FIU Panthers Prowl

Wacky night at The Branch

Saturday night's doubleheader against Lousiana-Monroe showed why true sports junkies forego Leno or Letterman for UC-Santa Claus vs. WestNorth Central Easterns on ESPN3. It's not always aesthetic, but I'd count it as entertainment. Well, I would if I didn't have to cover it.

In the women's 71-61 loss, FIU guard Jerica Coley's first half answered the question, "What if one of the nation's best players took on a bad team one-on-five?" Because while five FIU players scrambled like my brunch eggs in trying to play defense, only Coley played offense. The other four could've been replaced by three light poles and a catapult. The light poles could've set the screens, the catapult could've passed the ball and neither would've airballed shots from inside 5-feet as the non-Coley part of the FIU lineup did.

No exaggeration. FIU coach Cindy Russo called out Marita Davydova for "throwing (stuff, ahem) over the backboard" but Davydova wasn't the only one with Donald Duck GPS. It went from abysmal to comical.

Coley in the first half: eight for 14 from the field. Everyone else in the first half: one for 16.

Defensively, especially in the second half, ULM did what it wished. Open jumers off the wing, down on the baseline. Players who would've gotten the ball slapped off their extensions for going inside against Diamond Ashmore or Fianda Mansare, both out with injuries, worked freely. There's still no excuse for a 6-15 team to feast on you like the Shoney's buffet.

In the men's game, FIU showed tremendous maturity, not just in learning from the recent close losses to South Alabama and Middle Tennessee State, but in rebounding from their own in-game forehead-slapping screwups that could've sent them to a third consecutive loss.

In the first half, Tola Akomolafe drained a three-pointer. I turned to the ULM media relations guy sitting next to me and said, "That's the best thing that could happen for your team. Now, he'll keep thinking he can actually hit that shot. And in the second half, he'll take one or two he shouldn't."

Akomolafe's seven for 34 from three-point range. Unless it's desperation at the end of a game, any three-pointer he shoots is a bad decision, even if it drops. Sure enough, with the score tied at 71 and just over a minute left, Akomolafe jacked up a three with time left on the shot clock. Of course it clanked away and led to a fastbreak layup by Amos Olatayo (Akomolafe goaltended) that put ULM up 73-71 with 1:02 left.

FIU's Tymell Murphy, who always seems to come up with a clutch basket to stop runs, lost the ball driving into a thicket of Warhawks on the next possession. R.J. McCray came out with it and ULM called timeout. "Run the play!" Pitino screamed (among other things) at Murphy as FIU went into a brief huddle.

Ah, but when ULM opened the door by Trey Lindsey stepping on the sideline after the inbounds play, FIU walked through the door crisply. Smith's driving layup while drawing a foul on Olatayo put FIU up and Deric Hill's steal, drive and free throws gave FIU the win. They could've sagged after bad plays by Akomolafe and Murphy, after the big blown lead Thursday, after two down-to-the-horn games didn't go their way. They didn't. That's some maturity for a team that's still really a new unit.

Thursday, Pitino snapped that there were no positives to take from the loss to 19-4 Middle Tennessee State. Pitino's young and has only 21 games under his belt as a college head coach. Sometimes, the problem with young coaches, people who are young for any profession, is they're too insecure to admit a mistake. Pitino doesn't have that problem. 

"After the game, I was in a bad mood in here (with the media) and I probably wans't proud enough of our effort in the first half because there were a lot of positives to take from it," he said. "We're in Year One of a major rebuilding process. To be up 20 on a great team, probably a team that's going to get an at-large bid (to the NCAA tournament) says a lot about our team."

Pitino said he went home after Thursday's game and considered his team: "These guys are all basically freshmen. None of them have played college basketball the way that we play. The guys who were here last year hardly played. The other guys were in junior college basketball. The other guys are freshmen. So they have nothing to look back at and reference.

"So during a timeout, we can now reference what we did against Middle. And we can talk about that -- 'Don't lose your heads like we did against Middle.' And, next year, when we have guys back, we can talk about 'remember what we did against Monroe late in the stretch.' I had to sit back and think about it. These guys are still learning in Year One."

Also, when talking about FIU's defense, which forced 25 turnovers Saturday and is 19th nationally in steals per game, but often got dissected by ULM Saturday. In the second half, the Warhawks shot 70.4 percent. That's not tough when you're shooting layups after breaking pressure or open threes.

