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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (12-16, 8-8 SSC) will compete in the 2014 Sunshine State Conference Tournament, held at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. from March 5-9. The Sharks will face the Rollins Tars (14-12, 8-8 SSC) in the first round Wednesday at 5 p.m.
 
Admission to the entire tournament is free for NSU students with a valid SharkCard. Free admission will also be granted to the first 50 Shark fans in Shark gear for NSU's men's and women's teams first games in the tournament.
 
"We were a little disappointed to finish fifth in the league, although that's our highest finish in several years which shows progress and tells me that what we're doing is definitely working," stated head coach Gary Tuell. "We were picked sixth in the preseason poll, so we didn't shock people but we did manage to surprise a few folks. Without any seniors on the roster and with a couple of key additions next year, we think we're on the right path. I do believe we had a shot at finishing in second or third place had we been healthy down the stretch. We haven't been able to practice with either Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) or Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) (both back-related injuries) for most of the last month. And losing Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.) with a knee injury late in the season set us back when we could least afford it. Our entire medical staff, and especially our trainer, Dustin Gatens, did a superb job just getting those three guys to a position where they can at least play in the postseason. They may not be 100 percent, obviously, but they can contribute."
 
NSU enters the tournament beaten up but confident in a late-season run. It has been a rollercoaster season for NSU, which saw the Sharks start the season 0-5, win a game at NCAA Division I FIU by 18 points, lose another three games straight to nationally-ranked opponents, and turn the entire season around with wins over every team in the conference outside of No. 12 Florida Southern. NSU hopes to earn another crack at the Mocs in the semifinals.
 
"The Sunshine State Conference tournament certainly seems to be wide open," said Tuell. "Florida Southern is the clear favorite, but they miss Dominic Lane (senior guard sidelined with a foot injury) and dropped games to Barry, Saint Leo and Tampa down the stretch. I would never be foolish enough to call them vulnerable. They have great tradition, outstanding talent and a deep bench. Not only are they number one in our league, but they're the top-ranked team in the NCAA South Region.
 
"But as good as Southern is, the league is so strong from top to bottom that anything can happen on a given day. Whoever comes out of that four, five, six, seven bracket will have two wins under their belt, be comfortable playing in an unusual environment, and feeling pretty good about themselves. I think Southern will have to win two very tough games if they're going to repeat as tournament champs."
 
If the men win against Rollins and advance, the remainder of their games at the tournament would be as follows: quarterfinal round against the winner of Barry and Eckerd on Friday, March 7 at 5 p.m.; semifinal round, Saturday March 8 against the No. 1 seed, Florida Southern, at noon; and the championship game on Sunday, March 9 at 1 p.m.
 
"A lot of people don't like the new bracket, but I'm one of the few who believes it's going to give us an interesting tournament while rewarding the top three seeds," admitted Tuell. "We fight and scratch all season in this league and the teams that finish first through third deserve some kind of break for having more success than the others. That's just my opinion and I know other people smarter than me think otherwise. Like it or not this bracket is not going to last long anyway since the league has voted to expand. Hopefully it will produce an entertaining tournament. Regardless of the bracket we use, the tournament promises to be competitive because that's been the nature of our league all year. That's why I'm proud that our guys, held together by braces and tape and chicken wire and playing basically with six guards and no post presence all year, could manage to finish in fourth place. We did about as well as we could, all things considered."
 
Tuell is less concerned about the new bracket format than he is the venue for the SSC Tournament, which will be played for the second consecutive year at Kissimmee's Silver Spurs Arena.
 
"It's a nice rodeo arena, but it's not really configured for basketball," said Tuell. "Rodeo fans who wander into the arena won't have any problems identifying us. We'll be the team that looks like we should be riding Shetland Ponies. We'll start our abnormal, five-guard lineup and shoot from the hip. We'll ride low to the ground and play loose because that's who we are. But it's definitely not a venue that favors shooters. The lighting is uneven. There are places on the floor where the TV lights are shining directly in a shooter's eyes. And the depth perception is not good. 
 
