Xavier Silas could be a lot higher on this list, but the NBA hopeful is slotted at No. 5 for his role on a nine-win team that lost its head coach in the immediate aftermath of an atrocious season.

Early on in the NIU men’s basketball 2010-11 season, Silas couldn’t be stopped. With a 40-point effort against UIC on Dec. 14, he pushed his scoring average to 28.3 points a game. The performance made Silas the nation’s top scorer, leapfrogging then-leader Kemba Walker. Silas lasted a little over a week as the country’s leading scorer and hovered around the top three for the majority of the season.

A cold stretch of games and a late-season ankle injury whittled Silas’ scoring average to 22.3, still the best of any player in the Mid-American Conference. In the MAC Player of the Year voting, though, Silas received only one vote, confusing the MAC’s top scorer to no end.

Now with the focus on a future in the NBA, Silas is currently in Las Vegas, Nevada, training with former NIU assistant coach Sundance Wicks. Silas is living in a condo on the Las Vegas strip and couldn’t be happier to be away from the negative situation he left.

“That season is in the past,” Silas said. “I don’t have to think about it, nor do I choose to.”

Several NBA teams have contacted Silas, and in preparation for the June draft, he is training six hours a day with Wicks. The former Huskie doesn’t have much time to talk these days, focusing specifically on his path to the top of the basketball world.

“I’m in full stride on my journey,” he said.