ATHENS, Ohio – The FGCU men's basketball team begins year three under head coach Joe Dooley on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles travel to face the Ohio Bobcats in a matinee affair scheduled to tipoff at 2 p.m.
 
OPENING TIP
The 2015-16 season will mark FGCU's 14th season in program history, ninth in the Division-I era and fifth as a full-fledged D-I postseason eligible club.
 
TWEETABLES
1) FGCU is coming off its third postseason appearance in only four seasons of eligibility in 2014-15 as the Eagles participated in the CIT.
2) The Eagles defeated Ohio at home last year, 79-62. This is the second and final game of the home-and-home series.
3) The Eagles are just 5-8 all-time in season openers and 3-5 in the D-I era.
4) FGCU finished last year just 1-4 in its final five games (21-7 prior), tied for the worst closing stretch in program history (three times, 2007-10).
5) Redshirt junior Demetris Morant is expected to be out until late December as he recovers from surgery to repair a right stress fracture.
 
SCOUTING OHIO
* The Bobcats finished last season 10-20 overall and 5-13 in the Mid-American Conference.
* Similar to FGCU – which lost three of its top-four scorers – Ohio lost four of its top-five scorers, with its leading returning scorer being Antonio Campbell at 10 points per game.
* Kenny Kaminski is eligible for Ohio after transferring from Michigan State following the 2013-14 season in which his 49.4 3-point percentage led the Big Ten Conference.
* Ohio was picked to finish third in the MAC East Division, with junior forward Campbell being selected to the Preseason All-MAC East Division Team.
* The Bobcats are led by Saul Phillips, who is in his second year at the helm after spending seven seasons as the head coach of North Dakota State.
* Ohio has made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including advancing to the 2012 Sweet 16 and 2010 Second Round.
 
MID-MAJOR POLL
FGCU is one of three Atlantic Sun Conference members ranked or receiving votes in the Preseason College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 as the Eagles picked up 16 votes in the initial poll of the 2015-16 season. Defending A-Sun Champion North Florida is ranked No. 13, while league newcomer NJIT checks in at No. 24. In addition to those two squads, the Eagles also face South Dakota State – the first team out of the top 25 with 101 votes – in their upcoming schedule.
 
The poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast and Western Athletic.
 
NATION'S ELITE
FGCU is one of only 46 teams in the country that has won 20+ games in each of the past seasons. Meanwhile, the FGCU women have also accomplished that feat, making FGCU one of only 13 D-I schools in the nation to have their men's and women's basketball programs both win 20 or more games each of the past three seasons.
 
FGCU
UConn
Louisville
Duke
North Carolina
Kentucky
Baylor
Iowa
Gonzaga
Wichita State
BYU
Akron
Saint Mary's
 
PROTECTING THE ROCK
FGCU set a single-season program record last year by having eight games of single-digit turnovers. That total matched all the single-digit turnover games in the Eagles' entire pre-D-I history, spanning five seasons from 2002-07. In 2013-14, FGCU had six single-digit turnover games as through Dooley's first two years in charge of the Eagles, they have secured 14 of the program's 20 all-time single-digit turnover in the D-I era (2007-15).
 
2007-08: 0
2008-09: 0
2009-10: 1
2010-11: 1
2011-12: 2
2012-13: 2
2013-14: 6
2014-15: 8
 
D-I IMPROVEMENT
Coinciding with taking care of the ball better, FGCU has steadily improvement its D-I record nearly every season, and has improved its winning percentage under each of its now three D-I era coaches.
 
2007-08: 10-21
2008-09: 11-20
2009-10: 8-21
2010-11: 10-20
Dave Balza: 39-82 (.322)
 
2011-12: 15-17
2012-13: 26-11
Andy Enfield: 41-28 (.594)
 
2013-14: 22-13
2014-15: 22-11
Joe Dooley: 44-24 (.647)
 
MOST Ws IN FLORIDA
Over the past two seasons, only the University of Florida has won more games among D-I schools in the state of Florida than FGCU.
 
