FCSAA STATE TOURNAMENT | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
FCSAA STATE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
WHEN: March 9-11, 2017
WHERE: Patriot Gym (Ocala, Fla.; College of Central Florida)
TICKETS (DAY PASSES): $10.00 for adults, $6.00 for students and children
TICKETS (TOURNAMENT PASS): $25.00 for adults, $15.00 for students and children
VIDEO: All games will be available on the FCSAA Sports YouTube Channel
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Tied for the most wins in the state (26; Northwest Florida, Eastern Florida) and riding a four-game winning streak, the Florida SouthWestern State College men’s basketball team begins postseason play on Thursday, March 9 at the FCSAA/NJCAA District VIII Championship at College of Central Florida in Ocala, Fla. The Buccaneers will face nationally-ranked Northwest Florida State College (No. 3) at 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
The FCSAA/NJCAA District VIII Championship is an 8-team, single elimination tournament that begins Wednesday, March 9 and continues through Saturday, March 11. The winner of the event will advance to the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in Hutchinson, Kan. (Sports Arena) March 20-25, 2017. The 2017 edition of The Tournament marks the 69th consecutive year the event will be hosted by Hutchinson. The NJCAA National Championship is a single-elimination seeded bracket is comprised of 16 District Champions, four at-large selections and four 'zone' qualifiers. The top eight seeds receive first-round byes.
The Purple and Aqua, ranked No. 31 in the latest NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Rankings released on Tuesday, Feb. 28, earned a berth to the NJCAA District VIII Championship in the first year of the program with a 26-6 overall record and a 10-2 record in the Suncoast Conference. FSW earned the Suncoast Conference’s second bid to the State Tournament after winning a 4-team playoff, defeating SCF (98-75; Feb. 25) and Polk State (99-94; Feb.27) The Bucs also won 16 of their last 18 games to close the regular season and are one of four schools in the state with both its men’s and women’s basketball teams represented in the State Tournament (Central Florida, Broward, Tallahassee).
As a team, head coach Marty Richter and his squad rank 21st nationally in assists per game (19.4), 46th in steals (9.0) and 56th in blocks (4.1), but they also rank in the top 60 nationally in points (52nd, 86.7) and field goal percentage (59th, 47.8 percent). Individually, sophomore point guard Nych Smith ranks 23rd in the nation in assists per game at 6.0 assists per contest.
All-tournament passes, which includes all men's and women's games for the duration of the tournament, will be $25 for adults and $15 for students. Individual, day tickets will be sold in sessions, two games per session, with Session I including games at 1 and 3 p.m. and Session II including games at 6 and 8 p.m. Session passes will be $10 per session for adults and $6 per session for students. Kids 3-and-under will be free
FOLLOW THE BUCS
For the latest news on FSW Athletics, log on to FSWBucs.com or stay connected to the Bucs on social media. Follow the Buccaneers on Twitter @FSWBucs, on Instagram @FSWBucs, on Facebook at Facebook.com/FSWBucs and on Snapchat at BucsSnaps.
SUNCOAST CREDIT UNION ARENA
The Buccaneers compete in the brand new Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Suncoast Credit Union Arena is approximately 75,000 square feet and is home to the Buccaneers' basketball and volleyball teams, and a student athletic center. The arena seats approximately 3,300 fans and includes six skyboxes, a hospitality event center, competition courts that convert into recreational courts, athletic office space, student, faculty and staff wellness, and an athletic center with a fitness pavilion, men's and women's locker rooms and a weight training area. The arena has two Daktronics displays, on the north and south walls, that each measure 10 feet high by 20 feet wide. Both displays incorporate variable content zoning to each show one large image or they can be divided into multiple windows to show any variety of live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages. One-hundred feet of ribbon displays have been installed on the east and west walls of the arena. The ribbons provide the opportunity to supplement the content on the main displays as well as highlight sponsors throughout events.
FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN
The Florida SouthWestern State College athletic program is a member of the Florida College System Athletic Association (FCSAA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The Buccaneers are one of 25 schools in the NJCAA Region 8 and are one of six schools in the Suncoast Conference. Florida SouthWestern State College currently supports four intercollegiate athletic programs (Baseball, Softball, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball), with Volleyball coming in the fall of 2017.
Baseball and Softball began their regular season competition in 2016 at the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. Located on the Thomas Edison (Lee) Campus in Fort Myers will be the brand new Suncoast Credit Union Arena (completed in fall 2016), where FSW’s men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams will compete.
THE NJCAA
The movement to form a unique sports association dedicated to America’s two-year colleges arose in 1937 when several track and field coaches gathered in Fresno, California. A year later, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rejected a petition from 13 two-year colleges in California to grant their teams and athletes permission to compete at the NCAA Track & Field Championships.
In the spring of 1938, following the NCAA’s rejection, those same 13 two-year colleges gathered again in Fresno to organize and form an association that would promote and supervise a national athletics program exclusively for junior and community colleges…and the rest is history.
On May 14, 1938, the first constitution of the National Junior College Athletic Association was accepted by its charter members and the organization held its first national championship event a year later in May 1939.
The NJCAA has played a vital role in collegiate athletics for the past eight decades and continues to be the leader in championing academic and athletic opportunities for student-athletes. This section of the association's website is dedicated to celebrating the NJCAA's rich history and tradition as the national governing body of two-year college athletics.
For more information on the NJCAA log on to www.NJCAA.org.
THE FCSAA
The Florida College System Activities Association, Incorporated (FCSAA) is a statewide non‑profit corporation regulating, coordinating, and promoting intercollegiate activities in: Athletics, Brain Bowl, Forensics, Music, Student Government, Student Publications, and Theatre.
Membership in the Florida College System Activities Association is open to any of the 28 colleges in the Florida College System. Each member institution is represented in the policy‑making deliberations of the Association through that institution's President or other designated representative. The institutional representatives constitute the FCSAA Presidents Assembly, the ultimate authority in FCSAA.
For more information on the FCSAA log on to www.TheFCSAA.com.
NJCAA REGION 8, THE SUNCOAST CONFERENCE & THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
Member colleges of the NJCAA are allotted to a specific NJCAA Region upon membership to the association. Unlike other collegiate organizations that defer to conference affiliation, the NJCAA guarantees each member college's membership within the regional structure of the association. In most cases, region assignment is based upon geographic location of the college.
The region structure of the NJCAA is the primary method used by all sponsored sports of the association in determining qualification for national championship tournaments. In certain sports, two or more regions are partnered to form a competition 'district', which is then used for national championship qualification. The organization of districts varies per sport and is formulated every two years under the authority of the association's board of directors.
FSW is in Region 8 and is joined by ASA College Miami (Region 8 only; non-FCSAA member), Broward College, Chipola College, College of Central Florida, Daytona State College, Eastern Florida State College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Gulf Coast State College, Hillsborough Community College, Indian River State College, Lake-Sumter State College, Miami Dade College, Northwest Florida State College, Palm Beach State College, Pasco-Hernando State College, Pensacola State College, Polk State College, Santa Fe College, Seminole State College of Florida, South Florida State College, St. Johns River State College, St. Petersburg College, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota and Tallahassee Community College.
The Bucs are also in the Suncoast Conference with Hillsborough Community College, Polk State College, South Florida State College, St. Petersburg College and State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota.
The women’s basketball program is Southern Conference with Broward College, Eastern Florida State College, Indian River State College, Miami Dade College and Palm Beach State College.
For more information on Region 8 log on to www.TheFCSAASports.com.