FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball 2013-14 schedule has been released by head coach
Gary Tuell.
Coach Tuell admits he would not last long in the bakery business. "I love breads, muffins and sweet rolls. I'd eat all the profits." But when it comes to scheduling games, the NSU men's basketball coach avoids cupcakes and cream puffs the way Sharks avoid "skinny" dippers. "There's a lot of meat on this schedule and not a lot of pastries. Other than padding a won-loss record, I just don't see the value in scheduling Cupcake U and Cream Puff College," Tuell said when he released the Sharks' 2013-14 basketball schedule today.
"We've always been a program that seeks out the best possible opponents," claimed Tuell. "Sometimes, because of circumstances, we've been forced to play lesser teams. But I've never enjoyed those games and I don't think our players enjoyed them either. We want players who appreciate the challenges and opportunities that come with playing a quality schedule. We're not into ego-building or making the old coach's won-loss record look good. I think our administration and our fans appreciate our philosophy and respect what we're trying to do. We're trying to become the best we can be and to do that we believe in challenging ourselves night in and night out against the best possible competition."
In the past nine seasons, Tuell's NSU teams have been well known for playing ambitious schedules. Last year's 15-12 squad defeated five teams ranked in the top 25 and finished the season with the fourth toughest schedule in NCAA Division II basketball. But Tuell raised the bar on his youthful 2013-14 squad. "We left no room for argument or discussion. Thanks partly to the strength of our league, and partly to the past success of our nonconference opponents, we have the most difficult schedule in NCAA DII basketball. We were disappointed that last year's schedule was only the fourth-best in the country. So we set out to fix that and I think we succeeded."
The Sharks play 16 games in the always tough Sunshine State Conference, a nine-team league that produced four NCAA tournament teams a year ago, including conference champion Florida Southern, which also captured the NCAA South Region title while advancing to the Elite Eight. Florida Southern will be NSU's conference opening opponent when the two teams square off at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center Dec. 7.
Of its 11 nonconference opponents, NSU will also face the team that finished the 2012-13 season ranked number one in NCAA DII (West Liberty), the team that won the 2012-13 NCAA DII national championship (Drury) and the team that won the 2012-13 NCAA DIII national championship (Amherst). "We tried to get Louisville (the NCAA DI national champions), which would have given us The Holy Trinity of college basketball schedules with all three NCAA defending national champs in one season, but we couldn't work that one out," laughed Tuell, a Louisville native and 1973 graduate of the university. "So we got Butler University for an exhibition game in Indianapolis instead. That's not too bad." Current NSU assistant coach Brandon Crone was co-captain of Butler's 2006 and 2007 squads. The Bulldogs were NCAA DI national runners-up in both 2010 and 2011 and will host NSU at famed Hinkle Field House Oct. 29.
"The combined won-loss record of our conference teams was a very good 145-88 last year, and that includes the four NCAA participants (Florida Southern 27-6, Saint Leo 22-8, Eckerd 20-8 and Rollins 19-11). But the combined won-loss record of our non-conference opponents was a ridiculous 203-82, and that includes 1-24 Palm Beach Atlantic, who hired Dave Balza in the off-season to turn that program around. Dave is a terrific coach who built Florida Gulf Coast University from the ground up and had them in the top 20 of NCAA DII every year. He will get PBA turned around in a hurry."
Besides PBA, whom the Sharks face twice, NSU's schedule includes NCAA DII top-ranked West Liberty (34-2, NCAA Final Four participant); St. Thomas (21-12, NAIA national tournament appearance); 12th ranked Benedict (24-7, NCAA tournament appearance); Belmont Abbey (22-10, NCAA tournament appearance); NCAA DI Florida International (18-14, Sun Belt Conference tournament finalist); Livingstone (22-7, NCAA tournament appearance); Drury (31-4, NCAA DII national champions); and Amherst College (30-2, NCAA DIII national champions). The Sharks face NCAA DI FIU in a regular season game in Miami Dec. 3. Butler, who finished 27-9 and advanced to the NCAA DI Sweet 16 a year ago, will be the other DI opponent on the NSU schedule but will be an exhibition rather than a regular season game.
