Isiah, Part II

The Falcon search for their first D1 win continues tomorrow Isiah Thomas brings his Golden Panthers into AA for a rematch of last year's game, which was the first time two former NBA players had battled as coaches in AA.

BG won that encounter on that backs of Dee Brown's 20 and Scott Thomas' 10. Score was 67-62, and BG shot 48% for the game.

FIU appears to be improved this year, although it is hard to believe that Thomas' virtual non-stop flirting with the New York Knicks contributes productively to the program. They are 4-4. Their wins are not spectacular--two of them are non DI, and one is over Utah Valley, by 3 points. Utah Valley has an RPI roughly where BG's is. They also beat a decent TN-Chattanooga by 21 in Miami. Their losses are to Jackson State, Florida State, Marshall and Louisville, none of which has an RPI lower than 104 right now.

We're catching them at the right time. Much of their pre-season hope was built on Top 100 recruit Dominique Ferguson, but he's been ineligible for the first semester (this might give us an idea how a Top 100 recruited ended up at FIU.) They also are looking forward to the eligibility of Alex Legion who is a transfer from Illinois.

I checked in with the papers in Miami. Suffice it to say that the they are more focused on their first trip to a bowl game in football.

If the FIU program does turn around under Thomas, it will be the first time they have really shown any chops at all. Some more FIU fun facts:

• 4-3 vs MAC in last 10 years
• Sun Belt 1-2 this year
• 10 straight losing seasons

They play a slightly more uptempo game than BG and score 69 points a game but allow 72. The stats below reflect only the offensive sides of the coin where FIU, to no one's surprise, is considerably stronger. FIU is an OK 3-FG shooting team, but only marginally better than BG.

NCAA Basketball

Defensively, BG has forced more turnovers and is holding teams to lower scoring than FIU is. Rebounds and free throws are pretty similar.

They are led by 6'8" Eric Frederick, a very solid PF who is averaging 17 points and 7 boards while playing only 26 minutes a game. (FIU shares minutes a lot). DeJuan Wright is also averaging 14 points per game. Phil Gary and Jeremy Allen also produce efficiently on offense.

I'm sure BG will be an underdog out there. I posted earlier this week about the current status of our team, which is pretty lost. As we wait to see if and when it all gets put together, we can keep our fingers crossed that this is a good opportunity. FIU is not good defensively, and it would be nice to see us hit a couple shots and combine that with some decent defense. More than anything, I think getting a little confidence would be a big help.