Approximately 3.6 percent of high school basketball players go on to play in college at any level. So, the odds of two members of the same family making it — let alone playing for the same team — makes Madison College’s Rauls brothers, Ceegan and Cullen, a near impossibility.
Add on top of that, both of them can really ball.
At 6-foot, 1-inch and second on the team in scoring you have sophomore Cullen Rauls, a shifty ball handler with the ability to pass, shoot, and take it to the basket through contact. Not far behind in age, height, or ability is freshman Ceegan Rauls: a more traditional point guard with a muscular frame that makes him not just a tough guard for his often-skinnier opposition, but also one of the team’s premier on-ball defenders.
“He’s the biggest hack on the team,” said Cullen through a grin when the topic of one-on-one comes up. “You get to the rim, you get tackled. He’ll be like, ‘there’s no foul.’ and it’s like, I’m on the ground bro…” He goes on to assert, “I credit my own being tough to him, you know. Just him hacking the crap out of me.”
Many of their interactions carry this same theme: what seems at first to be competitive, typical adversarial brothers, but underneath it always a mutual respect and camaraderie. When it comes to the silly things, like who’s better at video games or golf, they push back on each other, jostling for that top spot. But when it comes to the basketball team, they’re quick to gas each other up.
“We both shoot 38 percent, so it really just matters who’s got a better shot,” said Cullen when asked which of them is better off shooting the game-winning three.
The road to Madison College was a winding one for both brothers, defined by twists, turns, and obstacles that each had to overcome. Cullen broke his leg in high school, forcing him to work twice as hard just to get through the rehab to make it back on the court, let alone play college basketball.
But with every curse comes a blessing, as Cullen’s injury provided Ceegan the minutes and space he may not have otherwise gotten to take over as their high school’s starting point guard as only a sophomore.
Being a year older, Cullen went off to college initially at Western Technical College in La Crosse. Meanwhile Ceegan, having an All-Star season at Fall River High School averaging nearly 18 points a game with a 1.55 assist-to-turnover ratio, was fielding offers from schools in Indiana and Minnesota in addition to Madison College.
But in another twist of fate, Western Tech cut their basketball program entirely due to funding issues, and with Madison College just a short drive from their childhood home in Fall River, the opportunity to link up again as teammates, this time at the collegiate level, presented itself.
“Feels great to have him back,” said Ceegan of his brother following the WolfPack’s 103-84 playoff win over Carl Sandburg College this previous Thursday. “We’ve been lacking a little bit scoring these past few games, but I feel like we’re all coming back now…everybody stepped up tonight.”
That win came after a six-game losing streak where the team only broke 70 points once. While there were many factors at play in that multi-week stretch, having Cullen sidelined with an ankle injury since late January played a part. Having him return without missing a beat, shooting 5-7 and chipping in 12 points to a game where it seemed like the whole team was getting whatever they wanted on offense, certainly was a welcome change of pace.
Now that the playoffs have arrived, a bittersweet reality has set in, both for the boys and their parents Aliesha and Dale who watch from the sideline: each time they take the court together could be their last time doing so, in uniform and at this level. Thursday’s game featured each brother contributing highlight plays well worth remembering, though.
Ceegan, leaking out on a fast break, received an outlet pass just above the three-point line, and instinctively threw a flawless alley-oop pass to teammate Theo Schofield who threw down the dunk with both hands. “I couldn’t explain it. I thought I threw it a little too high, but it turned out perfect,” he said.
Meanwhile Cullen, slicing through traffic in the paint, threw a sharp bounce-pass to the cutting JP Pleasant, the Wolfpack’s leading scorer that night with 23 and for the season at 14.8. What happened next is frankly anyone’s guess, as the ball bounced seemingly off a defender’s foot only to float perfectly into the hoop, drawing laughter and gasps from the crowd as people sprung to their feet in elated bewilderment. And that was only one of his many buckets that night, the most impressive of which was a slashing drive from right-to-left, finishing with an extremely difficult and graceful spin-move into reverse lay-up with his back to the basket.
It’s a shame that life’s greatest memories only make themself known in retrospect, that you can’t know these were the good old days until they’ve already passed.
When asked what lies ahead for them, or if they’ll ever play for the same team again, Cullen offered the same philosophy that he’s used to battle through injury and push himself to being the best basketball player he can possibly become in hopes of playing more college basketball and even professionally overseas. “Whatever God has in store for us,” he said.