FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Gary Tuell is afraid of heights. "Acrophobia," says the veteran NSU men's basketball coach. "Had it all my life."
 
But it wasn't until recently that he discovered another fear.
 
"Neophobia," Tuell says.  "The fear of new things." 
 
Tuell is most comfortable with the familiar. The unfamiliar makes him nervous, uneasy, unsure. Engage him in a discussion about the eight returning players on his 2015-16 NSU basketball team and words of praise drip like honey off his tongue. "Talented, unselfish, leaders, motivated students and athletes, great guys you would love to have as sons," he says. But try getting him into a discussion on the seven newcomers to campus and Tuell clams up. Eye twitches follow. He reaches for a bottle of Tums in his desk drawer, complaining about heartburn and an empty pit in his stomach. 
 
"I don't know what we have," Tuell says of the seven new faces who join eight returnees on the NSU team. "Obviously we liked all these guys when we recruited them. But how they'll handle the rigors of a tough academic load, how they'll perform in a league that has more talent, top to bottom, than any DII league in the NCAA, and who -- if anyone -- will make an impact or help us replace the four seniors we lost? Those are questions I can't answer. It's exciting, but it's also a little scary because this team's success in January, February and March will depend a great deal on how much the new guys contribute."
 
Tuell thinks his 12th NSU squad will be longer, deeper and a better rebounding and defensive version than recent editions. He also thinks there is enough firepower to equal the impressive 3-point shooting of past teams. But beyond that, he says it's way too early to predict future success for his new team members.
 
"There's a lot to like about the new guys, and they take turns impressing me in our early workouts. But how they perform under the pressure of games and how they mesh with the returnees would merely be speculation on my part. We're going to play 10 to 15 people the first five or six games so they'll all have opportunities to show me."
 
If the venerable NSU coach is reluctant to heap praise on his recruiting class, he is just as quick to take a "wait and see" approach for other newcomers in the Sunshine State Conference.
 
"It's a great league and a lot of excellent players come into this league every year," he says. "There are always a few transfers who make a huge impact, but the real stars in this league are generally the veterans who have had success in the past and know what it takes to win in our conference. 
 
"I try not to read the stories other schools put out about their new signees," Tuell chuckles.  "The fear of heights and the fear of new things is enough scary stuff in my life. I like to sleep at night. If I read those newcomer stories from the other schools, I lose sleep. We (coaches) all have a tendency to speak in superlatives when talking about our signees because we want to impress our administration and our fans, excite the masses, and show our bosses that all the money we spend recruiting will pay off. But the reality is, a lot of the newcomers -- especially the freshmen -- need time to adjust to the speed and talent in this league. Most of them will be good players in time, but in most cases it's the old guys with experience who win championships."
 
Pressed to talk about his newcomers, Tuell said, "We have four freshmen and a sophomore in a class of seven. It takes most guys a long, long time to grasp the Princeton Offense, even a hybrid offense like we run, so those five younger guys will be confused for a few months. The other two signees are grad school students with one year of eligibility remaining. One played for Fran Dunphy at Temple and the other played for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. Those guys have learned from two of the best coaches in our profession. Luckily for those two guys I only get to coach them for a year. That's probably not enough time for me to undo all the good stuff they learned from Coach Dunphy and Coach Boeheim.
 
"I think we have a nice, young recruiting class. Great guys you would be happy to bring home for dinner or ride the bus with after a tough loss. Guys who all had some success before they got here. But how our class compares to others in this league? Our guys will answer that question once the games begin.
 
"In terms of character and classroom success and representing our university and being good teammates and good citizens, I know I wouldn't trade our recruiting class for any other class in our league," said Tuell.
 
The Sharks signed three high school seniors in November of 2014: Austin Marciniak from Green High School and Green, Ohio; Dwayne Gibson from Park Tudor High School and Indianapolis, Indiana; and Nikita Orap who calls Moscow, Russia, home but spent the past two years at nearby Chaminade Madonna Prep. 
 
In the Spring NSU added four more recruits: Nick Pendergast from Bridgewater, Connecticut, who played and graduated from NCAA DI Temple University; BJ Edwards from Fort Myers, Florida, who played one season at NCAA DI Jacksonville University; Pat Huffine from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Bishop Chatard High School who spent the past year at Don Bosco Prep School in Crown Point, Indiana; and Albert Nassar from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a member of the NCAA DI Syracuse University team before graduating this summer.
 