"Maybe I've got to learn and get better as a coach, but I like to take chances and some of those things that we did taking chances probably shot us in the foot a little bit," Pitino said. "We gave up a couple of open looks because of it. Maybe I should've gone a little more passive. But, I just don't like doing that. And I think you see Deric Hill continue to be aggressive, continue to try to make plays on the ball."

Pitino said he considered backing off, "but I saw that (Trent) Mackey and Olatayo both played 40 minutes. And I saw that Jayon James played 40 minutes. And I thought it was going to wear on their legs at some point. Whereas we played 10 guys and the minutes were evenly distributed."

Tired players commit fouls, usually because they're physically late or mentally dulled. Olatayo, who left the court in tears after his 30-point night couldn't prevent an FIU win, committed the late foul on Smith. Pitino wouldn't claim fatigue as the reason for that. I wouldn't discount it.

 

No Bigs in Ball; Coley Class

Lack of size killed both FIU basketball teams Thursday night against Middle Tennessee State teams that came in with a combined two Sun Belt losses.

In the women's case, injuries struck. Already down guard Kamika Idom, who gives head coach Cindy Russo options when she wants to rest or yank Carmen Miloglav, the Panthers came in without 6-3 Diamond Ashmore (dislocated patella) and 6-1 Finda Mansare (concussion). That's not who you need missing against 6-1 Ebony Rowe and 6-1 Icelyn Elie. Also, while Rowe and Elie have the lengthy limbs coaches in all sports love to see for defensive purposes, Ashmore and Mansare bring more athletic bulk. As physical as Thursday's game was, that kind of size mattered.

In December, Mansare played 40 minutes and Ashmore played 18. They combined for 10 defensive rebounds. FIU outscored Middle Tennessee in the paint 30-28. Rowe went seven of 14 from the field and put in 19 points, but Elie was one for six and never went to the line.

Thursday, Rowe and Elie ran wild: 11 for 16 and five for nine, respectively, from the field and scored a combined 35 points. Middle outscored FIU in the paint 36-18. Thus the 61-51 FIU loss.

Russo said she expects Ashmore and Mansare back this season, but Idom could be done for the year.

The men's team, after a beautifully played first half in which they were up 36-16 and left up 36-19, got outhustled and outsmarted in the second half before size became a factor for them.

When a team up big against a still-playing opponent starts being a half-step slow to a few loose ball rebounds, leaving guys open for big shots and throwing away offensive possessions, only the clock can save them. And FIU fell 3:15 short of that. Two free throws by Marcos Knight after 5-9 Deric Hill inexplicably jumped to block in transition defense instead of maintaining position to take the charge -- as the old saying goes, as useless as a blind man turning to look -- tied the game 59-59.

At the end, however, as FIU coach Rick Pitino said afterwards, they knew what was coming and they weren't big enough or athletic enough to stop it. Middle's Shawn Jones, a Hialeah High guy, rose up and smote the Panthers a death blow.

  

 

COLEY CLASS

As reports tumble toward me of abysmal academic performance from several members of the football team that could strip the team like an Escalade left in Overtown, one academic bright spot for the athletic department comes from basketball junior guard Jerica Coley.

Coley was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 4 Women's Basketball Team. Coley carries a 3.34 GPA as a dietetics and nutrition major. She wants to work as a nutritionist in a hospital after getting her masters and, maybe, some pro ball.

I asked Coley what her mother thought of the http://www.HolyColey.com website, launched Tuesday.

"I think she's on it every day," Coley said with about as much of a smile as she could manage after Thursday's loss.

HolyColey.com; on recruiting rankings; Diamond Dinner

FIU's promotion of Jerica Coley, the nation's leading scorer, went online with the launch of http://www.holycoley.com. If you come across the ever-modest Coley and want to watch her blush, mention the website.

The site, designed by FIU media relations Maegan Azpiazu, is one-stop shopping for all things Jerica Coley as FIU tries to get her All-America recognition.

RANKINGS

Recruiting sites and a couple of local recruiting hawks make their living analyzing players they've seen by spending Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at high school football games, talking to coaches and poring over film. No. 1, I haven't spent my Thursday-Saturday nights that way since several current high school coaches were high school players. No. 2, I see highlight films, where everyone looks like the next Jerry Rice or Joe Greene.