Florida: 52
FGCU: 44
Miami: 42
North Florida: 41
Florida State: 39
FIU: 31
UCF: 25
Jacksonville: 22
USF: 21
FAU: 19
Bethune-Cookman: 18
Stetson: 16
Florida A&M: 16
 
A-SUN PROGNOSTICATIONS
FGCU garnered one first-place vote and 54 points overall in the A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll to finish behind North Florida, which collected 63 points and the other seven first-place votes. The Eagles were also predicted to finish second in the Media Poll as in that ranking they had six first-place votes and 208 points overall.
 
NJIT (49 points) was predicted by the coaches to finish in third place, with Lipscomb (42) slotted for a fourth-place finish. Jacksonville (28) was fifth, followed by USC Upstate (26) while Kennesaw State (13) and Stetson (13) both tied for seventh.
 
Redshirt senior Julian DeBose was a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Conference Team. DeBose (Washington, D.C./Rice/St. John College) enters 2015-16 as FGCU's leading returning scorer after averaging 11.6 points per game last season to go along with 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest.
 
THE ONLY ONE
Redshirt senior Filip Cvjeticanin is the only remaining member of FGCU's historic run to the Sweet 16 in 2013. Then a sophomore, Cvjeticanin (Zagreb, Croatia/American School of Madrid) played just 12 total minutes in the Eagles' three NCAA Tournament games and did not score. The sharp-shooter would have graduated last year but he had back surgery and utilized a redshirt year during the 2014-15 campaign. Additionally, assistant coach Michael Fly, now in his fifth year with the Eagles, is the only remaining coach who was on staff as FGCU became the only No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to advance to the Sweet 16.
 
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Included in the 2015-16 docket for the Eagles are a record 18 home games – the most since the program's final year in Division II in 2006-07. The Eagles will host the pre-Thanksgiving Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic and welcome participants Youngstown State, North Dakota and Bowling Green before embarking on a pre-New Year stretch at home which features Massachusetts, South Dakota State, Louisiana Tech and La Salle all visiting Alico Arena between Dec. 13-31.
 
Of FGCU's 16-game non-conference slate, 12 contests are against D-I opponents and the breakdown of those dozen formidable opponents based off 2014-15 results is as follows:
 
7 teams with a winning record
7 teams with a top-125 RPI
5 teams with a top-85 RPI
4 teams which made postseason appearances
4 teams which won at least 20 games
 
In the four-game stretch alone from Dec. 13-31, FGCU will face a pair of Atlantic 10 Conference teams and a pair of clubs which won 24 and 27 games a year ago, respectively, in South Dakota State and Louisiana Tech. Combined, SDSU, La Tech, UMass and La Salle went 85-51 last year, won three postseason contests and finished with an average RPI of 79.
 
GOLDEN SUMMER
DeBose won a gold medal as part of Team USA at the World University Games (WUG) in South Korea ... was one of only two players (SMU's Nic Moore) on the team not from Kansas University ... finished the tournament averaging 4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 10.8 minutes per contest ... scored a team-high 18 points in the USA's final group-round game against Switzerland ... connected on 50 percent (13-26) of his shots from the floor during the WUG, including 3-8 from 3-point range ... added nine offensive and nine defensive rebounds, with the nine offensive boards representing the second-most by any guard on the roster  ... also contributed six steals and a block as Team USA won its games by an average of 20.3 points.
 
2014-15 BY THE NUMBERS
1: FGCU lost just once when leading at the half, going 17-1 overall. Over the past two seasons under Dooley, the Green and Blue is 35-1 when leading at the half.
5: FGCU set a single-season program record by holding opponents to 28.6 percent from 3-point range, good for the 5th-best in the nation.
10: FGCU went on a 10-game winning streak during conference play, the longest such streak in the D-I era and third-longest overall (14 in 2003-04 and 2006-07).
14: The Eagles were 14-1 when holding opponents below 40 percent from the floor, and are 27-2 the last two seasons under Dooley.
17: The Eagles went 17-0 when out-rebounding their opponent, and in the last two years they are 35-2 when securing more rebounds than their opposition.
24: The Eagles ranked 24th in the nation by securing 38.1 rebounds per game.
32: FGCU was 32nd in the county by holding opponents to just 39.5 percent from the floor.
70: When scoring 70 or more points, FGCU was 14-0. Over the past two seasons it is 25-2 when reaching that mark.
 