 
Here's a brief look at the seven newcomers by class:
Freshmen
Dwayne Gibson, Jr. - A 6-5 guard/forward from Indianapolis, Indiana, who won two state championships in the past three years at Class 2A Park Tudor School. Gibson was a model of consistency in his two seasons as a starter, averaging just over 10 points and six rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field and almost 40 percent from three. He also was second on the team in assists as a senior with 79, had 57 steals and 35 blocked shots, leading Park Tudor to a 26-2 record. An honorable mention All-Stater and two-time All-Conference player.
 
"Dwayne has a lot of potential and the ability to impact games in different ways. He really hasn't scratched the surface but once his skill level and work ethic match up with his potential, he can be a very good player in our league. I love his versatility, but eventually I think he can become either a big point guard or a point forward. Things have always come easily for him, and as a result he hasn't learned how to consistently play hard every possession. But he's coachable and he's willing," Tuell said. "As he matures and begins tapping into his potential, his growth and development will be fun to watch."
 
Pat Huffine - A 6-4 guard/forward from Indianapolis, Indiana, and a 2014 graduate of Bishop Chatard High School before spending the past season at Don Bosco Prep School in Crown Point, Indiana. At Bosco, Huffine averaged 12 points and gathered six rebounds per game, making 41 percent of his 3's while shooting 52 percent overall.
 
"He brought it every day," said Bosco's Dave Maravilla. "He was our best defender against some outstanding junior college and prep teams. He played his best in the biggest games. He's a tough kid who loves to compete."
 
"Of all the freshmen," offered Tuell, "Pat may be the most ready to play because of his experience in prep school. That, combined with his ability to play multiple positions, puts him ahead of some other guys. He's a glue guy who does a lot of little things that help to make us better."
 
Austin Marciniak - A 6-3 guard from Green High School in Green, Ohio, Marciniak earned first team All-State honors in Ohio's Division I, averaging 18 points, five rebounds and three assists as a senior. In his final season he led Green High to a 24-1 record and along the way became the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,242 points. He canned a school record 226 3's in his career.
 
"Obviously Austin was a terrific high school shooter, but we loved his work ethic, his commitment to the game and a lot of the intangibles he brings to a team," said Tuell. "He can do more than just shoot the basketball, although he's pretty darn good at that. His dad ran very popular and highly attended basketball camps in Ohio for many years and was instrumental in helping to develop LeBron James. Austin has been married to basketball since the day he could walk. Like all four of our freshmen, he has a love affair with the game and is a very mature player for his age. He's a winner who eats, sleeps and breathes ball."
 
Nikita Orap - A 6-5 guard/forward from Moscow, Russia, who played as a junior and senior at Chaminade Madonna Prep in Fort Lauderdale. Nikita averaged over 20 points as a senior, including a career high 35 against Pace Academy. The lanky Russian shooter led Chaminade Madonna to a 22-7 record in his last season there, making over 40 percent of his 3's and over 50 percent of his field goal attempts. 
 
"Nikita has a lot of skills beyond shooting the ball, but he's definitely a big-time shooter. He's a tough kid who competes," said Tuell. "We recruited him for his ability to shoot, but it didn't take us long to discover his competitive spirit, his passing and handling skills and his willingness to mix it up inside. He's a very bright, fundamentally sound player who fits our system."
 
Sophomore
BJ Edwards - A 5-10, 160 pound point guard from Lehigh Acres, Florida, near Fort Myers, and a transfer from NCAA DI Jacksonville University. As a true freshman in his one season at JU, Edwards played in 27 games and received the starting nod 15 times. A prolific scorer at Lehigh High School, Edwards became a pass-first point guard for Jacksonville, learning the nuances of the point guard position.
 
"Like a lot of freshmen, BJ struggled to understand his role at JU," said Tuell. "For all of his ability and talent, BJ is a team player first. He sacrificed his scoring to try and fit into his role at JU. BJ has to find that balance between getting shots for his teammates and running the team while at the same time using his God-given ability to score, which he can do very well. The year at JU was tough on him but it was also good for him. We want him to use the things he learned at Jacksonville, but we also want to unwrap him a little bit and free him up to score the way he's capable of scoring."
 
