May 16, 2023
Former Villages High School Basketball Star Nas Mann Commits to McNeese State
By Kyle Coppola
Former Villages High School Basketball Star Nas Mann Commits to McNeese State
We all knew Nas Mann was capable of greatness. He certainly showed that when he played for The Villages Charter School a few years ago. Mann just needed a chance to further develop his skills before transitioning to the top level of college basketball. Mann found exactly that at Santa Fe College in Gainesville Florida. Mann was extremely fast in High School. He may not have been exactly like his brother Tre Mann who currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder but that’s ok. Nas Mann has different skill sets that set him apart from his brother.
Mann averaged 15.2 points per game in his senior year at The Villages. He was in on 5 rebounds per game while he ended up with a team leading 273 points on the season. After his senior year Mann decided to attend Santa Fe College in Gainesville Florida. He spent two seasons there refining his skills. This past season Mann scored 390 points for Santa Fe and looked like a stronger, more put together player than ever before. Mann took to twitter the other day to let everyone know his decision to go play for the Cowboys.
McNeese State University is part of the Southland Conference. Some notable teams include Nicholls State, Lamar University, University of the Incarnate Word, University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University among others. The current reigning champion of the conference is Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The last time McNeese State won a conference title was 2002 and Mann wants to change that.
The Cowboys as they are known, will be a great landing spot for Nas Mann. Coach Will Wade has coached some of the best teams in college basketball including VCU, Chattanooga, LSU and now McNeese. He has an overall coaching record of 196 wins and 96 losses. Coach Wade has been to the NCAA Sweet 16 with LSU in 2019 and he also made the NCAA round of 32 with VCU in 2016. Mann will benefit from Coach Wade’s abilities to get the most out of his players. His time at VCU showed us that he can bring an average team to greatness.
McNeese finished the season 11-23 last year. It was not the season anyone thought or hoped it would be for the Cowboys. In fact the last time the Cowboys finished with a winning record was the 2011-2012 season which saw the Cowboys get to the Southland Championship game but had to settle for runner-up against Lamar. The hope is that McNeese can turn things around this year.
The added abilities of Nas Mann should certainly help. Mann can drive to the hoop. He is really good when he gets inside the paint. Fast break opportunities fit his game well and he has improved from the three point line as well. He should be a fun player to watch this upcoming season. We wish Nas Mann and his family the best of luck and we cannot wait to see him play for McNeese State during the 2023-2024 Season!
Photos Provided By:
Nas Mann Twitter Page
McNeese State
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
