Coaching Legacy of Ricky Pepper

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Fort Myers, FL - Florida Gulf Coast are finally ready to make the jump to Division 1 basketball with the hire of Coach Ricky Pepper. Pepper comes from St. John's University where he was an assistant under Steve Lavin for 2 years at St. John's and previously for 2 years at UCLA. Lavin had nothing but good words of his protege of 4 years.

In an early press release, Pepper has selected 29 year old Nick Bennett and 36 year old Simon Cage as his assistants. Bennett is a very driven young assistant looking to get his feet wet under Coach Pepper. Cage was brought in to help with scouting and has been known to be hit or miss with his recruiting. Pepper and his assistants have their hands full with a new program to Division 1 basketball.

The Ricky Pepper era begins now...

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Reserved for Season History

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Reserved for Schedules


2011-12

Spoiler

Florida Gulf Coast 2011 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Nov 11	at Bethune-Cookman	Lost, 58-49
Nov 14	vs Drexel	Won, 63-60
Nov 18	at Iowa	Lost, 113-74
Nov 20	at Bradley	Won, 78-68
Nov 23	at ^Austin Peay	Lost, 82-75
Nov 24	at ^MD-Eastern Shore	Lost, 65-57
Nov 25	at MD-Eastern Shore	Won, 88-66
Nov 28	at Arizona State
Dec 2	at Florida International
Dec 8	at Florida Atlantic
Dec 13	at Army
Dec 17	at IUPUI
Dec 22	vs Butler
Dec 29	vs Penn
Jan 3	at *North Florida
Jan 5	at *Jacksonville
Jan 11	vs *Stetson
Jan 17	vs *Mercer
Jan 19	vs *Kennesaw State
Jan 24	at *Campbell
Jan 26	at *Gardner-Webb
Jan 31	vs *Lipscomb
Feb 2	at *Belmont
Feb 8	vs *East Tennessee State
Feb 10	vs *SC Upstate
Feb 14	at *Mercer
Feb 16	at *Kennesaw State
Feb 23	at *Stetson
Feb 28	vs *Jacksonville
Mar 1	vs *North Florida
Mar 4	at Marquette

^South Padre Island Invitational
*Conference Game

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Reserved for NCAA History

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Your 2011-12 FGCU Eagles

2011-12 FGCU Eagles
#	NAME	POS	HT	WT	CLASS	HOMETOWN
5	Christophe Varidel (66)	PG	6'2"	175	SO	Lithuania
25	Sherwood Brown (62)	SG	6'4"	193	JR	Cape Coral, FL
32	Anthony Banks (72)	SF	6'6"	210	JR	Lauderhill,FL
34	Kevin Cantinol (60)	PF	6'9"	253	SR	Serbia
20	Chase Fieler (54)	PF	6'7"	217	SO	Morgantown, WV
2	Brett Comer (65)	PG	6'2"	180	FR	West Palm Beach, FL
24	Bernard Thompson (62)	SG	6'3"	185	FR	Columbus, GA
40	Filip Cvjeticanin (57)	PF	6'9"	230	FR	Croatia
22	Ed Rolax (57)	PF	6'6"	230	SR	Cape Coral, FL
21	Marlon Rivera (56)	PG	6'2"	180	SR	Puerto Rico
23	Eddie Murray (55)	PF	6'8"	204	JR	Fort Myers, FL
42	Marcus Blake (55)	PF	6'7"	200	FR	Miami, FL
52	Eric McKnight (70)	PF	6'9"	215	SO	Raleigh, NC

Coach Pepper has some talented shooters but lacks any true size. This team really fits into Pepper's up tempo offense. There will be a constant rotation at the Center position while Coach Pepper tries to find something that works. It will be a tough test for a young team as they open with the majority of non-conference games on the road, including trips to Iowa and Arizona State.

