{"id":57240,"date":"2023-02-18T13:20:47","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T18:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=57240"},"modified":"2023-02-18T13:20:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T18:20:52","slug":"fgcu-mens-basketball-star-returns-to-coaching-stetson-against-the-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2023\/02\/fgcu-mens-basketball-star-returns-to-coaching-stetson-against-the-eagles\/","title":{"rendered":"FGCU men\u2019s basketball star returns to coaching Stetson against the Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ten years after helping take Florida Gulf Coast University\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team, \u201cDunk City,\u201d to a shocking victory, starting point guard Brett Comer is inspiring the next generation of players, but he\u2019s facing off against his alma mater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2013, the 15-seeded FGCU Eagles men\u2019s basketball team stunned the nation with an improbable 78-68 victory over number two Georgetown and sparked the Dunk City craze. FGCU followed it up with another masterpiece, defeating number seven San Diego State 81-71, becoming the first and only 15 seed to advance to the sweet 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comer had a knack for setting up his teammates for success, making him the perfect point guard for Dunk City. A decade later, Comer\u2019s doing the same thing from the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still like for us to play fast,\u201d Comer said. \u201cYou know, I still talk a decent amount; I still communicate with our guys. It\u2019s kind of the same how I was as a point guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comer is in his first year as an assistant coach at Stetson.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s something I always knew I wanted to do once the ball stopped bouncing for me,\u201d Comer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Comer was playing for FGCU, he not only studied his playbook, he also studied the coaches, starting with his head coach Andy Enfield. Now, he\u2019s taking those lessons and putting them into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe let me play free,\u201d Comer said of Enfield. \u201cThat gave us all a ton of confidence and let us play. It\u2019s not one mistake, and you\u2019re subbed out of the game. It\u2019s always trying to, you know\u2026 bad possession, bad play, coach your guys up and make them believe they can do something special. Make them believe that they\u2019ll be fine on the next play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those memories came rushing back on Wednesday as Comer prepared to coach his first game against the team he helped put on the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a little weird looking down there and seeing blue and green,\u201d Comer said. \u201cThis game is not about me. I can\u2019t play one minute, can\u2019t score one point, can\u2019t make one assist. So, I\u2019m trying to help our guys play through this game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But his current team made the plays down the stretch, with Coach Comer cheering them on to pick up a win against the Eagles. On Saturday is a rematch, as Comer returns to Alico Arena for the first time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure our fans will welcome him because he\u2019s such a big part of our history and where we are today,\u201d said Adam Vaniska, FGCU graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited for him,\u201d said Bryan Lewis, another FGCU graduate. \u201cIt seems like he\u2019s had a super successful career going into coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people from that place is what will always make it special for me,\u201d Comer said. \u201cYou know, every place can be special, but it\u2019s the people that make it special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten years after helping take Florida Gulf Coast University\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team, \u201cDunk City,\u201d to a shocking victory, starting point guard Brett Comer is inspiring the next generation of players,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":57242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2162],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57244,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57240\/revisions\/57244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}