At Lehigh, Edwards averaged 21 points as a sophomore, 18 as a junior and 21 again as a senior, becoming his school's all-time leading scorer with over 1,800 career points. As a senior, he was a third-team All-State selection while earning Class 6A, District 12 Player of the Year honors.
 
Graduate Students
Albert Nassar - A 6-5 forward from Fort Lauderdale whose high school career spanned seasons at Cardinal Gibbons High and South Fork High in Stuart, Florida, where he graduated in 2011 before walking on at NCAA DI Syracuse University. Nassar saw limited playing time at Syracuse after a stellar high school career.
 
"Unless you have an NBA future you aren't going to get many opportunities to play at Syracuse," said Tuell. "But just being a part of that program for three years was a great learning experience for Albert. He has skills and he has a big motor. He has a lot of experiences that he can draw upon. We're delighted that he's here and that he wants to help our program. After playing against some of the best players in the nation every day in practice, nothing Albert sees at our level will phase him. He's definitely going to help us."
 
Nick Pendergast - A 6-6 forward from Bridgewater, Connecticut, who played sparingly (30 career games) for NCAA DI Temple University before graduating in May. Pendergast has one season of eligibility remaining after red-shirting for Temple in 2012-13.
 
"Like a lot of guys who end up in high major programs, Nick had limited opportunities to play at Temple, but his coaches were very honest, sincere and genuine in their praise for Nick when we looked at recruiting him in the spring," said Tuell. "From his work ethic to his instincts to his high energy level to his ability to shoot the 3, everything positive they said about Nick has been true. He's a great fit for our program and it took him all of one day playing with our guys for him to win their respect. He does so many little things that don't get noticed and aren't always appreciated by anyone other than coaches and teammates. I'll be very surprised if Nick doesn't have a large impact on our team. He's a very good basketball player but the best thing about Nick is his willingness to do the dirty work. Nick has sneaky length, great hands and great court awareness. Every good team has to have a guy like him if it's going to have success."
 
Pendergast averaged 15 points, earning honorable mention All-State as a high school junior for the Kent School. As a senior he increased his scoring to 17 points per game while garnering second team All-State honors.
 
 
"It's a nice recruiting class and the young guys will have a chance to grow together over the next three or four years," said Tuell. "The two grad school guys bring some experiences and leadership to our locker room. They're all great guys and good students. But how they stack up against other recruiting classes in our league is the great unknown. In fairness to the younger guys, it usually takes a couple of years for them to establish themselves at the collegiate level. But we have every intention of playing them all throughout this season. We want them to make positive contributions immediately. That doesn't mean they have to be stars. But we think they're good enough to help us right away and we're going to give them that opportunity."
 
In addition to the seven newcomers, NSU returns eight veterans: Seniors Mike Chalas, a 6-foot guard, and Chris Page, a 6-5 first-team All-Sunshine State Conference, All-District and All-South Region guard from last year; juniors Casey Carroll, who at 6-7 plays four positions and returns to the team after sitting out last season with back surgery, Harrison Goodrick, a 6-8 center/forward, Jon Back, a 5-10 point guard and Remi Farrell, a 6-6 center/forward; and sophomores Troy Spears, a 6-4 guard/forward and Jordan Stookey, a 6-2 guard.
 
Page and Goodrick were starters a year ago while Carroll was a starter in 2013-14 before red-shirting last year. Spears and Chalas were valuable reserves in 2014-15 who are expected to compete for starting jobs and/or increased roles this season.
 
"If we can play 10 or 15 guys we will," said Tuell. "I really don't want our guys to be hung up on who starts games. We can't afford to be selfish if we hope to be good. To have any chance in this league we have to be a family first and we have to be a group of guys who understand our roles and accept the idea that our whole is greater than the sum of our parts. 
 
"We have some talented guys, some players who can be special. But let's be honest," said Tuell, "we're not the kind of team that walks into a gym and paints fear on the faces of the opposition. We understand that. We know who we are. It's all the parts working together that give us the best chance to be greater than most people think we can be."