Nova’s special cheering section gives Sharks a boost
The T-shirt says it all: “Classy Until Tip-off.” The secret weapon of the top-ranked Nova Southeastern University Sharks men’s basketball team is all of 5-foot-1, and, frankly, her jumper isn’t all that great.
She’s Linda Chalas, the wife of NSU director of player development Mike Chalas.
Linda Chalas is a super fan who attends every home game and many on the road, and she isn’t exactly quiet.
“When refs make terrible calls, I get really loud,” said Chalas, a 31-year-old native of Nicaragua who was raised in Miami. “I don’t say anything inappropriate.
“But I do heckle refs. I do get in our opponent’s heads. Sometimes the opposing players will blow kisses at me. I just laugh and say, ‘You’re still losing.’
“People ask me if my throat is sore after a game. I say, ‘No, I’m a former Ferguson High cheerleader, and I learned to scream from my diaphragm.’ ”
The Sharks, who went 36-0 last year and won the program’s first national title, are about to embark on what they hope is another championship run.
NSU (27-2) will host the eight-team NCAA Division II South Regional, starting Saturday with a 5 p.m. matchup against eighthseeded Benedict College (23-7).
The semifinals are set for Sunday, and the South Regional final will be played Tuesday night. The winner of that game will travel to Evansville, Indiana, where eight teams will battle for the national title.
NSU, which has won 61 consecutive home games, is the heavy favorite to return to Evansville, and that brings us back to Chalas.
Sharks coach Jim Crutchfield appreciates her zeal. In fact, he often teases her after games, saying: “You weren’t loud enough this game.”
Chalas, who always sits behind NSU’s bench, wears custom-made Sharks shirts, including ones that read:
“Loud Crowd, Sorry, Not Sorry” and, the aforementioned: “Classy Until Tipoff.”
Whatever they’re doing — and that goes for the players, Crutchfield and his staff and the fans — it’s working as the Sharks haven’t lost a home game since before most of the world had heard the word “COVID.”
In fact, the last Sharks home loss was Feb. 15, 2020, as Florida Southern prevailed 102-96.
The Sharks are 17-0 home this season. They went 21-0 at home last season and 20-0 the year prior. They also won their final three home games in 2019-2020.
Chalas married her husband — who is a native of the Dominican Republic — in 2020, and he has been on NSU’s staff since the 2021-2022 season.
That means that Linda Chalas — a teacher at Atlantic West Elementary in Margate — has been courtside for the greatest moments in program history, including last year’s national championship.
“Last season was surreal,” Chalas said. “I wanted to pinch myself. ‘Is this a dream?’
“It was just pure joy — one of those happy moments in life.”
Another happy moment came early this season when she heard a woman — she didn’t know who she was at the time — cheering just as loudly for NSU.
As it turns out, it was Leslie Evans, the 29-yearold girlfriend of NSU player Trey Doomes, who transferred in this season from Oklahoma Baptist.
“Oklahoma Baptist is a small Christian school, and you couldn’t do a lot of heckling,” said Evans, a former volleyball player at Randall University in Oklahoma. “When I first heard ‘Lin’ [Chalas], I said, ‘Finally! I finally get to be my competitive, loud-natured self.’ ”
When Chalas found out who Evans is, she immediately recruited her.
“I said, ‘Come sit next to me,’ ” Chalas said. “She now sits to my right for every home game.”
In fact, Evans is in seat No. 5, and her boyfriend wears No. 5.
Their rooting section also includes Doomes’ aunt, Trudy Love, and family friend Emery Griffin.
“If you play in a quiet gym, there can be so many things in your head, including personal stuff,” Evans said. “But if you play in a noisy gym, you can be unstoppable.”
For 61 consecutive home games, that’s exactly what the NSU Sharks have been — unstoppable.
THIS AND THAT
The 14th-ranked NSU’s women’s basketball team (23-5) has earned the fourth seed in the South Region playoffs. The Sharks will face fifth-seeded Lee (21-10) on Friday at Valdosta, Georgia.
Florida Memorial University’s men’s basketball team, ranked 25th in the nation in NAIA, will play Evangel (Missouri) on Friday in a first-round playoff game in Texas. FMU (24-6) defeated St. Thomas University last week to win the Sun Conference title.
John Latimer, a 6-1 sophomore guard for Miami Dade College, made first-team All-Southern Conference after averaging 17.5 points and 3.1 assists. The Orlando native’s best game this season was a 31-point, five-steal effort. His career goal is to own a cybersecurity company.