NSU headed to Elite Eight for third consecutive year
The streak lives on at NSU.
Make that streaks … as in plural.
The top-ranked Nova Southeastern University men’s basketball team demolished visiting Florida Southern 98-66 on Tuesday night, advancing to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the third straight year.
In those three years, the Sharks are 97-3 — including 64 straight home wins. They have also won three straight Sunshine State Conference titles, regular season and postseason.
After going 36-0 and winning the program’s first national title last year, the Sharks will now take a 30-2 record to Evansville, Indiana, where they hope to win three more games. Their first game is Tuesday against seventh-seeded Southern New Hampshire )24-10).
“It’s crazy,” said NSU coach Jim Crutchfield, who has transformed this program since taking over in March of 2017. “It’s an interesting story … from last year to this year, the transition of personnel.”
Interesting is perhaps an understatement.
Miraculous might be a better description for what has happened with the Sharks, who lost all five of their starters from last season. Four of those starters transferred to Division I schools to cash in on NIL (name, image and likeness) money.
The Sharks also graduated Will Yoakum, who is now playing pro ball in Germany. In addition, two Sharks reserves with eligibility remaining bolted to play pro ball in Europe: Lukas Speidel (Denmark) and Tomas Murphy (Finland). Also, associate head coach Jordan Fee departed to run the program at Gannon University.
“I don’t like it,” Crutchfield said at the time. “But I’m a ‘glass half full’ guy. I look at this as a challenge.”
The Sharks have met that challenge despite starting the season with only seven healthy players.
On Tuesday, the Sharks were led by Shane Hunter, who posted 14 points, five rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals.
Hunter, a fifth-year senior from St. Thomas Aquinas and one of the few holdovers from last season, was named the South Region’s Most Valuable Player.
After playing as a reserve the past four years at NSU, Hunter has finally lived up to his potential — even if his playing style sometimes frustrates Crutchfield.
“He still wants to be a point guard every now and then,” Crutchfield said of the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Hunter. “He’s really smart. He doesn’t always show it sometimes, but he’s really a crafty guy. He picks things up.”
In the regular season, Hunter made first-team All-SSC. He also joined teammate Isaiah Fuller on the league’s first-team All-Defense.
“The thing I keep telling Shane is: ‘Nobody can guard you inside.’ He is so agile,” Crutchfield said.
“He has developed a soft touch from 16 feet in. He never misses free throws now. He blocks shots. “Shane Hunter is better today than he’s ever been in his life, and my hope is that he will be even better next week in Evansville, Indiana.”
Crutchfield, who uses a 10-man rotation, got some other good performances on Tuesday, including a game-high 19 points from reserve Trey Doomes, who made 9-of-12 shots in just 13 minutes.
Defensively, the Sharks held SSC Player of the Year Luke Anderson to 18 points, including just four after halftime. Anderson made 1-of-5 shots in the second half.
INTER MIAMI ROSTER IN FLUX
Inter Miami could be missing as many as nine players — six of them regular starters — for the road game against New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Lionel Messi is recovering from a hamstring strain, sat out last weekend’s game against D.C.
United and did not report to the Argentina national team for a pair of friendlies over the next week, so he is not expected to play on Saturday. He did light training separate from the team on Wednesday morning.
Nico Freire injured a hamstring during the D.C. game and is doubtful for the weekend. Leo Campana did not participate in Wednesday’s training session due to an adductor strain and worked out in the gym. His status for the New York game is day to day.
Miami will be missing six players due to national team duty: Drake Callender (USA), Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Fede Redondo (Argentina U23), David Ruiz (Honduras), Shanyder Borgelin (Haiti), Israel Boatright (Dominican Republic U23).