Bradenton, Fla - The SCF basketball team has put the 2020-21 season aside and is now set their sites for the 2021-22 year. The Manatees will open their season at home as they welcome former conference rival Polk State to Hal Chasey Gymnasium Tuesday night, November 2 at 7 pm.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees, who were dubbed as "4th Herd" this season, are coming off of finishing a shortened season at 11-8 overall with a 7-5 record in the Southern Conference. They would make it to the first round of the FCSAA State Tournament before falling to then #3 Florida Southwestern.
The Manatees are lead by head coach Tom Parks. Parks, who became head coach in 2018, enter his fourth season as head coach and co-athletic coordinator. Parks has put together a record of 50-35 record overall in three seasons with a 18-18 record in conference play (11-13 in the Suncoast Conference).
Parks is joined by assistant coaches Travis Nesby (2nd year), Lem Andrews (13th year) and newly appointed assistant coach Chris Reeves (1st year). Additionally, Parks added Wesley Simeus and Fredrick Stewart as his student managers for the team.
Conference Shakeup:
Last Season, the Manatees entered into the Southern Conference after the Suncoast Conference was defunct after the 2019-20 season. The following conference are listed below:
Southern:
SCF
#3 FSW
Hillsborough
Miami Dade
RV Indian River State
Panhandle:
#13 Chipola
Gulf Coast State
#11 Northwest Florida State
Pensacola State
Tallahassee
Central:
Daytona State
Florida State College at Jacksonville
#14 Eastern Florida State
Polk State
Santa Fe
St. Pete
ASA Miami will be ruled as an independent team and not join any conferences, while Pasco-Hernando State and Florida Gateway remain in the NJCAA DII.
Side Note: FSW, Chipola, Eastern Florida State, Northwest Florida and Indian River State are ranked or receiving votes in the NJCAA Top 20 Preseason Poll.
Player Lookout:
Key returners for the Manatees include James "Pop" Weathers, Kwo Agwa and Javon Bell.
Weathers, a guard from Baton Rouge, finished last season with 19.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. In fact, he was ranked in the top 25 in the nation in scoring (t-25th) and top 50 in assists (t-36th). Additionally, he was named a member of the All-Southern Conference First Team.
Weathers can be on pace to becoming the second player under the Parks era to reach 1,000 career points and the third to reach 1,000 points in the program's history (1st: James Life; 2nd: D'Moi Hodge). He has 370 points so far and needs 630 to reach the milestone.
Agwa, a wing from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, finished last season with 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while being named a member of the All-Southern Conference Second Team.
Bell, a guard from Lakeland, Florida, finished with 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while joining Agwa on the All-Southern Conference Second Team.
Parks has added 10 new members to his roster, which include sophomore transfer Clearance Cummings III and freshmen Djordje Gobovic, Ametri Moss and Sam Faraday.
Scouting Polk State:
The Eagles are coming off of finishing last season 10-11 overall with a 9-9 record in the Central Conference. They are lead by head coach Brandon Giles, who enters his second season as head coach.
Key returners for the Eagles include Tommie Lewis and Tyrese Powers. Lewis averaged 14.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, while Powers averaged 8.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game
The Eagles also added three transfers on their team.
Series History:
The Manatees are currently 14-18 against the Eagles. In the last nine games of the series, the Manatees won six of them, which includes the two games in the Suncoast Conference Championship finals (2019 and 2020).
The Eagles last win over the Manatees was on February 8, 2020.
How to Keep Up:
The game will air on the SCF Sports Network and fans can keep up with both teams on Twitter:
Side Note: I will try to do a livestream of my own, but it's to be determined
SCF: @SCF_Basketball
Polk State: @PolkStateHoops
Link: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/scf/
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