I will tell you how these sites have these kids rated or ranked. I'll post their highlight video. If they're from an area known for exceptional talent, I'll note that. But that's it. I'm not giving my own analysis of how good a player is or will be because I don't know the young man as a person and don't know him well enough as a player. Players have gone from walk-on to All-American. Some five-star recruits have never played a down.

And, as I've often said, if the sites that specialize in recruiting analysis were that accurate, Texas and Notre Dame would have more than two national titles in the last 30 years.

BASEBALL & SOFTBALL

FIU baseball and softball's main fundraiser, the Feb. 9 Diamond Dinner at the Graham Center Ballroom, still has tickets available.

Cocktails at 6 p.m. There will be silent and live auctions. This year's special guest speaker will be Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. Cocktails at 6 p.m. For tickets contact the Panther Club at 305-348-4697.

Coley Sun Belt Player of the Week (again)

Junior guard Jerica Coley poured in 34 points in an FIU win at Louisiana-Lafayette and 31 in a win at South Alabama, boosting her nation-leading scoring average to 24.7 points per game. Coley's prolific week came on 64.3 percent shooting from the field.

For filling the nets so well, Coley received her third Sun Belt Player of the Week award this season.

This season, the weekly honor has bounced evenly among Coley, Middle Tennessee State junior forward Ebony Rowe and Western Kentucky sophomore guard Alexis Govan. Each has three POW awards.

Butkus out, Shankweiler & Williams in; Coley now nation's No. 1 scorer

Wish I were out at Camp Mitch, stationed at The Fieldhouse today. But, alas, I'm up in Coral Springs dealing with the Panthers sur la glace this morning and afternoon.

FIU offensive line coach Luke Butkus is headed for an offensive line assistant's job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. So, in more ways than one, Butkus would be going south (Illinois-Big Ten to FIU-Conference USA) then going north (FIU to Jacksonville-NFL). Nice career bounce without coaching a single game.

Butkus' replacement as offensive line coach/run game coordinator will be Steve Shankweiler, South Florida's offensive line coach the last three seasons. Shankweiler's lived the nomadic coaching life, 30 years at the college level for five different schools, including three turns at East Carolina

Also on staff now as linebackers coach is Tom Williams, former Yale head coach who was at UTEP last season with FIU defensive line coach Andre Patterson, then UTEP's defensive coordinator.

 

WOMEN'S HOOP

FIU senior guard Jerica Coley's scoring average, now at 24.4 points per game, ranks No. 1 in the nation. Coley, an Honorable Mention All-America last year, has been at No. 3 most of the season.

Pitino on college basketball in this town

Minutes before FIU left for its Louisiana-Lafayette-South Alabama trip Wednesday and hours before the University of Miami treated No. 1 Duke like the Blue Devils were Marcellus Wallace in the wrong pawn shop, I asked FIU coach Richard Pitino about the effect FIU and UM's surprisingly good seasons had on college basketball in a city that usually treats college basketball little better than curling.

"Most of the schools in the state of Florida besides Miami, Florida and Florida State are young universities that don't have a lot of great basketball tradition," Pitino said. "Miami could even be said to be that as well. Miami doesn't have a great basketball tradition. So, they go through what we go through (in a) relative (way) -- they're going against Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State. They're trying to build their own tradituion. And, they've got to do it one game at a time and build their fan base that sees basketball. It's not just about football. We're doing the same thing. We're going through it just like they are."

A pair of wins on this trip would push FIU (10-8, 5-4 in The Belt) into second in the Sun Belt's East Divsion behind Middle Tennessee State (16-4, 8-1). A split, particularly a win tonight at Lou-La and a loss to South Alabama, probably leaves FIU in the pack with Western Kentucky and FAU behind second-place South Alabama.

 

 

Player thought & thoughts on athletes

I haven't spoken to a single football player on the record about the firing aside from safety Jonathan Cyprien on the day he was invited to the Senior Bowl and went through graduation. As far as the players still in school, it's against FIU's policy to conduct on the record interviews outside the oversight of the media relations department or a coach.

To me, this policy treats these athletes, some of whom are grown men and women, some of whom have and support children, like second-graders needing to be coached through a Christmas assembly. I do, however, respect said policy because I don't want to get any athlete or media relations person in the doghouse or the unemployment line. Some coaches can be a little control freaky.

