After two consecutive seasons of being on the best teams in the country, Faulkner returns to the court for 2021-22 with a considerably different look than previous campaigns. The departure of All-American and SSAC Player of the Year C.J. Williamson as well the loss of All-SSAC standout Garrett Sanderson apparently left a few questions in the minds of NAIA poll voters. After making it to the Round of 16 last season and being a No. 2 overall seed in the NAIA field the previous year, Faulkner opened 2021-22 as a Receiving Votes team despite going 53-7 since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
The conference outlook also shifted this season as the SSAC bid farewell to Florida College while welcoming in national power Talladega. The perception of the depth of the league was on display in the preseason coaches' poll where Loyola drew seven first place votes while Faulkner took the other three. Yet, despite that, the Eagles opened as just the fourth team in the poll, coming in right after Talladega and Stillman, who tied for second.
Changes notwithstanding, the expectations have in no way shifted for Scott Sanderson's team. He and the Eagles still have their sights set March-ward as they eye a berth in the NAIA National Tournament.
 
THE SQUAD
 
 • Trace Hill – The longest-tenured member of the Faulkner roster, Hill has appeared in 90 games for the Eagles, scoring 575 points and collecting 335 rebounds. His best effort came a season ago when he was Second Team All-SSAC while averaging 10 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.
 
• Jordan Hamlette – A scoring maven, Hamlette showed out and showed off over the course of 28 games last season. He turned in 472 points on the year, averaging 16.86 per contest. His 34 against Dalton State in February stands as his career high. Hamlette previously scored 318 points in his freshman season at Lindsey Wilson, giving him 790 in his career entering this campaign.
 
• Austin Rogers – The Alabama State transfer showed himself well during his first season as an Eagle, averaging 9.28 points per game. Playing everything from the three to the five, Rogers displayed an excellent defensive versatility and a high basketball IQ while snagging 112 boards and dishing out 36 assists on the season.
 
• Derrick Donigan – The forward from Atlanta has appeared in 41 games in the Faulkner jersey over two seasons. He scored a career best 13 points against Middle Georgia State Jan. 29. He also snagged a personal best 12 rebounds against Holy Cross Dec. 29.
 
• Daniel Garmendia – Limited to 25 games in his debut season as an Eagle, Garmendia showed a penchant for serving as a sparkplug off the bench. He scored 6.3 points and 1.44 assists per game. He poured in 21 points against Brewton-Parker Feb. 13, marking his career high.
 
• Isaiah Brooks – The 6-4 forward has an athletic prowess well regarded around Faulkner's campus. He earned his way from the junior varsity to the varsity baseball squad while standing out in intramurals and dunk contests on campus. He steps back into organized basketball for the first time in four years. There will be a learning curve, but the hustle he has displayed in preseason is unparalleled.
 
• Jalon Perry – A seasoned scorer with plenty of SSAC experience, the Florida College transfer opens the season with 780 points in his collegiate career. He put up 19 points in four games before taking a medical redshirt at Lindsey Wilson and transferring to St. Peterburg College for a JuCo year. After scoring 281 points there, he signed with the Falcons and put up 480 points including 362 last year.
 
• Jamel Cleveland – The 6-10 Cleveland has looked like an absolute beast during Faulkner scrimmages. A Huntsville native, he was limited to just 25 games across two seasons with Arizona Christian. He previously averaged seven and seven over two years at Columbia State Community College.
 
• Jeremy Jordan – A Portsmouth, Va. Native, Jordan really found his shot in his third season with NCAA Division III Keystone College. He amassed 698 points in his career with the Giants but poured in 449 of those during the 19-20 season. He averaged 18 points per game that year along with  5.6 rebounds.
 
• Cheikh Ndiaye – A bouncy, 6-9 Senegalese center, Ndiaye has displayed explosive ability at times over two junior college stops. He played in 17 games for the Southeastern Iowa Blackhawks in 20-21. His previous season at Lee College (Texas), he played in 31 games with a personal best 14 points on two separate occasions.
 
• C.J. Hines – It would be hard to ask for much more than what Hines produced during his true freshman season as he averaged 9.41 points per contest including a 28-point outburst against Brewton-Parker and 24 against Dalton State. C.J. "Shines" also shot an unbelievable 46 percent from three on the season.
 
