Sylvania "Sly" Watkins (born February 18, 1985) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who currently plays for the Moncton Tri City Tide of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; ) was a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketball League teams joined with four new franchis ...

(NBL). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at Okaloosa–Walton Community College and then Crichton College. Watkins also competed at the high school level with South Atlanta High School in his hometown,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. As a professional, he has spent much of his years with the Moncton Miracles, seeing success primarily on the defensive end and has rejoined the new Moncton team, Tri City Tide in 2024.

High school career

Watkins attended South Atlanta High School in

and played varsity basketball for four years. In his junior year, he led his team to a 27–3 record and earned All-State honorable mention, first-team all-region, and first-team all-city honors. As a senior, Watkins averaged 12.5 points, 13.0 rebounds and 4.5 blocks and earned the same honors as he did the previous year. South Atlanta ended the season with a 30–2 mark and a berth at the 4A state championship game.

Collegiate career

As a freshman, Watkins played

at Okaloosa–Walton Community College in

Niceville, Florida Niceville is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States, located near Eglin Air Force Base on Boggy Bayou that opens into Choctawhatchee Bay. It is part of the Crestview- Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

, averaging 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The Raiders finished their season with a 21–9 record, second place in the

Panhandle Conference The Panhandle Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 8. The conference consists of four state colleges and one community college located in Florida. Members Member institutions are Chip ...

, and berths to the state and

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

tournaments. In November 2004, Watkins signed a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

(NLI) to play with the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

program at

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

for the following season. Hilltoppers head coach

Darrin Horn Darrin McKinley Horn (born December 24, 1972) is an American college basketball head coach at Northern Kentucky, having previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Texas and a head coach for the Division I (NCAA) programs at Wes ...

praised him for his style of play and expected him to become a significant part of the team's front line. However, Watkins later decided to not enroll at WKU for personal reasons. Watkins competed with Crichton College in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

for the 2006–07 season. In his debut, he posted a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds against

Philander Smith College Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNC ...

. On November 21, 2006, he was named

TranSouth Athletic Conference The TranSouth Athletic Conference (TSAC) was a college athletic conference for smaller colleges and universities located in the Southern United States. It was affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compe ...

Player of the Week in men's basketball after leading Crichton to two wins to start off the season. He was averaging 23.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals that week. At the end of the season, Watkins led the Comets to an Elite Eight appearance at the NAIA tournament. His team also won the TranSouth tournament and Watkins was named first-team all-conference.

Professional career

In 2009, Watkins took part in the Southeastern Exposure Basketball League (SEBL) for Rome Servpro-1. He later joined the Georgia Gwizzlies of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

(ABA) for the 2010–11 season. Following his stint with the Gwizzlies, Watkins competed at the Kentuckiana

Pro–Am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

summer league with Team Atlanta. In 2011, Watkins returned to the ABA and signed with the Atlanta Experience. However, he left the team in December, when he signed with the Moncton Miracles of the newly-created

(NBL).

References

External links

Sylvania Watkins
at Eurobasket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Sylvania 1985 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Atlanta Centers (basketball) Moncton Miracles players Northwest Florida State Raiders men's basketball players Power forwards Victory University alumni Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball players