Tars Release 2014-15 Schedule!

The Rollins College Tars have released the schedule for the 2014 and 2015 basketball season. This season will be the 35th for Head Coach Tom Klusman.  Brad Ash (14th season) and Kyle Frakes (26th season) will once again join Klusman on the Tars bench.
  This year's schedule features a pair of tournaments, including the annual trip to Las Vegas. Rollins will have 10 games against schools who appeared in the post-season a year ago.
  The Tars are coming off a 14-13 season last year and return eight letter winners from a season ago. Alex Blessig (10.8 ppg) is the leading returning scorer for the Tars. Also returning as starters are Jeff Dirkin (7.5 points and 6.1 rebounds a game last season) as well as Chris Uhle (9.3 points per game.) The Tars will also rely on Scott Schuette who will be relied upon heavily for his senior season.
  Rollins season will begin with an exhibition on November 5th vs Brunel University out of England. In the next pair of games Rollins will face Clark Atlanta and Paine on November 14th and 15th. Clark Atlanta will be the host in this two day event named the SSC/SIAC cross over.  The home opener will be on November 18th when the Tars will take on Warner.
 Another tournament follows as Rollins will head to Johnson C.Smith in Charlotte. Rollins will face the hosts on the 21st before taking on CIAA Champion Livingston on the 22nd of November.
 Rollins will then host the two Puerto Rico teams (Mayaguez and Piedras.
  After a busy November, the Tars will travel to Boca Raton for the conference opener against Lynn on December 4th. The December schedule will be light. After a 13 day lay off due to final exams, The Tars will travel to Las Vegas. This year it will be a new tournament for Rollins in Vegas when they play in the Dixie State Challenge in Orleans Arena. The Tars will due battle with Saint Martin on December 17th before they tangle with recent DII runner up Seattle Pacific on the 18th.
 The Tars will open January out of conference when they take on Palm Beach Atlantic (January 2) and Florida Memorial (January 3.)  The Tars then jump back into conference action when they battle a pair of South Regional participants from last season. First it will be Barry on January 7th and then last season's co-regualr season champion Saint Leo on January 10th. The Tars will close out a five game home stand when they battle Nova Southeastern on January 14th.
 Rollins then has a quick three game road swing when they face Eckerd (January 17th,) Florida Tech (January 21st) and another NCAA South regional qualifier Tampa on January 24th.  The Tars close out  the first half of conference play when they face co-conference champion and tournament champion Florida Southern January 28th.  Lynn comes to Winter Park on the last day of January.
  February will see the Tars start the month on the 4th at Rubin Arena vs Palm Beach Atlantic. The seventh will be a trip to the Marion Bowman Center and a date with Saint Leo. Barry will be the opponent on the 11th of February before a game versus Eckerd at home on the 14th. The last two road games will be at the "Shark Tank" (Feb.18) to face Nova Southeastern before a trip to the Martinez to take on Tampa on the 21st. The last two regular season games will be home versus Florida Tech on the 25th and the 28th vs arch-rival Florida Southern.
  The conference tournament will return to Kissimmee from March 5-8 at Silver Spurs Arena. NCAA regionals take place from the 14th-17th of March. This year's Elite Eight will be in Evansville,Indiana at the Ford Center from March 25th-28th.
 As always you can catch all the Tars hoops action on the Tars Sports Network on 91.5 FM WPRK and worldwide on RollinsSports.Com.  Jim "Shooter" Ferro, Nate Weyant and Robert Siegel will be on the air.

A Look Around The SSC: Florida Institute of Technology

The Florida Institute of Technology (referred to as FIT or Florida Tech is a private research institution located in Melbourne,Fla. The 130 acre primary campus is located near the Kennedy Space Center.
 With a enrollment of 8,985 (5,582 undergrads) FIT was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College. The current name came about in 1966.
  Despite it's small size and young history Florida Tech is currently ranked among the best national doctoral-granting universities in the United States. FIT has more than 60,000 alumni, which include a National Teacher of the Year recipient, the director of Nasa Center, five astronauts, a bunch of generals, a major league pitcher, and thousands of engineers and pilot's.
 The athletic teams at Florida Tech are nicknamed the Panthers. The school fields 11 men's and 11 women's teams. They of course are a DII school and members of the Sunshine State Conference. The sports include baseball, men's and woman's basketball, men's and women's crew, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, men's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and women's volleyball. The most famous athletic alum of Florida Tech is former Pitsburh Pirates and Boston Red Sox Pitcher Tim Wakefield. He played first base and set the school home run record as a first baseman in 1987. His number (3) was retired in 2006.
 Florida Tech won two national championships in Men's Soccer (1988 and 1991.) They also won a individual Women's golf title in 2007 (Daniela Iacobelli.)