Praise rolling in after NSU men’s basketball wins first national championship

Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens left a text message.

Legendary broadcaster Lesley Visser offered her congratulations, too.

Erik Spoelstra went one step further, sending a photo of him and his Miami Heat coaching staff watching the big game.

As it turned out, Nova Southeastern University won its first men’s basketball national title on Saturday, defeating West Liberty, 111-101, in the NCAA Division II championship game in Evansville, Indiana.

After the game and four hours of celebrating, NSU coach Jim Crutchfield finally checked his phone and was shocked to find 168 messages, including those mentioned above as well as a text from Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.

“I’m not one of these high-tech guys,” said Crutchfield, 67. “But my phone has been blowing up.”

Crutchfield said his associate head coach, Jordan Fee, is on his phone “non-stop.” Crutchfield is the opposite of that, but he has been forced to pay more attention to his phone over the past few days.

“I’m hearing from people I haven’t seen in 40 years,” said Crutchfield, who is from West Virginia. “I got emails from people I met in grade school who saw me on national TV (in Saturday’s title game). I guess they said, ‘Hey, I know that guy!’”

Spoelstra and his staff watched NSU’s game – which had a 3 p.m. tipoff – before the Heat lost to the Brooklyn Nets later that night.

“They had our game on while they were working out,” Crutchfield said. “They took a selfie giving us a fist bump.

“It’s incredible that (Spoelstra) would take the time to write me a long email and attach the photo. He said: ‘Please congratulate the players for me.’ It was flattering.”

Another feel-good post-championship moment came when Florida Atlantic University coach Dusty May – currently the toast of the college basketball world – talked about NSU in his post-game press conference last Saturday.

In fact, just a short time after FAU stunned favored Kansas State to reach the Final Four, May was using part of his press-conference time to talk about NSU.

May was asked when he thought he had a team that could make the Final Four, and he responded when his Owls defeated NSU in a preseason scrimmage.

“Dusty said we play with more intensity and with more full-court pressure than anybody he’s ever faced,” Crutchfield said. “He said that when he beat us he thought, ‘Wow, we are really good.’”

The NSU Sharks, who finished the season 36-0, should be “really good” again next season. Crutchfield said he expects to lose just two players off this season’s roster: leading scorer Will Yoakum (20.2) and reserve Lukas Speidel (6.1 points).

Yoakum will be hard to replace after shooting an absurd 52.5 percent on 3-pointers and 83.2 percent on free throws. He was the MVP of all three of NSU’s tournaments: Sunshine State Conference, South Region and the Elite Eight national finals.

However, four starters are set to return for next season: NCAA Division II National Player of the Year R.J. Sunahara (18.9 points), Jonathan Pierre (14.4 points), defensive ace Kobe Rodgers (13.2 scoring average) and point guard Dallas Graziani (11.3 points, second nationally in total assists with 241).

Crutchfield is also likely to return, although he did leave the door open just a crack when asked if he would ever like to coach a Division I program.

Said Crutchfield: “At one point I thought, ‘I’m too old (for a new challenge).’ Now I’m thinking, ‘Maybe I’m not too old. Maybe I can do it one more time.’

“But it would have to be the exact right situation, and part of that would be someplace that is not winning; The only interest I would have is if I found a place where I could change a program.”

He has certainly changed NSU.

And he has 168 text messages as proof.