• Derek Murphy – Murphy showed himself a capable bench guard during his true freshman season with Faulkner. In 16 games, he put up double digits in scoring three times. His personal best came Jan. 30 against Middle Georgia State with a 12-point performance.
 
• J.C. Norris – One of the great unknowns of the Faulkner roster after redshirting a season ago, Norris has shown himself well during the team's preseason scrimmages. He has flashed a knack for knocking down the open three at a high percentage while also showing himself to be a good decision maker with the ball in his hands. Those skillsets could help him earn minutes sooner than later this season.
 
• Mike Murry – A former standout at both Macon East Academy and Carver High School, Murry averaged 20 points per game his senior season before originally committing to Chattahoochee Valley Community College. He figures to redshirt this season, but will be a talent to watch moving forward.
 
• Trey Williams – A Laurel Hill, Fla. native, Williams averaged 17.1 points per game over the course of his career, highlighted by 21.2 per contest his senior season. He will have to fight for minutes early in his career, but has the outside scoring ability to make an impact down the line.
 
THE STAFF
 
When Faulkner takes the floor for its season opener, it will mark the first game that Scott Sanderson has coached at Faulkner without former assistant Drew Wilson. After six strong seasons with Faulkner, Wilson took the Director of Basketball Operations gig with Arkansas State during the offseason, leaving Sanderson to fill the void with a familiar face.
 
Returning to the "heart of our fair Southland" is Jake Mitchell, who cut his teeth in coaching as a graduate assistant at Faulkner. Mitchell spent the last two seasons as the top man on the bench for Freed-Hardeman men's basketball under the tutelage of Drew Stutts.

In addition to Mitchell, the Eagles will also benefit once again from the wisdom of volunteer assistant James Jackson. Having played for Sanderson's father, Wimp, at Alabama, Jackson brings a wealth of experience to the Faulkner bench. He served previously as a coach at Carver High and offers his unique blend of encouragement and accountability to Eagle players.
 
THE SCHEDULE
 
The conference is as tough as it has been in quite a long time. If Faulkner is to claim one of the two automatic berths given to the SSAC, it will need to navigate a road that opens a week before Thanksgiving on the road at Mobile. SSAC play continues for the Eagles Dec. 4 when Talladega comes to call. Then the run of conference play really begins Dec. 18 when Dalton State visits the friendly confines of Tine Davis Gymnasium. From there, it's a sprint to the conference tournament with the Eagles playing 10 SSAC games in the month of January. Faulkner will have to deal with each SSAC squad twice, making for six games against preseason ranked foes Loyola (5), Talladega (11) and Stillman (17).
The non-conference slate includes non-NAIA teams Fort Lauderdale and Baptist Bible as well as Tennessee Southern (formerly Martin Methodist), Freed-Hardeman, Voorhees, Florida Memorial, Brescia and Thomas in addition to an unknown opponent on the final day of the Battle at the Beach.
 
THE STATS
 
• 3 – Total number of regular season non-conference losses by Faulkner over the last two campaigns. The losses came by a total of nine points and two of them were in the 2019-2020 season. That year, Faulkner lost by five to NCAA Division II Tuskegee and by two to a ranked Talladega squad. The lone such loss in 2020-21 came by two points at a neutral site against then No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan.
 
• 8 – Faulkner's national ranking in scoring offense a season ago. The Eagles put up 2,529 points and averaged 87.2 per contest. As part of that effort, Faulkner knocked down 751 threes at a clip of 38.5 percent.
 
• 9 – Where Faulkner ranked in the country last season in scoring margin. The Eagles outpaced opponents by an average of 16.2 points per game while finishing 15th in the nation in scoring offense per game, an average of 87 points per contest.
 
• 23 – Consecutive wins for Faulkner in Tine Davis Gymnasium. That stretch dates back to a Dec. 13, 2019 loss to Talladega.
 
• 90 – Total number of games played by the longest-tenured Eagle, Trace Hill.
 
THE START
 
Faulkner opens the campaign with the Jimmy Faulkner Classic, an annual draw that allows the Eagles to find their footing near the open of the season. The weekend includes a first-time matchup with fledgling program Fort Lauderdale as well as a renewal of competition with Florida Memorial, a Sun Conference squad that has become increasingly familiar to the Eagles in recent years.
Faulkner tips off the season Friday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Fort Lauderdale in the final game of the first day of the Jimmy Faulkner Classic.