NTU men’s hoops excited for new season

CROWNPOINT
Year 2 of the Robb Floco era at Navajo Technical University looks promising.

The San Diego native is still planning and finalizing the schedule for the upcoming 2023-24 men’s basketball team with NTU athletic director George LaFrance.

Last year the Skyhawks compiled a 16-12 record in NTU’s inaugural season as a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

“I’m excited to see our group come in,” Floco said. “We got a good combination of physical, speed and fundamental players. Our first year was good, but I think when you look at Year 2 it’s always better because you kind of know what you’re working with.”

This year’s squad, which reports the first week of August, will include 25 players including seven returnees headed by Brady Ramone, who played every game last year.

“He’s from Tucson and he’s Tohono O’odham,” Floco said. “He was one of our standout players last year.”

The NTU coach said 6-foot-5 shooting guard Jose Miguel, an Ak-Chin Indian Community native, is also returning. Inside the paint, the Skyhawks will look to 6-9 returner Lars Yazzie of Newcomb.

“I see Lars Yazzie playing a bigger role this year,” Floco said. “He came off the bench last year, but he’s improved immensely. This is my second year that I’ve been able to work with him and he’s just grown in his development.”

Floco said those three players are going to be the backbone of the team as the Skyhawks will welcome in a bunch of new faces, which includes former high school standouts like Monument Valley’s Albrandon Byjoe, La Cueva’s Cedarius Yates, Navajo Prep’s Dontrelle Moore, Gallup’s Quinn Atazhoon and Rehoboth Christian’s Talon West.

“Our core players are going to be major contributors and our new recruits are unbelievable,” Floco said. “We’ve done a better job of recruiting kids from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. Our numbers have risen because Navajo Tech and George has given us a platform and it’s increased the interest.”

Floco said he’ll have between eight and 10 players who are Diné on this year’s squad of 25 players.

“They’re excited to represent the Navajo Nation just as much as I am,” he said. “It’s a privilege and I’m taking a lot of accountability because I want to not just let our student-athletes be successful but I want them to represent the Navajo Nation and the different reservations they come from.”

Floco said they had roughly 250 fans at their home games last season, and he’s looking to get more people inside the NTU gymnasium that seats over 1,000.

“We’re going to host Adams State and New Mexico Highlands this year, so we got some programs visiting us,” he said. “I think it’s going to draw. The good thing about Year 2 is I know the community; the surrounding chapters and we got some kids from different parts of the reservation that should be a better draw for us as far as bringing in their families to our games.”

The NTU team will start the season off by playing Hillcrest Prep in early October at a site to be determined.

“They’re going to broadcast the game on Amazon Prime,” he said. “Nick Weaver, a good friend of mine, runs the program at Hillcrest Prep, which had six guys get drafted in the NBA last year.”

Floco said Hillcrest Prep is a program that is based in Phoenix that has a high school and post grad team. The post grad program enlists high school graduates for one year of development before they enter the pros or play on a college team.

Before taking the NTU job, Floco headed the Hillcrest Native Prep team for two seasons that played in 70 games.

“I was able to bring a lot of guys to Navajo Tech last year,” he said. “We played in every Nike and Adidas tournament, and we played against guys that were part of the NBA draft, so that was special.”

Floco said NTU is currently working to join a conference and that’s a process still in negotiation. Nevertheless, as a USCAA member it allows the Skyhawks to play teams from the NAIA to the upper echelon of Division I basketball.

“We’re pushing to not just play at an elite level, but we want to create an elite platform for NTU and the Navajo Nation,” Floco said. “We’re literally at our peak with our program with the ball rolling 100 miles an hour. We started out as a big quarter and now we got to be a pretty big snowball that’s moving in a positive direction.”

Floco said he’s drawing on his 22 years of coaching experience which include stints at San Diego State, Grand Canyon University, North Dakota’s Wilson State College and SAGU American Indian College in Phoenix where he served as the head coach.

“I’ve got a rich tradition of building programs, a rich tradition of turning programs around,” Floco said. “I’ve had great mentors along the way and because of that I think I’m able to share my knowledge, and all of my networks has allowed me to recruit really good players.”

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