Northwestern State had another decade in which the Demons earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament, making it as a No. 14 seed against Florida in 2013. Here is the All-Decade team I created from Northwestern State players.
Point Guards: Jalan West, Shamir Davis, Devon Baker
Jalan was a beast from the second he stepped on the floor. Primarily coming off the bench, West scored 10 points per contest and his 5.16 assists per game average is tops in school history for a freshman. He only got better from there. West averaged 19.4 and 20 points per game as a sophomore and junior, respectively. As his scoring average went up, so did his assist average, as he averaged 6.4 and 7.7 helpers per game in those two seasons. He holds several Demons single-season records, including assists, steals and 3-pointers made. Jalan did it all. He could shoot, he could drive, creating for others and defend. West is a deserving player to be not only the starting point guard on the All-Decade team, but the Player of the Decade as well.
While Jalan was getting his feet wet in college basketball, Shamir Davis was the player who led the Demons to that NCAA Tournament in 2013. In the Southland Tournament Championship, Davis poured in 19 points en route to the 68-66 win over Stephen F. Austin, as well as being named the tournament's most outstanding player. Davis' best season came as a junior when he averaged more than 13 points per game and shot 45.5 percent from the field. Shamir started every game in his last two seasons, leading the Demons to the NCAA Tournament as a senior.
Devon Baker only played one year in the decade, but that season was good enough to put him on this list. His 15.5 points were second on the team and his two assists were second on the team, only to Shamir Davis. His 41.4 percent shooting from deep as a senior ranks 17th in school history (min. 60 att.). He dropped a career-high 31 against in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana and poured in 24 at Assembly Hall against Indiana.
Shooting Guards: Zeek Woodley, Louis Ellis
Zeek Woodley was the only choice for the starting shooting guard. As a sophomore, the Pelican, Louisiana, standout scored 711 points, which is still a program record. He followed that up by scoring 622 points as a junior, which is sixth-most in Demons history for a single season. Woodley stands as the all-time scoring leader in NSU history and one of just two players (Billy Reynolds) to score 2,000 points in the history of the program. He was not just a great scorer, but he was efficient as well. When you think of a high-scoring guard, shooting 46-48 percent is pretty good. Woodley shot 55.6 percent in his four-year career and finished above 50 percent in all four years. Zeek was also deadly from deep, having shot more than 40 percent in three of his four seasons......and the only one he didn't, he shot 39.8 percent. Not bad. His 3-point percentage of 43.55 percent as a senior ranks third in school history. Coach Mike McConathy has said that Zeek is the best shooter in NSU history. Despite being 6-2, he played the post occasionally and guarded down low as well due to how strong he is.
Ellis was a solid off-ball guard for the Demons, averaging nearly 10 points per game in his two seasons with the Demons. As a senior, Louis trailed only Shamir Davis in assists. He started 50 games in his two-year stint in Natchitoches, including starting 31 of the 32 games as a senior. As a junior, he was a threat from deep, shooting nearly 37 percent from 3-point territory and nearly 41 percent overall. He was a good player for the Demons and he take his place as the reserve shooting guard.
Small Forwards: Will Pratt, Nikos Chougkaz
Will Pratt only played one full year in the decade, but that year was such a good year that Pratt definitely deserves to be in this spot. As a senior, he averaged 17.8 points per game, which led the team. Despite shooting just 31 percent from 3-point land, Pratt shot higher than 50 percent overall due to the blistering 55 percent he shot from inside the arc. Pratt was a weapon off the bench, as he came off the bench about roughly half his games at NSU. Even though he only played two years in Natchitoches, he still almost reached 1,000 points.
Nikos is the only current player who is a member of the All-Decade team and could be on it again for this decade if he keeps it up. He scored nearly 10 points per game as a freshman in addition to averaging more than seven boards per game. Chougkaz's 210 rebounds were tied for the sixth most by a freshman in school history. Nikos was a solid player for the Demons in year one, but he can still get much better, which is scary for other Southland Conference teams.
