Nazareth






Online College Basketball





Sid Lunsford
Sid Lunsford - PG

Team: Nazareth Golden Flyers [ID #782] Bookmark Nazareth Golden Flyers

Location: Rochester, NY (Northeast)

Conference: II.2 [Division 1]

President: TavesSoul send message
          [since June 25th 2020 | last seen April 20th 2024]

Coach: Rod Marino

Arena: Kidera Gymnasium

Rank: #24

Rating: 330.76 - Overall Position: #31

Fan Mood: 132.70

Alumni Mood: 183.65

Prestige: 126

Team Notes:

• Feb 18 2038: 1-star prospect Andrej Kovačić committed.
• Jan 30 2038: 2-star prospect Matias Saarinen committed.
• Nov 28 2037: 3-star prospect Adriano Baptista committed.
• Oct 08 2037: Nathan Foreman was hired as the new assistant coach.
• Oct 08 2037: Assistant coach Frank Dixon was let go.
• Sep 03 2037: Rod Marino was appointed as the new head coach.
• Sep 03 2037: Maurice Maclin was fired as head coach.
• Sep 03 2037: Promoted to conference II.2.
• Mar 21 2037: 2-star prospect Tory Sneed committed.
• Mar 15 2037: Made the national tournament field.


Record:

Wins: 26 Losses: 11 Pct: .703     Conf Wins: 18 Conf Losses: 9 Conf Pct: .667 Conf Rank: 4     Last10: 6-4 Streak: W1

Pts Ave: 91.4 - 83.3     Pts Diff: +8.1     Team Power Index: 155.2

Press Releases:

Oct 06 2033: 2034 Season Preview - by TavesSoul on July 30th, 2023

Projected Starting Lineup
PG Chet George - 6’0.5”, 190 lbs, 6’7” WS, 157 SI
SG Stacey Thompson - 6’5.5”, 185 lbs, 6’8” WS, 149 SI
SF Eugene Thrasher - 6’8”, 210 lbs, 7’1.25” WS, 142 SI
PF Floyd Terrell - 6’10”, 225 lbs, 7’3” WS, 133 SI
C William Pike - 7’0.5”, 260 lbs, 7’5” WS, 135 SI

Key Bench Players
SF/PF Devon Boone - 6’7.5”, 225 lbs, 6’10.25” WS, 150 SI
PG/SG John Clarke - 6’1.5”, 195 lbs, 6’3.25” WS, 143 SI
C/PF/SF Ty Sloan - 7’1.5”, 245 lbs, 7’6.25” WS, 111 SI

Summary
The Golden Flyers come into the year with an exciting lineup, but one that lacks a complete superstar to steer the team. Senior Chet George takes over the starting PG spot, having averaged 6.2 APG for the last two years as the team’s starting SG. 7’ Senior William Pike will start his final year bringing his elite interior scoring and defense to the team, while young guns Stacey Thompson, Eugene Thrasher and Freshman Floyd Terrell try to live up to the flashes they’ve shown stepping into starting roles. Boone will be pressing Terrell for the starting 4 spot, and there's a lot of switchability for matchups with Boone, Thrasher, Thompson, and Terrell for the 2-4 positions.

Expectation
3rd-5th range in the Conference, Second Round of National Tournament



Mar 10 2024: State of Nazareth: End of Season Report - by TavesSoul on March 5th, 2022

With the Golden Flyers officially missing the cut for the National Tournament field, President Taves held his traditional end of season press conference.

"While we're disappointed not to make the National Tournament, it's been an impressive season from the team this year," said Taves. "We came into the season expecting the team to be fighting to stay in the Conference, instead Coach Reeves put us a few points away from clinching promotion."

Taves credited Senior leaders Chad McCurdy, Herb McNulty and Dan Hopkins for the teams impressive run. "These three have been instrumental in the best years in the programs history. We'll miss having them on campus, and know that we're in for a tough transition."

