FGCU Men's Basketball: Opening Season Home Game Preview

After another successful season, the FGCU men's basketball prepares for their opening season game against Illinois State University. Although the schedule is not fully complete.

Last season, the Eagles were 26-8 overall with a 12-2 record in the A-SUN. There they claimed the season and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. In the conference tournament, FGCU ousted No. 8 Stetson in the quarterfinals, beat No. 5 Kennesaw State in the semifinals and beat UNF in the finals to secure an automatic bid in the national tournament before falling to Florida State in the first round.

I was at that game in Orlando and it was upsetting, but it was an experience I never had done before until that day.

With a new season, it also means a new team is in line. FGCU lost six players: Marc-Eddy Norelia, Demetris Morant, Kevin Mickle, Reggie Reid, Rayjon Tucker, C.J. Williamson and Maxx Bleecher.

Norelia, Morant and Mickle have graduated from FGCU, but Mickle will be transferring to Ohio with one year of eligibility.

Reid has transferred to NCAA DII Texas A&M-Commerce.

Tucker has transferred to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Williamson was dismissed from the team due to disciplinary actions and transferred to NJCAA Chipola College.

Bleecher left the team for personal reasons.

With seven players gone, head coach Joe Dooley was thankful to have returning players, redshirt senior Brandon Goodwin, redshirt junior Zach Johnson and senior Christian lead the charge.

In addition, redshirt junior Ricky Doyle will get to play this season after sitting out last season due to the NCAA transfer rule after transferring from the University of Michigan.

Other transfers that joined include junior Michael Gilmore (Miami/VCU), redshirt sophomore Brady Ernst (Iowa State/Indian Hills Community College), junior Dinero Mercurius (Daytona State College/UTRGV/USF), sophomore Kyle Hoffman (Ottawa University (Kansas)) and redshirt sophomore Troy Baxter Jr. (UNLV).

Gilmore, a native of Jacksonville, will play this season after transferring from Miami via VCU, but will sit out a duration of the season, but will be eligible in December 2017 and play the full 2018-19 season.

Ernst, a native of Clinton, Iowa, comes to FGCU as a double transfer. Starting at Iowa State, he played only six games before transferring to Indian Hills Community College NJCAA Region XI/ICCAC. Ernst will have three years of eligibility remaining starting this season.

Mercurius, an native of Orlando, comes to FGCU as a triple transfer. Yes I said it: a triple transfer. Mercurius comes to FGCU with two years of eligibility after transferring from Daytona State College of NJCAA Region VIII/FCSAA via USF and Texas-Rio Grand Valley (UTRGV).

Hoffman, a native of Lawrence, Kansas, comes from Ottawa University in Kansas, an Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference private school from the NAIA. He is one of the two new walk-ons for FGCU despite being a transfer..

Baxter, a Tallahassee native, transferred from University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). He will sit out the whole season due to the NCAA transfer rules, but will have three years of eligibility remaining as a redshirt sophomore starting in the 2018-19 season.

From the true freshman class, Darnell Rogers and Brian Thomas join the team along with walk-on freshman Ryan Rocuant.

Rogers, a Baltimore native, is legitimately the shortest player on the team at 5'3, but his speed is truly legit, leading Shiloh High School as the all-time leading scorer with 1,776 points for his senior year.

Thomas, a 6'9" forward from Kell, Georgia, was tabbed as the 16th-best player in the entire talent-laden state of Georgia.

The 6'10" Rocuant, as noted, is one of the two new walk-on players, and is a local from Estero High School and can add a good amount of height to the team.

Scouting Illinois State:
The Illinois State Redbirds had a successful season as well. The Redbirds went 28-7 overall with a 17-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), and claimed the No. 1 seed in the tournament as well as the regular season title. There they beat Evansville 80-69 in the quarterfinals, in state conference rival Southern Illinois 63-50 in the semifinals before falling in the conference championship finals to Wichita State, the No. 2 seeded and then No. 21/22 team in the nation by a score of 71-51.

Although they did not make it to the national tournament, the Redbirds did get an invite to play in the NIT championship. They won in the first round beating UC Irvine 85-71 in the first round before falling to UCF in the second round by a score of 62-63 and were eliminated from postseason play.

The Redbirds did lose Deontae Hawkins and Paris Lee. Hawkins (14 ppg) and Lee (13 ppg) were the top leading scorers on the team.

Hawkins was a member of the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, Missouri Valley Conference Most-Improved Team and All-National Association of Basketball Coaches District 16 Second Team.

Lee was AP All-America Honorable Mention, Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year, Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was members of the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team, Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive Team, Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament Team and All-National Association of Basketball Coaches District 16 First Team.

The Redbirds top returning player is Phil Fayne.

Fayne started 34 of his 35 games played and scored 9.1 points per game, but led the team in blocks (40).

This is the first time FGCU and Illinois State will meet, so it will be a battle of the birds.

The game will start on November 11th at 1 pm. The reason the game is starting in the afternoon rather than at night is because on that day, the volleyball team plays on the same day against Kennesaw State in their final conference home game at 6 pm.

Here is a couple of interesting facts:

1. Since being a DI team, FGCU is 8-2 in home opening season games.

2. FGCU is 8-21 against teams from the midwest (Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa).

FGCU will face three teams from the midwest: Illinois State, Bowling Green and Wichita State.

I'm looking forward to this first game of the season.