Palm Beach State men’s basketball rises to No. 1 in national NJCAA Division II rankings

Palm Beach State College’s men’s basketball team has been playing with the kind of controlled chaos that makes a gym hum. Every possession this season has carried the signature of a group sharpening its edges—fast, physical and poised. A few weeks into the season, that style has vaulted the Panthers into the rare air of a No. 1 national ranking in the NJCAA poll.​

The Panthers opened their campaign with a style that mirrors the region itself: sun-drenched optimism with a little South Florida swagger. Their pace has been relentless. Opponents often look gassed by the midpoint of the second half, which is exactly how third-year Head Coach Tae Norwood wants it. “We recruit athletes who can run,” Norwood said after a recent road win. “But speed without purpose is just wind. These guys are learning how to turn energy into execution, and when they do, they’re tough to guard.”​

That evolution has centered on a backcourt that plays older than its years. Sophomore guards Marvin Golf and Jovan Palavra have emerged as the heartbeat of the team, toggling between tempo and control. They can drag a possession into the half court, read the floor, then flip the game back into fast-forward. In a key nonconference win over Region 8 rival Miami Dade College, Golf scored 14 points and, more importantly, dictated rhythm. Afterward, he summed up the Panthers’ approach with a phrase that has started to stick around the locker room. “We’re not trying to be perfect,” he said. “We’re trying to be connected. When we’re locked in with each other, it feels like the court opens up.”

Connection is no small feat at the junior college level, where rosters reset almost annually. Palm Beach State’s group is a blend of incoming freshmen, returners and transfers from four-year programs looking for a better fit or a second chance, giving the team the eager edge of players with something to prove. The Panthers’ practices mirror that urgency—full-court scrimmages, defensive drills with the volume turned all the way up, and possessions replayed until every angle is correct.​

In a competitive Florida college landscape where talent is abundant and turnover is constant, Palm Beach State is carving out a reputation for development, which Norwood describes as “building a basketball brain.” As the season moves deeper into December and conference play looms in January, the Panthers look less like a group searching for identity and more like one writing its own.