Florida Friday

The 2005-06 season is well underway in the state of Florida. The state

appears to be as strong as ever with a number of teams that have the talent

to make some noise nationally.

Saturday night, Tallahassee Community

College knocked off Coastal Georgia Community College, who is ranked number six in the country. Archie Miaway, a future Georgia Southern Eagle, led TCC with 24 points. TCC limited pre-season All-American Will Schackleford to eight points on 4-of-13 shooting.

In other action, Hillsborough Community College is off to a 4-0 start after a big win over FCCJ Wednesday. HCC continues to be led by the inside trio of Othello Hunter, Tavaris Watts, and Jeremy Sampson.

Chipola, the most talented team in the state is off to a 2-0 start after two easy wins last weekend. The Indians have used a very balanced attack with only one player playing over 20 minutes in either game. In another big early season game Indian River outlasted Santa Fe on Wednesday night. Freshman Dale Saunders led IRCC with 24 points.

Action will definitely heat up this week with many big games on the schedule. Friday night, Chipola will take on Southeastern Community College, which has won two of the last three national championships. Miami Dade will also

look to stay undefeated on Friday as they travel to St. Petersburg. This

game will future two of the best big men in the country as MDC's Stuard

Baldonado will match up against St. Pete's Kenny Williams.

Player of the Week: Blake Young, 6-foor-2 Sophomore guard, Daytona Beach CC

The 6-foot-2 sophomore guard from Orlando has helped the Falcons get off to a

3-0 record to start the season. Young, an outstanding athlete, has averaged

20.5 points in the first three games. The combo guard can play the point or

wing and has an excellent mid-range game. Young is being recruited by Florida A&M and Louisiana Monroe, but his graduation status is still up in the air.

Recruiting Updates: 6-foot-8 Palm Beach forward Jeff Palmer has committed to Florida Atlantic University. Palmer, who played last season at Providence, will join Palm Beach teammate Tavarus Harris at FAU. Hillsborough big man Jeremy Sampson signed with UTEP where he will join his current teammate Tavaris Watts. Miami Dade guard Xavier Dawson, who is currently waiting to be cleared academically to play, has been offered by UTEP. Dawson is also considering FAU and UAB. Daytona Beach teammates Demetrius Green and Stanley Branch signed letter of intents Wednesday. Green with Middle Tennessee State and Branch with Florida A&M.