2022 TEAMS Revealed
The 2022 Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off Palms Division will include Northern Illinois, South Dakota, Sam Houston, and LIU Brooklyn. They will spend Thanksgiving Week in Southwest Florida. The 2022 Tournament is set for Monday and Wednesday, Nov. 22 and 23, at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.
ON-CAMPUS MATCHUPS - All to be played on November 17th
LIU Brooklyn at Marquette
South Dakota at Mississippi State
Northern Illinois at Georgia Tech
Sam Houston at Utah
ABOUT THE PALMS DIVISION
The quartet of Sam Houston, NIU, South Dakota, and LIU Brooklyn will play a four-team bracketed tournament on November 22nd and 23rd.
SAM HOUSTON - The Bearkats are coming off of a successful season as a first-year member of the WAC. SHSU finished 13-5 in league play and one game out of first place. This season the Beakts bring in Qua Grant via Wichita State and big man Kaosi Ezeagu via Kansas State to help bolster a rotation worthy of competing for the WAC title again. In fact, the Bearkats are an early projected Top 100 team, per the Bart Torvik 2023 forecast at press time.
SOUTH DAKOTA - The return of AJ Plitzuweit is all of the offseason rage in Vermillion this offseason. Plitzuweit missed the 21-22 season with a medical redshirt. He had a stellar 20-21 campaign, earning Summit League Newcomer of the Year, All-Summit League First-Team honors, and put up two performances of 37+ points. The rest of the Coyotes are tough too, highlighted by the return of Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Tasos Kamateros, plus the intra-conference addition of Paul Bruns (via North Dakota).
LIU BROOKLYN - The Sharks will make the trip south to Ft. Myers accompanied by some preseason NEC buzz - thanks to the addition of the efficient Maurice Commander (via UIC) and key returnees Tre Wood, Alex Rivera, and Kyndall Davis.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Huskies will enter the second year of the Rashon Bruno era with plenty of optimism. Keshawn Williams and Kaleb Thornton are back in the fold with another year of experience under their belt. Two players who can really fill it up for NIU.
Head Coach Jason Hooten’s Bearkats are poised to win the Palms Division this November.
In its first four years, the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off has quickly become one of the top early-season events in the country and a fixture in the Southwest Florida sports calendar. In 2021, both nights of the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off Beach Division were played in front of sold-out crowds that saw the in-state Florida Gators defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes with a dramatic buzzer-beating 3-pointer to take home the Tournament title. The Tournament, which has hosted several Final Four-caliber programs in its first four seasons including Gonzaga, Kansas, Auburn, Loyola (Chicago), Florida, and Ohio State, will welcome four power conference programs to the Beach Division for the second straight year. Additionally, three teams from the 2020 field – Gonzaga, Kansas, and Auburn – are potential No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2022 Beach Division includes Mississippi State, Utah, Georgia Tech, and Marquette.