Spanning Norcross, Sugar Hill, Grayson, and more, The Nawf represents Gwinnett County as they look to pull off some upsets in this year’s TBT.
Coached by a tandem including Brandon Goodwin, The Nawf is making their TBT debut in 2023, and they’ve got familiar names on the team, like former Laker Andrew Goudelock and former Memphis Tiger Kareem Brewton. The team has youth on their side, with all but two players on the roster being under the age of 30.
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Current Roster:
- AJ Cheeseman (New Orleans and UMES)
- Alphonso Willis (Texas A&M-Commerce)
- Amin Stevens (Florida A&M)
- Andrew Goudelock (College of Charleston)
- CJ Wilson (Young Harris)
- D’Marcus Simonds (Georgia State)
- Damion Rosser (New Orleans)
- Derek St. Hilaire (New Orleans and Jacksonville State)
- Kareem Brewton (Memphis)
- Paul Harrison (North Greenville)
- Qiydar Davis (Louisiana Tech and Indiana State)
- Raynere Thornton (Gordon State and Memphis)
- Ricky Madison (High Point)
Coaching Staff:
- AJ Mahar (GM)
- Brandon Goodwin (Asst. Coach)
- Aaron Robinson (Asst. Coach)
- E. Victor Nickerson (Asst. Coach)
- Wesley Witherspoon (Asst. Coach)
- Shay Agboola (GM)
Region:
- Louisville, Kentucky
Team MVP: Andrew Goudelock
Coming out of Gainesville, Georgia, Goudelock attended the College of Charleston and faced off against Steph Curry as SoCon rivals. A tremendous shooter, Goudelock can score from pretty much anywhere on the court. The oldest player on The Nawf, Goudelock has the veteran leadership needed on a young team.
After bouncing around the NBA and G-League, he’s played in Italy, Tel Aviv, China, Lithuania, and now Spain. Goudelock is this team’s MVP, and he’s carved out a solid overseas career. He’s 34, but make no mistake, Goudelock has the skill to match up with anyone he plays in TBT. His defense isn’t stellar, but it’s enough, and his offensive skill set obviously more than makes up for any defensive shortcoming he may have.
Make-or-break Player: Derek St. Hilaire
The former New Orleans Privateer is quite the skilled guard. Just 6’ tall, St. Hilaire played at Jacksonville State for two years before breaking out at New Orleans. Over two seasons with New Orleans, St. Hilaire shot 35.8% from behind the arc at UNo, along with 16.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG, despite routinely being the shortest player on the court.
In addition to the basic numbers, the advanced stats also favored St. Hilaire during his time in Louisiana. His steal % in 2021-22 was 7th in the Southland, and his defensive rating of 99.7 was Top 15 in the conference in the same season. He’s a good perimeter defender, in addition to being a high-level scoring threat. It’ll be fun watching the backcourt duo of St. Hilaire and Goudelock.
Team Outlook
16 days 💆🏾♂️💆🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/2ZjCP7LqOa
— The Nawf TBT (@TheNawfTBT) July 9, 2023
The Nawf has an uphill climb in this year’s TBT. As the 8 seed in the Louisville region, they’ll have to face 1 seed Gutter Cats in the first round, quite a high task. However, if The Nawf is going to shock TBT, it’ll come on the back of a vintage Andrew Goudelock performance. The former Laker and Houston Rocket, currently playing for Bilbao in the Spanish League, is the key to this team.
However, he’s not the only baller on this team. Look no further than Ricky Madison, Kareem Brewton, and Derek St. Hilaire. Madison, a former High Point Panther, averaged 9 PPG and 8.5 RPG in his final college season and now plays professionally in the UK. Brewton is currently playing in Poland and started 35 games for Memphis in 2 years. St. Hilaire has spent time in the G-League after scoring over 20 PPG at New Orleans.
Ultimately, however, it’s just such a tough draw for The Nawf. They’ve got to play the Gutter Cats in the first round, who are stocked with Isaiah Miller, Will Cherry, and Kyle Hines. That’s hard for any team to beat, yet alone an 8 seed making their debut. As someone who was born in South Carolina, I’ll be pulling for The Nawf as the closest located team of course, but I find it difficult to see a scenario in which they win multiple games, or even one.