UNDER 60
Last year, FGCU tied a single-season program record by holding 13 opponents to 60 points or less in a game. Since Dooley took over the FGCU program in 2013-14, FGCU has held 21 teams to 60 points or fewer. The Sweet 16 team in 2012-13 also held 13 teams to 60 points or less, but prior to that – in five seasons of D-I history – FGCU teams had only held opponents to 60 points or less 20 times.
 
FGCU was exactly on par with the D-I national scoring average last year of 67.4 points per game. The Eagles held opponents below that threshold 18 times last season, and they scored above that threshold 18 times.
 
REPLACING THE BACKCOURT
FGCU will be looking to replace the graduated backcourt duo of Bernard Thompson and Brett Comer. The two standouts rank first and second, respectively, on the program's all-time scoring list as their 3,312 combined points account of 19 percent of FGCU's total D-I points (17,641). Additionally, the two combined for 1,091 assists – 35 percent of the program's D-I assists (3,075), as Comer (845) himself is responsible for 27 percent of the Eagles' all-time D-I assists.
 
Comer graduated ranking 24th on the all-time NCAA list for career assists. Thompson, meanwhile, was the only player in the NCAA (any division) last year who had at least 1,800 career points, 600 career rebounds and 250 career steals.
 
HOME SUCCESS
FGCU is 43-7 at Alico Arena since 2012-13. Three of those seven losses have occurred in the past four games, with the seven setbacks overall coming to Lipscomb, Iona, Mercer, FIU, North Florida, USC Upstate and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. FGCU was 13-4 at home last year, went 15-2 in 2013-14 and 15-1 in 2012-13.
 
Versus A-Sun foes during the regular season since 2012-13, FGCU is 23-2 at The Nest. The Eagles had won 21 straight regular-season games at Alico Arena against A-Sun competition before losing to North Florida on Feb. 25 (other loss: Lipscomb in overtime during the 2012-13 season).
 
DUNK CITY IMPACT
The national exposure from the Eagles' run to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed in 2013 has had far-reaching impacts throughout the university and Southwest Florida:
 
> A 27-percent increase in freshman applications the next year, allowing the school to become more selective in its admission. The average high school GPA of admitted students in the fall of 2013 was 3.37, and that increased to 3.71 in the fall of 2014.
 
> The university's fundraising office doubled its number of alumni donors in a year.
 
> The Athletic Department posted a record $4.4 million in external revenues during the 2015 fiscal year, up from $4.2 million in 2014 and a significant jump from only $3.1 million in 2013 prior to the run to the Sweet 16.
 
> Over the past two seasons, FGCU has totaled 145,670 fans at Alico Arena. That number represents 30 percent of the entire A-Sun's attendance.
 
> With a seating capacity of 4,333, an average of 4,229 fans (97.6 percent capacity) flocked to Alico Arena last year. The 97.6 percent capacity ranked 20th in the nation and ahead of Louisville, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU will have its home opener on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. against Texas Wesleyan. The NAIA member is off to a 2-0 start to the season already, and plays again on Thursday evening. Tickets are still available and can be secured by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets, by calling 239-590-7145 or by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office Monday-Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
An extremely limited amount of season tickets are still available for the 2015-16 FGCU men's basketball season. Single-game tickets are currently on sale. For the latest ticket information, log on to FGCUAthletics.com or call the Alico Arena Ticket Office at 239-590-7145.

SOCIAL CENTRAL
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men's basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, Like us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB and watch us on Snapchat at FGCU_MBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is entering his third year with the Eagles in 2015-16 and coached six all-conference selections during his first two seasons. He guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to their third-straight 20-win season and third-straight postseason appearance with a berth in the CIT. Prior to arriving in SWFL, Dooley spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Kansas under head coach Bill Self. During those 10 seasons, Kansas produced 300 wins, nine straight Big 12 regular-season titles, six Big 12 Tournament championships, six NCAA Sweet 16s, five NCAA Elite Eight appearances and two Final Fours, including the 2008 National Championship. Dooley recently completed his sixth season overall and has a record of 101-76 (.570), and in his two years with FGCU is 44-24 (.647).

SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.