COURTESY OF NSU ATHLETICS The men’s basketball team wins the third consecutive Sunshine State Conference Championship tournament on March 10.
The NSU men and women’s basketball teams have something in common— trust.
“We have trust from the top guy to the bottom guy and I wouldn’t even say there is a bottom guy, but there’s a lot of trust in one another that we can do the job,” said Ryker Cisarik, junior forward for the men’s basketball team and sport management major.
While both teams pushed toward the NCAA Division II National Championship title, the men ended the season with an overall record of 32-3 and the women concluded with an overall record of 25-6. The women’s season was cut short when they lost to the University of Tampa during the NCAA South Region Championship. The men carried themselves through the NCAA Division II National Championship game against Minnesota State, but lost 88-85 at the final buzzer.
Men’s basketball head coach, Jim Crutchfield, and women’s basketball head coach, LeAnn Freeland-Curry, are ready to lead the Sharks to greater success during the 2024-2025 season by developing not only a new team, but a new family.
“When I go recruiting, I look for guys who are team orientated,” Crutchfield said. “I know that when you’re winning it’s easy to promote that family atmosphere since everyone is happier but it comes down to the type of guys we have here and the type of guys we sign here.”
Similar to Crutchfield, Freeland-Curry ensures that her current and incoming players prioritize teamwork.
“We really look for tough players who know how to win, players who really want to win, and players who want to prioritize a team concept,” Freeland-Curry said. “There are a lot of great players out there, but sometimes players play for themselves.”
Crutchfield and Freeland-Curry’s consistent efforts to build a close team can be seen through each player’s positive mindset and performance.
“We were always motivated and wanted to be our best selves,” said Morgan Kane, forward for the women’s basketball team and exercise and sport science graduate student. “I can only account for my performance based on my teammates because it’s a team sport, so my success is their success and their success is my success.”
While the men’s basketball team brought in 10 new players this season, Ryan Davis, sophomore guard for the men’s basketball team and communication major, highlights how the team adjusted to the new faces.
“The new players all were great guys this year, so it really helped that they were all team players and knew how to win before they got here,” he said. “We had to trust each other on the court so that’s what we did.”
Both teams also faced challenges during the season, ranging from injuries and sicknesses to loss of momentum. But, the Sharks remained supportive of each other and stepped up when needed.
“I will say the players did a great job stepping in and to different roles throughout the season when those types of injuries or illnesses occur and it was really difficult for all of us,” Freeland-Curry said. “But they had such a great belief in each other that we were able to continue to be successful, even though we had those types of setbacks.”
Aubrey Stupp, senior guard for the women’s basketball team and psychology major, gives credit to her team’s close relationship during the hard times.
“We were just really, really close, and I think that helped us push us so far into the tournament and see how successful we were because we were able to stick together,” she said.
Crutchfield said that his team overcame challenges by remaining calm and taking each day one at a time.
“In mid-season, we lost a couple of games, struggled in a few more, and the challenge was if we have the ability to continue with this and go to the next level,” Crutchfield said. “It was a day-by-day grind. We did start to get better. We didn’t hit the panic button and things started clicking a little bit better.”
Going into the 2024-2025 men’s basketball season as a returning player, Cisarik emphasizes an important lesson he learned this season that he’ll carry into next year.
“The only thing that matters is one game at a time and I think that’s where we really succeeded,” he said. “The biggest thing I learned is to have faith. Have faith in the system and in each other.”
Although both teams fell short of a NCAA Division II National Championship title during the 2023-2024 season, they both brought home various achievements and broken records. The women won a program-record 20 straight games, captured the Regular Season Sunshine State Conference Championship, and Freeland-Curry won her third SSC Coach of the Year honor.
The men accumulated a 99-4 record over the last three seasons, earned three Sunshine State Conference regular season and tournament titles, three NCAA South Region championships, three NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearances, a national finalist finish and the 2022-23 NCAA Division II National Championship.
“We came up short one shot so we’re going to use that as motivation and try to win the national championship next year,” Davis said.
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