By Andrae Ransom | Sports Editor
The Tallahassee Community College Men’s Basketball Team is looking forward to making a deeper playoff run in the 2022 season. TCC is ranked no. 10, according to the latest NJCAA preseason poll. Defending Division I Men’s National Champions, Northwest Florida State, comes in at no. 1. The Eagles had an overall record of 1-2 vs NWFS last season.
“This is the toughest league in the country,” head coach Rick Cabrera said. “This is the toughest region in the country.”
The TCC men’s basketball team finished last season 22-10 after being eliminated from the NJCAA Region 8 Quarterfinals Tournament by the no. 1 seed Indian River State Pioneers.
A four-game winning streak to finish out the regular season earned the Eagles one of two at-large bids to reach the tournament. They finished seventh in the NJCAA Region 8 men’s basketball coaches’ poll.
The Eagles saw their postseason hopes cut short in 2020-2021 following a post-game fight with Pensacola State College. The NJCAA ruled that all members of the team were involved in a “non-collegiate incident” and violent ejection that carried a two-game suspension.
Coach Cabrera begins his second year with the Eagles along with assistant coaches Hayden Harkins and Chad Bailey, whom Cabrera hired in his first year.
There are new goals for the team this year, according to Harkins.
“We want to be tougher defensively than we were last year,” Harkins said. “It is a tough goal but that’s something that we’re trying to get our guys to. Holding each other accountable is what will propel us to that next level of winning more games and competing for championships.”
Four freshmen and 10 sophomores make up the roster for the 2022 season. Sophomore guard Isaiah Cathey returns this season as the only veteran from last year’s team. However, Cathey is very impressed with the new young talent assembled this off season by Coach Cabrera.
Cabrera spoke very highly of Cathey’s leadership and guidance throughout the summer, in addition to helping the new players acclimate to his coaching style.
“He brings everything I want in a young man,” Cabrera said. “He’s like my 4th coach.”
The season for the Eagles begins Nov. 4 on the road against the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Their first home game will be Nov. 14 against Marion Military Institute at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome.