NSU's matchup with Florida International will draw the most local interest. "We're grateful that FIU invited us to be part of their regular season schedule," Tuell said. "It's always nice when our guys have a chance to play a DI opponent, and getting to play at Butler and at FIU will be a tremendous experience for our players."
But Tuell said West Liberty (Wheeling, W. Va.), the top-ranked NCAA DII team a year ago, could be the most entertaining game of the year for NSU fans. The Sharks host West Liberty in their home opener at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15. "In the past four years, West Liberty has gone 128-9, which is the best record in all of college basketball," said NSU's coach. "We're going to see a team that scores more points than any team in America. We're talking about a team that went 29-3 and averaged 100.9 points four years ago, 33-1 and averaged 111.3 points three years ago, 32-3 and averaged 102.4 points two years ago and 34-2 and averaged 102.8 last year. That's out of this world. Those are crazy numbers. Opening the season against the top-ranked team in the nation that brings that kind of record to our arena will be a heck of a challenge for our players and very entertaining for our fans. They've been ranked in the top 25 for 50 consecutive polls, which makes my head spin. Over the last three years they've been ranked number one in the polls 17 times, including the final seven weeks last season. They scored 157 in one game, which is more points than some teams score in a month of games. They're a nightmare to coach against, but really fun to play against if you're a player and fun to watch if you're a basketball fan."
Likewise, NSU is hosting both NCAA DII national champions Drury Dec. 19 and NCAA DIII national champions Amherst Jan. 1 will also be a treat for NSU followers. "We'll be playing back-to-back games against two national championship teams that combined for a 61-6 record last year. If you're a fan of college basketball, what a great opportunity to see two outstanding games."
Tuell hopes the home schedule, especially early in the season, attracts both fans and media interest. "Look at what we are giving people: A Nov. 15th home opener against West Liberty, the highest-scoring, winningest team in all of college basketball, and the number one ranked team in NCAA DII to boot. On Dec. 7 we host Florida Southern in the tipoff game for the Sunshine State Conference. Florida Southern is the defending conference champion, a top-10 team that went to the Elite Eight last year and certainly has hopes of going further this year. On Dec. 17 Livingstone University from North Carolina comes to town. With twenty-two wins last year, they are an NCAA tournament team that looks even better on paper this year. Dec. 19 brings us Drury University from Missouri, the defending NCAA DII national champion and 31-4 last year. And we finish out our first semester home games on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. against Amherst College, which went 30-2 and won the NCAA DIII national championship. If you are a college basketball fan, a sportswriter or a TV and/or radio sports personality, how can you look at the quality of this schedule and ignore what we're doing here?
"Look, FIU is hosting Louisville this year, the reigning NCAA DI national champs. Between the two of us, we (NSU and FIU) are bringing the three defending NCAA national champions to South Florida. In West Liberty, we're bringing in the most entertaining team in all of college basketball. That's a special treat for our fans and a great opportunity for our players. Florida Gulf Coast shook up the college basketball world with their amazing NCAA tournament run last year. The job Billy Donovan and Jim Larranaga have done at Florida and Miami is great for all of us. When people think basketball in Florida they naturally begin with LeBron James and the Miami Heat. But great things are happening in this state on the college level. And not all of the great stuff for college fans is happening at the DI level. In terms of entertainment and quality opponents, what we're doing at NSU is as good as it gets. Our product is certainly worthy of fan support and it most definitely deserves more attention from the media."
While his 2013-14 schedule is high in quality, the NSU coach admits that he may be serving up more meat than his baby Sharks can chew. NSU has no seniors, seven newcomers and five players who have never played in a college game. "A team as young as ours should probably be cutting its teeth on a softer schedule, but these kind of learning experiences can also help you grow up in a hurry. Nonconference games are there to help you grow and to teach players how to reach their highest potential. We beat five top 25 teams last year. We knocked off 12th ranked Benedict and 7th ranked Southern Indiana. We beat St. Thomas, who otherwise was undefeated against teams in our league and who also beat our league champion (Florida Southern) on Florida Southern's floor. So we have a few guys who had some success against a good schedule last year. We'll show up every night. We'll compete. We're young and we're going into the season with a lot of untested players, but… we're not exactly chopped liver."
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