AUSTIN, Texas — In an athletic, physical conference where any night can turn into a slugfest, St. Edward's men's basketball coach Andre Cook sees the game as a dance. A series of interconnected cuts, screens, and reads keeps five players moving together.
For the past two seasons, that choreography has carried the Hilltoppers to the Big Dance.
Consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances have established a standard on the Hilltop. St. Edward's finished 25-9 last season, including 13-7 in Lone Star Conference play. Now, the Hilltoppers must replace nearly two-thirds of their scoring and much of their playmaking after seniors BLAKE NIELSEN, JAMISON KAY, and MASON COURTNEY graduated, and RYDER BRADLEY transferred to Division I.
"There are four starters, so we have a lot of spots to fill," Cook said. "Obviously, you have CONOR MCMANUS back, so it's a great place to start. And SEAN ELKINTON has come back."
Sustaining success beyond one core group is a defining test of a program. The Hilltoppers begin that process with fifth-year senior McManus, a cultural touchstone connecting the previous group to the next, and Elkinton, a gifted power forward returning to where his collegiate career started after two years playing Division I.
Around them are returning players ready for greater responsibility, experienced transfers, and freshmen learning how their strengths fit together.
"The cliché is you've got to get the right guys on the bus, and then you've got to get them in the right seats," Cook said. "I feel we have the right guys on the bus. It's this process of trying to figure out the right seats. We're not there yet."
Elkinton gives that process an established focal point. The 6-foot-8 graduate forward earned first-team All-LSC honors in each of his first two seasons on the Hilltop, averaging 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds as a sophomore while shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.
He returns with 970 points and 513 rebounds in a St. Edward's uniform, reconnecting with the relationships that made the Hilltop a natural destination.
"Just knowing that this is a place where I can come back and be set up to achieve what I want to achieve for my goals after this, especially with a coach that I have a great relationship with, and then obviously teammates that I have great relationships with, too, in a great city," Elkinton said. "There are a lot of things that line up for that, and so it was an easy choice."
Elkinton combines a large frame that can set good screens, seal off defenders, and crash the glass with a sweet shooting touch that extends to the 3-point line. Moving in and out of the primary actions while commanding multiple defenders' attention, he can be a crowbar that pries defenses open in the paint or a magnet that pulls them out to the perimeter.
Turning that attention into opportunities for teammates has been part of his preseason work.
"Especially practicing early on, I've been more of an assist man and finding open guys," Elkinton said. "We've been bringing doubles in practice and all that stuff to kind of help me prepare for that."
Elkinton's original roommate at the Hilltop, McManus, gives him a familiar perimeter target and Cook an experienced voice on the court.
The Austin native started all 34 games last season, making a team-high 85 3-pointers while averaging 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds. His 72 assists and only 21 turnovers showed dependable decision-making alongside his shooting.
"CONOR MCMANUS is such a throwback," Cook said. "Five years, I can't believe we've been together so long. His type is not the norm anymore."
With 200 career 3-pointers on 38.7 percent shooting, McManus is an elite movement shooter at the NCAA Division II level. Cook can play his off-ball gravity against Elkinton's interior presence, creating seams for the rest of St. Edward's offense to thread.
McManus has also worked to expand what happens when defenders take away his initial shot.
"Definitely just being able to do more off the dribble," McManus said. "If they're chasing me off now, I'll have the ability to take a dribble, take two dribbles, score, get my teammates open, trying to be multidimensional."
ROBERT CONRAD offers a different way to unsettle a defense. While the Hilltopper system is built on sound positional defense and heavy ball movement, the undersized guard provides an improvisational burst, pressuring opposing ball handlers and creating off the dribble to get into the lane.
Conrad averaged 7.3 points in 18.6 minutes per game last season, shooting 50.8 percent and collecting 36 steals. His next step is learning when to inject that speed and when to let the offense develop around him.
"I feel like my athleticism translated really well, but coming into this year, I'm coming more on the mental side, and I've really developed that part of my game," Conrad said.
His case for an expanded role still begins with the defensive energy that earned him minutes last season.
"I feel like defensively is what gets me on the court the most," Conrad said. "My speed and athleticism help, but that's only if I use it for the right things. Defensively, I feel like that's something that you can take pride in as a small guard. So that's really what I take pride in."
Junior forward SAM MCKINNEY supplies another kind of energy. In his second season, he cut back on 3-point attempts in favor of trying to dunk everything, becoming a spark off the bench with a more aggressive approach around the basket.
McKinney averaged 5.9 points and 4.0 rebounds, shot 52.9 percent, and recorded 23 blocks. His ability to finish inside gives the Hilltoppers another way to capitalize on the space Elkinton and McManus create.
The transfers add experience while helping address the biggest question facing Cook's offense.
"Point guard play, point guard play," Cook said when asked what would unlock the team's potential. "Right now, we're working through that."
PARKER HANNAH arrives after three seasons and 90 appearances at Central Oklahoma. He started 30 of 31 games last season, averaging 8.6 points in 30.8 minutes and making 46 3-pointers. Now, he is learning to organize Cook's offense while finding his own opportunities within it.
"I like having to have a standard and trying to exceed it and go past it," Hannah said. "Definitely just bringing leadership and being a good role model for some of these guys and just getting after it every day. I think if we just stick to the right things, we're going to have a really successful season."
CAMDEN COWGILL brings size and a coach's son's understanding of the game after averaging 7.8 points at West Texas A&M. His feel for reading the floor could earn him opportunities on the ball, initiating actions and finding teammates within the motion offense.
JACKSON THOELE adds another scoring option after averaging 15.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in three games at Sul Ross State before his season was cut short.
Together, those pieces give Cook several ways to create an advantage. The task is connecting them consistently, especially when a defense withstands the initial movement and the shot clock winds down.
"I think we feel good about our early offense. I think we feel good about our half-court offense," Cook said. "How are we going to score when the shot clock is 10 and under? I think we're working through that and trying to figure that out."
Elkinton can draw help inside. McManus can occupy defenders away from the ball. Conrad can penetrate, McKinney can finish, and the newcomers can help keep possessions moving. Their effectiveness will depend on recognizing how one player's action creates the next player's opening.
"That's our lane for success. That's how we need to play to be successful," Cook said. "I'm not going to back off of how we play. But I also know it's new to everybody. I know their frustrations. I know where they're coming from."
Defensively, continuity under assistant coach Nelson Terroba gives the group an established framework while those offensive relationships develop.
"When he's running the defense, I literally could walk out of practice," Cook said. "For that timeframe in practice, he's running it. I really become the assistant coach when we're working on our defensive side."
Elkinton sees that foundation as essential to turning the team's offensive options into consistent results.
"We have a really nice defensive system, too, under Terroba, and we're adapting to that really well," Elkinton said. "If we can play defense at an elite level, combined with—I know we're going to score points, and there will be so many different ways to score the ball—I think combining all that will be really good for us."
St. Edward's opens Oct. 30 against Hawaii Pacific in an eight-team tournament in Honolulu. The Hilltoppers host St. Thomas on Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. before traveling to face Colorado Mesa and Colorado Christian on Nov. 13-14. Conference play begins Dec. 3 at Western New Mexico.
Those early games will help establish roles and build the shared experience the Hilltoppers will need when conference possessions become more demanding.
"In this league, where every game is going down to the last four minutes, all of that camaraderie you're going to need," Cook said.
McManus sees a group ready to learn together.
"Everyone's just willing to learn, willing to compete," McManus said. "No one is bigger than the team, which I really appreciate."
The steps will take time to become familiar. With a different cast learning to move together, St. Edward's will try to find the rhythm that keeps it dancing into March.