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Preseason Top 25

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Nov 1, 2011
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	North Carolina	0-0
2	Duke	0-0
3	Kentucky	0-0
4	Memphis	0-0
5	Ohio State	0-0
6	Kansas	0-0
7	Pittsburgh	0-0
8	Florida	0-0
9	UCLA	0-0
10	Wisconsin	0-0
11	Michigan State	0-0
12	Arizona	0-0
13	West Virginia	0-0
14	Syracuse	0-0
15	Indiana	0-0
16	Oregon	0-0
17	Georgetown	0-0
18	Louisville	0-0
19	Xavier	0-0
20	Maryland	0-0
21	Marquette	0-0
22	Vanderbilt	0-0
23	Alabama	0-0
24	Mississippi State	0-0
25	Oklahoma State	0-0

BREAKDOWN
Big East--6
SEC--5
Big Ten--4
ACC--3
PAC 10--3
Big 12--2
A-10--1
Conference USA--1


SEASON PREVIEW

TEAMS TO WATCH
#14 Syracuse
Coach: Jim Boeheim

#15 Indiana
Coach: Tom Crean

#16 Oregon
Coach: Dana Altman

#24 Mississippi State
Coach: Rick Stansbury

First Team All American
PG Tu Holloway Xavier
6'0" 180 lbs
SG Ashton Gibbs Pitt
6'2" 190 lbs
SF Harrison Barnes UNC
6'7" 210 lbs
PF Jared Sullinger Ohio State
6'9" 275 lbs
C Robert Sacre Gonzaga
7'0" 260 lbs

Second Team All American
PG Jordan Taylor Wisconsin
6'1" 185 lbs
SG William Buford Ohio State
6'5" 225 lbs
SF Oly Ashaolu Oregon
6'7" 235 lbs
PF John Henson UNC
6'10" 200 lbs
C Festus Ezeli Vanderbilt
6'11" 245 lbs

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Preseason 2011

Atlantic Sun Conference Standings - Updated: Nov 1, 2011
TEAM	OVR
Belmont	77
Campbell	71
Lipscomb	71
Florida Gulf Coast	70
Kennesaw State	70
E. Tennessee State	69
Gerdner-Webb	69
Jacksonville	69
SC Upstate	68
Stetson	68
North Florida	67
Mercer	66

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@

Florida Gulf Coast AT Bethune-Cookman
Moore Gym
Daytona Beach, FL


Pepper's Career Starts With Tough Loss

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at Bethune-Cookman Wildcats
Nov 12, 2011	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Florida Gulf Coast (0-1)	27	22	49
Bethune-Cookman (1-0)	30	28	58

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Christophe Varidel	28	3-9	0-2	0-0	2	1	2	0	2	6
Brett Comer	27	1-5	0-1	1-2	1	2	3	0	4	3
Anthony Banks	24	2-11	0-2	2-4	8	2	1	9	3	6
Filip Cvjeticanin	26	1-4	0-0	1-3	10	2	0	0	0	3
Kevin Cantinol	16	0-2	0-0	0-0	6	1	1	0	0	0
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Sherwood Brown	10	5-11	2-4	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	12
Chase Fieler	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Bernard Thompson	20	3-11	0-2	0-0	6	0	0	0	0	6
Ed Rolax	12	2-4	0-0	2-4	3	1	1	0	0	6
Marlon Rivera	11	1-3	0-1	0-0	2	2	1	0	0	2
Eddie Murray	10	1-1	0-0	0-2	2	1	0	0	0	2
Marcus Blake	11	1-3	1-1	0-2	3	1	0	0	0	3
TEAM TOTALS		20-64	3-13	6-17	45	14	9	0	9	49

Bethune-Cookman Wildcats
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
R. Johnson	31	3-6	0-0	5-7	0	4	2	0	1	11
S. Elliot	29	5-10	0-2	2-2	2	0	2	0	2	12
A. Coleman	20	4-9	0-1	3-5	6	1	1	1	1	11
G. Holloman	19	1-2	0-0	0-1	2	0	0	0	1	2
D. Baroum	28	1-5	0-1	1-2	13	3	1	3	1	3
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
J. Bryant	10	3-10	1-4	0-0	2	1	1	0	0	7
M. Mark	8	0-1	0-1	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	0
A. Smith	20	1-2	0-0	2-2	4	1	1	0	0	4
K. Dukes	18	1-2	0-1	0-0	1	1	0	0	2	2
M. Trapp	3	1-2	0-1	2-3	0	0	0	0	0	4
R. McAfee	13	1-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	1	2
TEAM TOTALS		21-51	1-11	15-22	33	11	8	4	9	58

Pepper's Piece
"It all went south for us in the later part of the first half. We held the lead throughout the beginning of the game, but went very cold into much of the second half. We need to get back to the practice gym to work on our offensive execution. I'm confident we will put out a better performance next time...you can't shoot much worse!"




UP NEXT: Drexel 0-2 (0-0)