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Nova Southeastern Sharks men's basketball

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Nova Southeastern Sharks
UniversityNova Southeastern University
First season1982–83
Head coachJim Crutchfield (5th season)
ConferenceSunshine State Conference
LocationDavie, Florida
ArenaRick Case Arena
(capacity: 4,500)
NicknameSharks
ColorsNavy blue and gray[1]
   
NCAA tournament champions
Division II: 2023
NCAA tournament runner-up
Division II: 2024
NCAA tournament Final Four
Division II: 2023, 2024
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
Division II: 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
Division II: 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
NCAA tournament round of 32
Division II: 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
NCAA tournament appearances
Division II: 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
Conference tournament champions
SSC: 2022, 2023, 2024

The NSU Sharks Men's Basketball team represents Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida. They currently compete in the Sunshine State Conference.

Exterior of The University Center

They won a national championship in the 2022–23 season.

History

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The 2007–08 Nova Southeastern University men’s basketball team posted a 10–18 overall record and a 5–11 Sunshine State Conference mark, but the short-handed Sharks played with heart and battled despite being saddled with multiple injuries. The Sharks, who played the entire season without forwards Dionte Perry and David Naylor due to injury, were also without the services of Kevin Chester, Josh Wood, Ross Allsop and Lemar Dyer for games throughout the season.

NSU played a top notch non-conference schedule even though they play in the highly competitive SSC. The Sharks squared off against five NCAA Tournament teams, including South Region Tournament host and SSC Champion Florida Southern three times. Showing that they were up to the challenge, NSU defeated FSC once and dropped a tough overtime decision to the Moccasins in their three match-ups.

The Sharks started the season with two losses on the road to NCAA Tournament teams, Alabama-Huntsville and North Alabama. Remaining on the road, NSU captured back-to-back victories over West Florida and Palm Beach Atlantic before coming home and winning three consecutive games, including their win over Florida Southern.

Hit by the injury bug, the Sharks would drop six of their next seven games. NSU then pulled off a 77–76 SSC victory over Saint Leo on the road. Seemingly on the right track, NSU won two of their next three SSC games before an 85–83 overtime loss to Florida Southern sent the Sharks into a tailspin.

From that point on, multiple injuries to key players led to inconsistencies, as the Sharks would struggle to put together a complete line-up on the court. NSU managed to re-group after five consecutive losses to defeat SSC defending champs Rollins in a 95–94 double overtime thriller, but couldn’t carry the momentum over in its final three games.

A 78–58 loss to eventual conference champion Florida Southern in the SSC Tournament ended the Sharks’ season at 10–18, including a 5–11 record in the Sunshine State Conference.

As a result of his play during the season, junior Tim Coenraad garnered several postseason honors. He was selected to the All-Region First Team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He also received Second-Team All-SSC and Daktronics All-Region nods. Additionally, his work in the classroom paid off as he was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Second Team.

The Sharks bid farewell to three seniors – guards Jason Del Calvo and Oresti Nitsios and center Chester.

Del Calvo, a four year player, saw action in 47 games in his career at NSU. He averaged 1.1 points per game. He scored a career high 11 points as a junior in the Sharks’ season-opener vs. Alabama Huntsville.

Nitsios, also a four year player, played in 109 games in his Sharks career. As a senior, he played in 27 games, receiving 16 starts, averaging 7.3 points per game. He averaged a career-high 9.3 points per game as a sophomore in 2005–06.

Chester, a transfer from Division I’s Campbell, played three years at NSU. He averaged 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in his senior campaign. Kevin scored more than 20 points in six of his last seven games in 2007–08. He ti ed the NSU single-game scoring record with a 39-point eff ort against Rollins on Feb. 20. Chester finished his career sixth in NSU history with 457 total rebounds.

Coaching records

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Statistics overview
Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Charles "Sonny" Hansley (NAIA Independent) (1982–1990)
1982–83 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 6–15
1983–84 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 11–12
1984–85 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 11–13
1985–86 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 12–14
1986–87 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 12–16
1987–88 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 9–19
1988–89 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 5–23
1989–90 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 13–16
Charles "Sonny" Hansley (Sun Conference) (1990–1998)
1990–91 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 7–21 3–11
1991–92 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 13–14 8–6
1992–93 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 15–14 8–6 NAIA District 7 Playoffs First Round
1993–94 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 16–18 7–7
1994–95 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 22–12
1995–96 Charles "Sonny" Hansley 5–24 3–11
1996–97 Tony McAndrews 15–18 6–7
1997–98 Tony McAndrews 15–14 8–6
Tony McAndrews: 187–263 (.416)
Kit Riley (Sun Conference) (1998–2002)
1998–99 Tony McAndrews 18–14 9–5
1999–00 Tony McAndrews 14–14 7–5
2000–01 Tony McAndrews 8–20 3–9
2001–02 Tony McAndrews 4–23 4–8
Tony McAndrews (Sunshine State Conference) (2002–2004)
2002–03 Tony McAndrews 6–23
2003–04 Tony McAndrews 9–18
Tony McAndrews: 59–112 (.345)
Gary Tuell (Sunshine State Conference) (2004–2017)
2004–05 Gary Tuell 7–21 3–13
2005–06 Gary Tuell 17–11 11–5
2006–07 Gary Tuell 14–15 8–8 4th
2007–08 Gary Tuell 10–18 5–11 8th
2008–09 Gary Tuell 16–11 9–7 3rd
2009–10 Gary Tuell 13–15 6–10 6th
2010–11 Gary Tuell 12–15 5–11 T–6th
2011–12 Gary Tuell 13–14 7–9 6th
2012–13 Gary Tuell 15–12 7–9 6th
2013–14 Gary Tuell 13–17 8–8 T–5th
2014–15 Gary Tuell 12–16 6–10 T–5th
2015–16 Gary Tuell 11–16 6–10 T–5th
2016–17 Gary Tuell 6–20 3–15 10th
Gary Tuell: 159–201 (.442) 84–126 (.400)
Jim Crutchfield (Sunshine State Conference) (2017–2019)
2017–18 Jim Crutchfield 17–10 11–9 T–4th
2018–19 Jim Crutchfield 29–4 18–2 1st NCAA Division II First Round
2019–20 Jim Crutchfield 23–6 15–5 2nd Postseason canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic[2]
2020–21 Jim Crutchfield 0–0 0–0 N/A Season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic[3]
2021–22 Jim Crutchfield 31–1 20–0 1st NCAA Division II Elite Eight
2022–23 Jim Crutchfield 36–0 20–0 1st NCAA Division II Champions
Jim Crutchfield: 136–21 (.866) 69–16 (.812)
Total: 541–597 (.475)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Notable players

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National players of the year

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NABC Player of the Year

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Bevo Francis Award

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All-Americans

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  • Mark Matthews – NABC (2020)
  • Sekou Sylla – NABC (2022)
  • RJ Sunahara – NABC (2023)

References

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  1. ^ "NSU Brand - Colors". Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  2. ^ "DII Presidents Council cancels fall 2020 championships". NCAA.org. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Sunshine State Conference Postpones Winter Sports into 2021". NSU Athletics. Nova Southeastern University Athletics. Retrieved 30 March 2023.