"I did a study of last year's tournament and found that seven of the nine teams had a lower overall field goal percentage in the tournament than they did during the regular, 16-game conference season. And seven of the nine teams also had lower 3-point field goal percentages in the tournament than they did during the conference regular season. The overall shooting percentage for all teams in the tournament was just 40.3 percent and on 3's it was a pretty dismal 32.3 percent. That doesn't bode well for teams that rely on shooting the 3, as we do."
 
Florida Southern won last year's tournament while making 41.5 percent of its shots in three games, down 2.8 percent from its conference season average of 44.3. The Mocs did make 34.2 percent of their tournament 3's, an improvement of 0.1 percent over their conference average. Rollins, last year's tournament runner up, made 44.9 percent of its shots in the three-game tourney, down 1.4 percent from its regular season average. The Tars were also down slightly in 3-point shots made at 37 in the tournament, compared to 38.4 during the 16-game conference season. But league regular season champ Saint Leo, ousted by Rollins in the second round of the tourney, made just 35.4 percent of its field goals in the tournament, a dip of 6.6 percent from its regular conference season numbers. And the Lions were even worse from the 3-point line, making just 28.3 percent in the tournament, a fall of 10 percentage points from the conference season. 
 
"All the first-round losers last year shot significantly worse in the tournament than they did in the regular conference season. And when I say significantly worse, I'm talking about 10 to 20 percentage points lower than usual," said Tuell. "Some of that may have been good defense, some of it tournament pressure, but I believe a lot of those percentages could be attributed to the conditions in the arena. It's just an unusual venue for basketball and it definitely has its quirks. You try not to let it bother your players, but immaturity shows most often in our game when kids are not making shots. Young players let it affect their defense. Young players get down on themselves when the ball doesn't go in. You can see their heads drop and their shoulders slump."
 
Since NSU leads the SSC in 3-pointers attempted, 3-pointers made and 3-point field goal percentage, is Tuell worried his team will be at a decided disadvantage in the post-season? "Nah, not at all," he answered. "I'm far more worried about our players' health than anything. That and wondering if we're ever going to block anybody out for a rebound or if we're ever going to defend and get enough stops to win a game again. We play six people significant minutes, and when two of those six (Cahill and Carroll) are among our best rebounders who are struggling with lower back problems, blocking out and elevating and doing the things they were doing a month ago just isn't possible. Their conditions have had a major impact on the way we've played the last month."
 
The Sharks split their two regular season meetings with Rollins. Tuell knows that history, tradition and past tournament success are on the side of Rollins. "None of which means squat to me because they're not playing with the guys who wrote their history or won past tournaments for them," the NSU coach said. "I have great respect for Tom Klusman as a friend and a coach. And I have great respect for what Tom has done at Rollins. I have great respect for all the guys who played and won at Rollins in the past. But I also have great respect for the current Rollins team. They've battled through their own set of injuries, got off to a shaky start in the league and finished just about as strong as anyone. People who were writing them off in January were losing to them in February. They really played terrific basketball down the stretch. Our challenge Wednesday has nothing to do with past Rollins success. Our challenge Wednesday is to find a way to solve the problems the current team gives us – the Rollins zones, defending their multitude of great shooters, and encouraging our guys to keep believing in themselves and in their dream.
 
"We won an ugly game against them at our place when neither team could make a shot. At their place, neither team could miss a shot and Rollins did a better job slowing us down in the second half than we did slowing them down. We'll need to play our best. We'll have to find a way to overcome their tremendous size advantage.
 
"We've had a lot of fun this year and we're hoping to have some more fun at the rodeo this week. We'll do our best to stay loose and enjoy the moment. We've played arguably the toughest Division II schedule in the nation and we've gone through the rigors of an extremely competitive conference with a bunch of little guys who refuse to be discouraged. If we move the ball and make a decent percentage of open shots, we'll be tough to beat. If we figure out that defense isn't something you put around your back yard to keep the dog from running away, then we might just do something special this week. I believe in my team. I have great confidence in these guys. I know what they're capable of doing." 

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