Power Forwards: Ishmael Lane, DeQuan Hicks, Chudier Bile
Over the course of his four years at Northwestern State, Ish was a consistent force. He averaged double figures in all of his seasons. As he got older, his rebounding average increased each year, and he finished as a senior averaging 9.5 rebounds per game. Lane's 843 career rebounds is eighth in school history. As a senior, he had a string of seven consecutive double-doubles, earning him a Player of the Week honor in that period. He also was named First Team All-Southland Conference. Another big moment as a senior came against rival Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, when he finished the game on a buzzer-beater, giving NSU a 61-59 win. He was good offensively and could drive the ball well for a big guy and he could step put and hit jumpers, so you had to respect his inside and outside game. Ish was tremendous defensively, as evidenced by 69 blocks in his final season. The final two years, he was the Demons main threat offensively, but he still averaged 13-14 points a game on better than 50 percent shooting. He was one of the most underrated players in the conference this decade.
The Wisconsin native transferred in prior to the 2012-13 season and made an immediate impact. In his first year with the Demons, he averaged 14 points per game, despite mainly coming off the bench. His 14 per came on 58.3 percent shooting, which ranks 14th in school history for a single season. In that first year, he led the team in scoring and helped the Demons make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. He scored in double figures in all but three games in 2012-13, including 13 in the conference tournament championship against Stephen F. Austin. As a senior, he scored 15.1 points per game, which was second on the team, and his 226 rebounds were tops on the team, helping NSU finish with another winning record and fourth place finish in the Southland Conference. His two-year Demons career, which he averaged 14.6 points per game, made him a worthy candidate for inclusion onto this team.
Bile only played one season with the Demons, but it was good enough for him to make the All-Decade team. He led the team in points (399), rebounds (213) and blocks (41) for a team that finished tied for fourth in the conference. With those numbers, Chudi earned himself a Second Team All-Southland Conference selection. On the road against league-leading Nicholls in January, Bile drilled a game-winning triple, but his finest moment came two months later against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the conference tournament. In the 79-62 win, NSU trailed big early in the first half, but Bile put the team on his back and carried the team back from the early deficit to set the stage for a big win. In the game, NSU trailed by as many as 14 in the first, but Bile scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half to help capture the lead going into the break. Overall, he shot 48 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from 3-point land.
Centers: William Mosley, Marvin Frazier
This was an easy choice as the starting center. William Mosley is one of the best shot blockers in NCAA history. Mosley was not a huge scoring threat, but he didn't need to be. As a senior, he averaged a career-best 11.7 points per game. When he did shoot, there was a good chance the ball was going in. In terms of shooting percentage, Mosley had two of the three best seasons and three of the top 10 in school history. But defense and rebounding was his calling card. Will holds three of the top 20 rebounding seasons in program history and averaged at least 8.5 rebounds per contest every season in his four-year career. Mosley was a prolific shot blocker from the moment he stepped on campus. As a freshman, he had 76 blocks, but it only improved from there. That goes to show you how impressive he was at blocking shots. As a matter of fact, that "low" number of 76 blocks ranks sixth in school history for a single season. By the time his career was overwith, he ranked fifth in NCAA history with 456 rejections, sandwiched in between two Hall of Famers, Tim Duncan and Alonzo Mourning. All four of his seasons are ranked in the top six in Demons history for blocks, including three of the top four. This is a well-deserved spot on the All-Decade team.
The final person on this team is Marvin Frazier. Like Mosley, Frazier was never a big scorer, but he was a good shot blocker and a solid rebounder. As a senior, he averaged 8.2 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game, starting 20 games in that season. Frazier blocked 148 shots his last three seasons, all three in the top 15 for a single season in program history. His 160 blocks would be tops at many schools, but Frazier ranks third in NSU history in that category. Having a pair of rim protectors on this team make it dangerous for any big who would have to score inside on this duo.
Player of the Decade: Jalan West
Head Coach: Mike McConathy
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