Mid-Majors To Watch: North Florida Ospreys

Much time has and will be spent looking at some of the major players as we continue to preview the 2015-16 college basketball season, but there’s also room too look at the mid-majors that could spoil some resumes and championship aspirations in March.

After making their first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the North Florida Ospreys have one thing on their mind: repeat.

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A program that has only been around since the 1992-93 season, North Florida entered last season with, shall we say, modest expectations.

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Projected to finish second by Athlon, third by Sporting News and fourth by Blue Ribbon, it’s not as if the Ospreys were projected to wind up at the bottom of the Atlantic Sun, but it was increasingly difficult to look past Florida Gulf Coast, who had finished first or second in each of the previous and returned their starting backcourt and two of the top players in program history.

But there were the Ospreys, waiting for their opportunity to show the country that they were the force in the Sunshine State, not Dunk City.

In order to prepare themselves for a chance at an NCAA tournament berth in March, the Ospreys used games in November and December to gauge where they were. It’s a rather simple process that most mid-majors do, but this was North Florida’s chance to see just how good this team can be.

They may not win those games, but being able to battle major conference opponents makes for interesting rest of the season.

Earning a victory over Purdue at the beginning of December set the wheels in motion. While the Ospreys did go 2-6 the rest of the month, they had defeated an NCAA tournament team and were ready to take on the Atlantic Sun.

That confidence helped North Florida to 12-2 conference record, knocking off Florida Gulf Coast in both meetings on their way to the regular season championship.

Those two losses both came to South Carolina Upstate, but they were able to avenge them by scoring the biggest victory of the season against the Spartans in the Atlantic Sun conference championship game, propelling them to the NCAA tournament.

North Florida was also the home to the totally psychotic pep band member who did this during timeouts:

Unfortunately, North Florida was placed in the First Four, the play-in game, and lost to Robert Morris in Dayton. That solid season came to an end, but it may be the start of something great heading into this year.

Several players return from last season’s championship team, headlined by the high-scoring duo of Dallas Moore and Beau Beech.

Just counting these two, North Florida returns 37 percent of its offensive output from last season (Moore: 15.8 points; Beech: 12.9 points), which is an incredible mark for two players on their own, especially for a team that ranked 25th in the nation in points per game.

Moore is expected to duplicate and add to that output this season, picked by several media outlets as the early preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, but he won’t be alone out there. Last season’s conference Defensive Player of the Year Demarcus Daniels also returns, as do Chris Davenport (11.3 points, 6.5 rebounds) and Romelo Banks (5.3 points, 2.8 rebounds).

Last season’s top three-point shooter from last season Trent Mackey (43 percent) also returns. There’s a lot to be excited about with this lineup.

Once again, the Ospreys have loaded up their non-conference schedule with challenging games to better prepare themselves for a postseason run.

They kick things off on opening day (Nov. 13) at Illinois and it gets tougher from there. Meetings with Louisville (Nov. 21), at LSU (Dec. 2), at Dayton (Dec. 5) at Arkansas (Dec. 22) and at VCU (Dec. 30) highlight the daunting non-conference schedule.

Five of these teams were NCAA tournament teams last year while Louisville went to the Elite Eight, though they will have a new look to them.

There are no easy games among these and all are important for their own reasons. Earning at least one victory in this group of five would be huge for the Ospreys moving forward in the regular season and could be the jumping off point they need to really cause some damage in conference play.

Looking at challengers to North Florida’s crown, Florida Gulf Coast once again appears to be at the top of that list. Julian DeBose spent this summer playing with Kansas in the World University Games and looks to take on a heavy load on offense this year.

Mar 18, 2015; Dayton, OH, USA; North Florida Ospreys guard Dallas Moore (14) dribbles the ball during the first half against the Robert Morris Colonials in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Don’t count out the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who finally found a conference willing to take them on as they joined the Atlantic Sun this summer. The Highlanders return four starters would took down Michigan last season.

North Florida has all the tools to be one of the top mid-majors in the country. However, unless they earn victories over, say, Louisville, LSU and/or Dayton while they’re ranked in the top 25, it seems unlikely they will be paid much attention to this season. That’s why I’m here.

Mid-majors deserve some recognition and North Florida is one that should have eyes on them this season.

There are eyes on them now and, if all works out in their favor, the eyes of the nation will be on the Ospreys come March.

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