Still, there's a buzz around campus with the team having brought in an exciting class of recruits this year. "I know I've said this plenty of times, but we're very excited about next year! Reed Fox and Chandler Chance will continue the tradition of elite Seniors leading the charge, but getting to see Jared Freeman, Teddy Adam and Park Ming start to take over is exciting. We were lucky to bring in a JUCO big in Dirk Livingston who should help solidify our frontcourt immediately while we let Tommy Meyer and Noah Fenton get up to speed. I don't want to raise expectations yet, but this looks like the core of a team, that if we get the right recruit next year, can continue pushing Nazareth forward."


Jan 13 2022: State of Nazareth: 2022 Mid-Conference Season Report - by TavesSoul on October 24th, 2021

With the Conference season at it's official mid-point, team President Taves held a Press Conference.

"What an exciting start to the season it's been so far!" said Taves. "We all expected it to be a tough season of battling to stay up with the transition to D1, and redshirting Hopkins. Yet again, though, Coach Reeves has the team well over-performing our expectations. You'd think we'd learn by now! We're only 3 wins away from the magical 15 Conference win number we need to clinch staying up... but we're also sitting in first place having beat some really amazing teams to get there."

Taves went on to credit the play of Seniors and Farrell Grimes, as well as key Junior PG Stephen McKinnon.

Finally, as is his way, the President talked a bit about the future for Nazareth.

"We're very excited! We've seen amazing growth so far out of Chad McCurdy, Reed Fox and Herb McNulty, who should all continue to grow into more rotation minutes next year. We did lose out on our big three recruiting targets that we had invested a lot of time and effort into with Marshall Youngblood (Clarkson), Tyrod Culpepper (SUNY Geneseo) and Mel Mack (Slippery Rock) all committing elsewhere despite our best efforts. But with the surprise commitment of SG Park Ming, and hopefully one or two more commitments to come, we're very excited about a starting five of McKinnon, Sykes, McNulty, Hopkins, McCurdy next year."


Nov 20 2021: Nazareth 2022 Conference Tipoff Preview - by TavesSoul on October 10th, 2021

After what has to be consider a successful non-conference start to the season, winning Pod 2 of the first ever DiRT Invitational, the Golden Flyers are gearing up for their Conference season to start. With all indications that SF Dan Hopkins, PG Chandler Chance and C Teddy Adam will redshirt the year, the starting lineup looks pretty set at four positions:

Junior PG Stephen McKinnon, Senior SG Landon Rafferty, Junior SF Ricky Rykes, and Senior PF Farrell Grimes

McKinnon, Rafferty and Grimes all come into Conference play averaging over 15 PPG. All three will be expected to carry the load in different games.

Junior SF Ricky Sykes takes up the starting three spot with Hopkins sitting out the year. He isn't as explosive offensively as Hopkins, but he's a very good defender who can help lock down the perimeter with his extreme wingspan.

The big question of the season will be which C gets the most minutes between Senior C/PF Aaron Burton and Sophomore C Chad McCurdy. Burton's a proven player in Division II, but there's some questions about whether his size at 6'7½" will be a problem in Division I at the 5. McCurdy on the other hand has size at 6' 10½" with a 7'1¼" wingspan to go with an elite offensive game, but there's still questions about his defensive game and his propensity to foul.

Team President Taves is hoping for the team to stabilize this season as the young players grow into their roles for next season and stay in Division I, while setting in place the building blocks to be a future DI contender.


Mar 25 2021: State of Nazareth: End of Season Report - by TavesSoul on September 20th, 2021

With the Golden Flyers surprisingly knocked out in the first round of the National Tournament, President TavesSoul held a press conference.

"While we were disappointed to get knocked out of the Tournament so early, we're ecstatic with the team this season," said Taves. "While we were expecting to be in contention for the top of the Conference, Coach Reeves once again out-performed, leading the school to it's second ever Conference Championship."

Taves credited the inside-outside tandem of Juniors Landon Rafferty and Farrell Grimes, and the emergence of Sophomore PG Stephen McKinnon.

"I'm excited to have gotten this team back up to Division 1 basketball. It's the perfect time, with no Seniors graduating and the young players all putting in great training work this year. Hopefully we can stay out of the regulation discussion."