Entering the 2025-2026 season, the men’s basketball team is in a pivotal spot in time. For one, it is the first year that the team is eligible to compete in NCAA sponsored competitions, due to its past probationary period while transitioning to Division I of college athletics. Therefore, the team has no restraints for the accomplishments that it could achieve. On the other hand, the team has a long list of new additions to the team, as many of last year’s squad transferred. This has become a more and more commonplace occurrence in the general landscape of college athletics, which can be difficult waters to traverse. 

Last season, the team looked promising throughout the early and middle stages of the year. However, at one point in the middle late stage, the team was hit with a flurry of injuries. However, there was perhaps a more significant factor at play in the current landscape of college athletics and the transfer portal. 

Head Coach Stan Gouard told me, “We had guys last year, one foot in, one foot out, and they (student athletes) were thinking about the next paycheck. (The student athletes were thinking about) What can they do next year to make more money or get to a better league?” He added that some of the players probably used this school as a “stepping stone.” 

Gouard went on to say that it is hard until the team finds playersthat are “going to stick around and stay for the duration.” 

However, one thing that the team wanted to add was experience, athleticism and physicality; Some go-getters and grinders. 

Additions: 

As for additions, the team added a lot of experience with the six seniors and five junior transfers. There are only four underclassmen on the team, all of which are sophomores. 

Trey Thomas, senior guard, comes from Bethune-Cookman University of the Southwest Athletic Conference, which features historically black colleges and universities. Thomas averaged 11.2 ppg on 36.5% shooting from the field and 32.4% from deep. He will add shooting to this year’s team, as he led Bethune-Cookman University with 63 made three-pointers. 

Sheridan Sharp, junior guard from Southern Illinois University, will add a much-needed point guard to the team. Sharp’s advanced stats are good , as he had an assist percentage (percentage of shots that a player assisted on while on the court) of 22.9%, which led the team by more than 6% and his per 100 possessions assists ranked the highest on the team at 7.5. He will add a playmaking role that is a necessity on all basketball teams. 

Another addition to the point guard position is Ismail Habib, senior guard from Portland State University. Last season, he started seven games, averaging 8.7 ppg, and shot 35% from deep, before an injury ended his season prematurely. 

Cardell Bailey, senior guard, from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, joins the Screaming Eagles as well. Bailey averaged 8.4ppg on 38.4% shooting and 35.2% from deep. He was third on the team from threes, hitting 44 last season and was third in offensive rating with 105.2, over 100 possessions. At 6’6”, he provides a swingman to the Screaming Eagles, being able to play at both shooting guard and small forward. 

At the center, the team added Devin Curtis, junior forward, from California University. He will add valuable experience playing in both the Pac-12 and ACC conferences. While at Cal, having played there before and after the great exodus from the latter conference during the recent conference realignment in 2024. He missed most of last season due to an injury, so he will likely miss some of this season. With his 6’11” frame, he will add a much-needed anchor on defense to keep scoring at the rim to a limit. 

The team also added two players from within the Ohio Valley Conference, Ola Ajiboye, senior forward from Tennessee Tech and Steven Clay, senior guard/forward from Morehead State. Ajiboye averaged 4.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 1.0 blocks per contest last season. He will add a bit of versatility on both sides of the floor since he played forward for much of last season for the Golden Eagles, starting six games and playing in 32 games. 

Clay was a significant piece for last season’s Morehead State team, where he averaged 6.0 ppg, 3.4 rebounds, and ranked fourth in defensive and offensive rating, at 20.5 mpg. Clay will bring a significant boost to the defense while providing scoring when given the chance. These two players have played in the OVC, so they know what to expect from conference play, which is where last year’s Screaming Eagles took a bit of a dip in play. I would expect these two to play significant roles. 

Other transfers into the team include Tolu Samuels, junior forward from Triton College, who averaged 9.9 ppg and 7.9 rebounds per game. He’ll bring depth and athleticism at the big position. 

Kaden Brown, junior guard from Grand Valley State University, who played in 29 games last season, averaging 13.9 ppg, and shot nearly 40% from three, hitting a team high 82 threes. He’ll bring additional shooting to the team. 

Ben Ezeagu, senior forward from Appalachian State University, brings experience playing in a strong Sun Belt Conference, where he averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 6 games played. He’ll add more depth at center to the team. 

Amaree Brown, junior guard, from Oklahoma Panhandle State University, a college in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, where he averaged 17.8 ppg and 4.3 assists per game.

The final transfer is Alem Fejzic, sophomore guard from Frank Phillips College, who averaged 9.2 ppg and shot 38 percent from deep in 21.6 mpg. 

Returnees: 

The returnees to this year’s team feature Braxton Jones, senior guard, Josiah Dunham, sophomore guard, and Cayden Gehlhausen, sophomore forward. Therefore, there will likely be a bit of a learning curve with the team, as it goes without saying that basketball is played on a court, not on spreadsheets. 

Jones looks to build off an up-and-down season, where he averaged 5.6 ppg, on 32% shooting from the field and 31% from three, while playing 15.5 minutes per game. He entered last season with an injury, which seemed to have an impact on his development into the team’s playstyle. I look to him to be a major vocal leader of the team. From speaking with him, his personality and temperament resemble those of a natural leader. 

Jones said his team has “A lot of guys that just want to play basketball. We’ve got a lot of guys that come in and set our own scrimmages up,” He said. “We just got a lot of guys who love the game, and that’s just important.” 

When asked about what offense he wants the team to run, Jones told me that he wants to play a Chin Series, based on Pete Carril’s offense at Princeton from 1967-1996. Jones added that it’s based on instinct and reacting to the weaknesses that the defense produces. The chin set places the point guard and shooting guards in the slot position or behind the top of the key and behind the three-point line. The center sits at the elbow or the corner of the free-throw line and rotates to screen for the point guard or shooting guard, whichever has the ball. 

Alternatively, the center can also set a “ghost screen,” which is a fake screen that sets the player running towards the ball, but not stop and set the screen. This creates a bit of confusion for the defense and will either force a quick switch in order to defend both players, which will often get either of the players a good shot attempt or even an open attempt if the defense does not have a clean switch. However, the only problem with setting a ghost screen is that if the screener runs into the defender, they will be called for an illegal screen, which is a risk.  

The two forwards or wings in this case, will flank the center on both wings, beyond the three-point shot. The wing opposite of the center can cut to the basket as soon as the point guard uses the screen. The off-ball guard can rotate to his position to ensure that floor spacing is kept. 

Court graphic courtesy of Pinterest.  

As for the other returnees, Josiah Dunham played a rather important role as a freshman last season, playing 16.5 mpg, averaging 2.5 ppg. However, he was one of the more consistent defensive players from last season, which stems from his strong overall basketball IQ. Unfortunately, Dunham suffered an injury late in last season, which he is still recovering from. 

Gelhausen played in five games last season, but I look to see him develop and take a step up this season, especially as one of the four players who are taller than 6’8” on the team. If the team loses a couple of the bigger players, he could see considerable game time; therefore, it’s important to stay ready. 

For predicting the season, I think that the team has chosen and committed to a direction, which is a positive thing. 

As Marcus Tullius Cicero once said: “More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision.” 

The team wanted players that are committed to winning this season, which is a positive attribute when adding as many seniors as this team did. I’m probably going to hold off on a record prediction until I’ve actually watched the team play at least three to five games.