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No program in all of college athletics faces the challenges that Chicago State currently faces. Its’ not just their basketball program, but their entire athletic department. They are the only D1 college basketball Independent. Without the benefit of a built in conference schedule it makes scheduling and playing games in the second half of the season extremely challenging, and perhaps damn near impossible. Being an Independent probably also makes recruiting exceptionally challenging. While Chicago State isn’t on probation like the transitional schools are, they also don’t have the opportunity that literally EVERY OTHER DI1 PROGRAM HAS of playing in a conference who’s champion automatically qualifies for the NCAA Tournament and who’s first place team automatically qualifies for the NIT.
You know what, though? Having said all that, the value of this program has been growing since the arrival of Head Coach Gerald Gillon two years ago. In the season prior to Gillon’s arrival, they won zero games, and they had not won more than 6 since the 2013-2014 season. An 11-20 overall record may not seem that exciting, but for a program that I would have ranked at the very bottom of all of D1 just 24 months ago AND who has to face challenges that no other D1 program has to face, that’s actually a REMARKABLE improvement. They don’t get to play many home games, they have to front-load their schedule because teams aren’t available once conference play gets going, but despite all that they’ve been able to improve. They were a top 300 team in the metrics last year. That means they outperformed over 60 programs who two years ago were better than they were and that have far bigger advantages than they do.
As for this year’s team, three starters are back! That’s a good retention rate for a team in their situation! Wesley Cardet averaged over 16ppg and is a good outside shooter. Jahsean Corbett was also a double digit scorer. Matt Bewley and Ryan Bewley are twins who make up a pretty solid frontcourt. This is a program that is getting noticeably better and whose expectations are getting noticeably higher!!! We will likely see more improvement from them this year!!
So let me step up onto my soapbox for a second…
When you look at the Under the Radar conferences that are in their geographic area, I would argue that Chicago State would be an asset to anyone who would invite them to join. They’re a D1 program in the Chicago market. They’re a D1 program that has improved over 60 spots in the KenPom metrics and in the NET over the past two years, and is giving every indication that they will continue to improve. The Summit League, the Ohio Valley, the Horizon League, and even the Missouri Valley ALL have MULTIPLE teams that Chicago State is currently outperforming. To say that they would be an anchor that would bring down the overall level of play in the conference would be incorrect. Perhaps that was the case two years ago, but it is NOT the case anymore!! They would be an ASSET to those conferences, especially the OVC, Summit, and Horizon Leagues. I hope they get the chance to become members of an AQ conference.