Last Chance U candidate – Northwest Florida State Raiders
Yet another JUCO out of Florida that would be a perfect team to follow for a year. Last Chance U is going to love the story of Northwest Florida State for a number of reasons. The Raiders are in the same conference as Chipola and they are going to have to face Donnie Tyndall and the Indians twice a year, while that is a great story, the story lies in the fact that the Raiders are a hot destination for former Division 1 athletes providing them with their “Last Chance” at a division 1 scholarship.
The Raiders did not have the season they were hoping for last year, especially given they had three former Division 1 athletes. One of the players Carte’Are Gordon was a former top-75 recruit and only played six games with the Raiders before leaving to join the DePaul Blue Demons. The other two players were the Wojcik twins from Missouri State. None of the big-time players could find their role and none of them contributed much. That led to the Raiders going 0-12 in their conference. This was an outlier of a season as Northwest Florida State is one of the best teams in Florida almost every year and even won a National Championship at the conclusion of the 2014-2015 season.
Northwest Florida State is going to continue to be a destination for the high major talent. This season they have another high-profile transfer coming in. Ohio State transfer Alonzo Gaffney is slated to play for the Raiders this season. Every season the Raiders, have former division one talent, highly ranked JUCO players, and an offense that puts up a ton of points. They are a thing of beauty to watch play basketball when things are going right. The Raiders have a great story and compete for titles. Last Chance U is going to love that story especially considering they are giving many of their players their last chance at division one athletics.