MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State Conference announced the 2024-25 All-SSC Men’s Basketball teams, as well as specialty awards on Wednesday afternoon. The second-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks had three student-athletes honored, two earning first-team All-Sunshine State Conference honors, including MJ Iraldi becoming the third Nova Southeastern Men’s Basketball player to be named SSC Player of the Year and Head Coach Jim Crutchfield earning Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time in his NSU tenure.
Crutchfield adds another award to an already legendary career, having previously earned the SSC Coach of the Year honor in the 2018-19, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons. Crutchfield has led the Sharks to unprecedented success across all levels of collegiate basketball, guiding the program to a 127-5 (0.962 winning percentage) overall record since the beginning of the 2021-22 season, which includes a 77-3 mark in league play, and a 24-2 record in tournament games. Crutchfield has guided NSU to four consecutive SSC regular season championships (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25), three straight SSC tournament titles (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24), three consecutive NCAA South Region championships (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24), and a NCAA Division II National Championship (2022-23).
Crutchfield’s Sharks, ranked second in NCAA Division II, finished the regular season with a 27-1 record, going 19-1 in SSC play and entering Thursday evening’s Sunshine State Conference game have won 15 consecutive games since January 8th. NSU leads NCAA Division II in points-per-game (105.3), assist/turnover ratio (2.26), assists-per-game (24.5), scoring margin (+25), rank second in field goal percentage (0.527), third in steals-per-game (12.2), fifth in fast-break points-per-game (20.83), sixth in rebounds-per-game (42.59), and eighth in rebound margin (+8).
Iraldi finished the regular season as the Sunshine State Conference’s leading scorer, averaging 24.4 points-per-game. Iraldi ranked top five in the league in steals-per-game (2.0), field goal percentage (0.588), three-point field goal percentage (0.411), and free throw percentage (0.847). Following the SSC quarterfinal game against the eighth-seeded Barry Buccaneers on Tuesday night at the Rick Case Arena, Iraldi became the fourth Sharks player to surpass 700-points in a season and is just 21 points shy of setting the program record for points in a single season. Iraldi set career-high across the board during the 2024-25 season, including field goals (267), field goal percentage (0.562), three-point field goals (58), three-point field goal percentage (0.426), rebounds (164), assists (83), blocks (10), and steals (56). Iraldi scored a career-best 42 points in the penultimate game of the regular season against Embry-Riddle, tying the second most in a game in program history. Iraldi capped the regular season by being recognized with Sunshine State Conference and NABC/D2 CIDA Player of the Week honors, averaging 34 points, eight rebounds, while shooting 61% from the field.
Iraldi joins Sekou Sylla (2021-22) and current NSU Men’s Basketball assistant coach RJ Sunahara (2022-23) as Sunshine State Conference Players of the Year. Iraldi is also a candidate for both the Bevo Francis Award and the Trevor Hudgins Award, presented by Small College Basketball.
Dallas Graziani joins Iraldi on the first-team, while also garnering all-defensive team recognition, in his return season to the Sharks and continues to make a stamp on the program. Graziani has already broken the single season assist record at NSU (277+), which leads NCAA Division II and is second across all levels of NCAA Men’s Basketball. Graziani also leads all levels of NCAA Men’s Basketball in assist/turnover ratio (5.89), while ranking fourth in DII in steals (78) and fifth in steals-per-game (2.69). Graziani set the single game assist record (17) on November 3rd, 2024, and tied the mark on January 29th, 2025. Graziani leads NSU with 12 double-doubles this season.
Graziani joins Iraldi as a candidate for the Bevo Francis Award, presented by Small College Basketball.
Ryker Cisarik earned All-Sunshine State Conference second-team, as well as all-defensive team honors. Cisarik led the Sunshine State Conference in field goal percentage (0.597), and ranks inside the top-10 in the league in points (521), points-per-game (18.0), rebounds (214), rebounds-per-game (7.2), blocks (42) and blocks-per-game (1.4). In his second season with the Sharks, Cisarik has put up career-highs across the board – points, points-per-game, field goals (87), field goal percentage, three-point field goals (31), free throws (116), free throws percentage (0.806), rebounds, blocks, and steaks (42).
Cisarik accompanies Iraldi and Graziani as a Bevo Francis Award candidate and joins Iraldi on the Trevor Hudgins Award watch list.
The full All-Sunshine State Conference teams can be found below.
| 2024-25 Men’s Basketball All-SSC First Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| G/F | MJ Iraldi | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | West Deptford, New Jersey |
| G | Jadin Booth^ | Florida Southern | Gr. | Omaha, Nebraska |
| F | Alex Steen* | Florida Southern | Jr. | Panama City Beach, Florida |
| G | Dallas Graziani | Nova Southeastern | Jr. | Pembroke Pines, Florida |
| F | Leo Beath | Lynn | Jr. | Malibu, California |
| 2024-25 Men’s Basketball All-SSC Second Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| F | Ryker Cisarik | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado |
| G | Dru Nickson~ | Embry-Riddle | Sr. | Melbourne, Florida |
| G | Carson Smith | Lynn | Gr. | Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |
| G | Joshua Ward | Palm Beach Atlantic | Jr. | Memphis, Tennessee |
| F | Tyson Leitao | Tampa | Sr. | Chicago, Illinois |
| 2024-25 Men’s Basketball All-SSC Third Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| G | Isaiah Placide | Eckerd | Sr. | Hampton, Georgia |
| G | Bryan Williams† | Tampa | Sr. | West Palm Beach, Florida |
| G | Emilis Butkus | Rollins | Jr. | Vilnuis, Lithuania |
| F | Jimel Lane | Barry | Jr. | Miami, Florida |
| G | Beau Frericks | Rollins | Gr. | Cary, Illinois |
| 2024-25 Men’s Basketball All-SSC Defensive Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| F | Alex Steen* | Florida Southern | Jr. | Panama City Beach, Florida |
| G | Dallas Graziani | Nova Southeastern | Jr. | Pembroke Pines, Florida |
| F | Ryker Cisarik | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado |
| F | Peyton Gerald | Florida Southern | Sr. | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| G | Joshua Ward | Palm Beach Atlantic | Jr. | Memphis, Tennessee |
* = 2023-24 All-SSC Second Team, All-Defensive Team, Defensive Player of the Year
^ = 2022-23 All-SSC First Team
~ = 2023-24 All-SSC Third Team
† = 2021-22 All-Newcomer Team
No. 2 Nova Southeastern continues tournament play with the Sunshine State Conference semifinal on Thursday, March 6th, at the Rick Case Arena. The Sharks enter the game with 79 straight victories at the Rick Case Arena and will look to tie the NCAA Division II record for consecutive home wins. To stay up-to-date on Sharks Men’s Basketball, be sure to follow on Instagram & X at NSU_MBasketball. To support the Sharks Men’s Basketball program, click here.
