Daniel Shirley: Mercer basketball teams succeeding on and off the court

There have been several special moments for the Mercer athletics department the past few years.

The men's basketball team's win over Duke in the NCAA tournament.

The baseball team's multiple trips to the NCAA tournament.

The men's soccer team winning the Southern Conference regular-season title in its first season in the conference.

The women's soccer team winning the Southern Conference tournament title and heading to the NCAA tournament, also in its first season in the conference.

The kickoff of the football program and all of its "firsts" the past three seasons, including a win over No. 3 Chattanooga this season.

And on and on.

The two basketball teams are looking to build on that this season, and both teams have had strong starts as they continue to build up to Southern Conference play.

The men's team is 8-1, which is the program's best start as a Division I team, and it has a road trip to Auburn, Arkansas, Ohio State and Kennesaw State next up on the docket. The women's team is 5-3 after a win over Kennesaw State, and it is preparing for a home game with Faulkner on Sunday to kick off a stretch of four home games in the next five to close out the calendar year.

Both teams have a lot of new faces, but they are also talented and deep and have a chance to make some real noise this season. But it's not just on the court where they are succeeding, and this past week has offered more examples of that.

Senior Jibri Bryan was named as a nominee for the Allstate NABC Good Works Team. Bryan was nominated for tutoring third-graders and fifth-graders at Alexander Elementary, mentoring students at Bloomfield Middle School, helping prepare students for the SAT at Southwest and speaking to students at Rutland about the importance of attendance, while taking trips to local children's hospitals to visit patients and holding basketball clinics in the community.

Sophomore guard Sydni Means was named the conference's student-athlete of the week (while also being named the women's player of the week), and that's no small feat at Mercer. Means has a 3.65 grade point average and is majoring in sports business, and she is growing into a terrific player with more minutes and confidence this season.

There are a lot of terrific players in both programs, on and off the court, and they're just getting started this season.

Contact Daniel Shirley at 744-4227 or dshirley@macon.com

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 5:35 PM.