standings and miss the postseason altogether.

 

Projected Starting Five:

Myles Smith
G | 6-0 | Sr. | Klein, Texas

Jordan Hairston
G | 6-0 | So. | Centreville, Va.

Cyrie Coates Jr.
G | 6-6 | Jr. | Philadelphia, Pa.

Simeon Fryer
G | 6-5 | Jr. | Philadelphia, Pa.

Rasheed Browne
G | 6-2 | Jr. | Philadelphia, Pa.

Willis Wilson
Head Coach

 

Game of the Year: Stephen F. Austin

First-Year Impact Player: Rasheed Browne

 

Season Preview

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the only team to hand a dominant Stephen F. Austin a league loss last season, aims for more consistency behind a roster that consists of its top two scorers, some other veterans and a handful of newcomers.

The Islanders were fair to partly cloudy in their last campaign, going 14-18 overall and 10-10 in the conference.

The highlight was a one-point road victory against SFA. Nobody could have seen that one coming.

How can the Islanders go from being a flash-in-the-pan to a threat to the tops teams in the league in every game? Not just here or there.

This team is not unlike a ton of other Division I programs. There are some impressive returners, but so much is yet to be determined because a handful of newcomers will have to hit the ground running.

The two guards who veteran coach Wilson Willis will build his team around are senior Myles Smith and sophomore guard Jordan Hairston.

Smith (13.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) had an impressive 97 assists and 37 assists and was money at the free throw line, hitting 86 percent of his tries.

Hairston (12.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg) was a consistent scorer and added 26 steals.

Also among the vets are guard Nolan Bertain (6.4 ppg,2.3 rpg), guard Jalen White (2.5 ppg), forward Perry Francois (3.5 ppg) and Jovae Lampkins (3.1 ppg).

Bertain, formerly of UAB, knocked down 45 three-pointers last season. Lampkins added 19 three-pointers.

As far as the newcomers, the Islanders coaching staff obviously thought Community College of Beaver County, a junior college in Pennsylvania, had some gems. Coming in from the north are guards Cyrie Coates, Simeon Fryer and Rasheed Browne.

Coates averaged 11 points, 7.3 boards and 4.2 assists as a sophomore. Fryer provided 12.6 points and 5.2 rebounds and shot 81 percent at the free throw stripe. Browne nearly averaged a double-double by averaging 13.9 points and 9.6 assists.

Other first-timers are forward De'Lazarus Keys from Florida Southwestern State College and Evan Smith, who sat out last season at Corpus Christi after transferring from Kansas Wesleyan.

Will the Islanders be relevant late in the season?

They have a bevy of guards who are proven scorers, which suggests Wilson's team may be more uptempo than grip and grind.

One thing is for certain. As tough as last season was for the Islanders, they were the only league team to defeat SFA, a 28-3 squad.

With some measure of improvement in this season to last, Willis' squad will should be respected.