Now that doesn't mean some football players haven't stopped by wherever I happen to be working and informally chatted, asking what I think and letting me know what they think. Because I don't want athletes to feel that whatever they say to me when we're just yakking without notebooks and recorders out is going to wind up here, I'll just say the consensus is about what you'd expect: they liked Mario Cristobal and his staff, not thrilled about the firing, but are open-minded about the new coaching staff.

It's not as if these young men just found out about Santa Claus, The Great Pumpkin and Te'o's girlfriend. They've been at high schools during coaching changes and they know FIU can be Wackyland. I don't sense an exodus certainly not on a percentage level with what Richard Pitino had to overcome after taking over the men's basketball program after the Isiah Thomas firing.

A bigger concern than transfers might be academic eligibility. That's where the "stop work" orders of December for the assistant coaches and support staff could boomerang right onto FIU's butt. Those folks, more so than at schools with bigger budgets and better organizational infrastructure, needed to ride some kids to academic eligibility the way Eddie Arcaro rode horses to the wire. Without that jockeying, don't be suprised if some kids don't make it.

As some coaches note, being a student-athlete isn't a skate these days, especially at a school without an army of, ahem, "tutors." While talking to women's basketball coach Cindy Russo for Saturday's article on Jerica Coley (read it at your own risk), she said she thought her team with four Dean's List students was "stressed out." They'd missed the first week of classes on the road, were back home for the second week, then will be on the road next week for games at Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday and at South Alabama on Saturday.

"Their tanks are empty and minds are full," Russo said.

POSTS

I just spent my Friday night going through the last six days of blog posts and logging IP numbers (yeah, I live on South Beach, but I'm also in my 40s avec kid, who I'm up and getting ready for school daily).Those of you with multiple names to one IP number, all comments by all names in the last six days will be deleted. You can repost them again under one name. That's fine. This isn't about the content of your post. Clearly, my standards for "offensive" are pretty idiosyncratic.

I just want the electronic Fletch act out of this Comments section.

Cleaning up from Thursday at The Branch

An actual crowd filled the lower bowl of U.S. Century Bank Arena for Thursday's men's basketball game against North Texas. The official attendance was 1,109. I guess free pizza made free admission look extra attractive. If that wouldn't have worked, the next stop is free beer and singing frogs.

 

A mere sprinkling of fans for this game would've turned somebody's Friday into a Monday. President Mark Rosenberg and his wife were among those in the seats, and I've heard the weak basketball attendance this season had been a concern to the Prez. To an alumni group earlier this week, I heard he presented poor football attendance as a reason for booting former head coach Mario Cristobal.

As I've stated before on this blog, even unto a year ago, attendance falls under the responsibility of the athletic director. Or, in this case, the executive director of sports and entertainment. Anyway, it was the first home crowd of the season officially over 1,000. I think free pizza also could be offered for Saturday's doubleheader against Louisiana-Lafayette.

By the way, if you were in the stands, you had just as many points as North Texas' sophomore forward Tony MItchell, one of the nation's most talented players. Mitchell's previous scoring low was three points. FIU did a good defensive job on Mitchell, playing a 2-3 zone and double-teaming him while playing a zone with the other three players. Mitchell also seemed frustrated and, eventually, simply not a part of the North Texas offense.

FIU senior guard Cameron Bell got his first start of the season Thursday in his fifth game of the season. Bell, who started at point instead of Deric Hill or Gaby Belardo, spent the first month and a half of the season coming back from a shoulder injury.

Bell played 27 minutes, went four of 14 from the field and grabbed six rebounds and a game-high four steals. He sank a couple of key free throws down the stretch as FIU nursed what a lead that once stood at 18 points to the final horn. Those free throws helped provide the buffer for his fouling North Texas' Niko Stojilijkovic on a three-pointer with 29 seconds left and FIU up 67-59. Stojilijkovic sank all three free throws. That was a play high in FIU coach Richard Pitino's mind when he said the Panthers needed to be "smarter" in closing out games.

"I don't think we have a pure point guard," Pitino said in explaining starting Bell at the point. "Teams are pressuring our point guard. And we've had what I call a lot of "live ball" turnovers. It's not so much anything Deric or Gaby did. We're just trying to figure it out. None of these guys have played together. Cam Bell just gets back. I wanted to give it a different look and see how it looked."

As for how Bell played, "I think he was good. I expect a lot more from him. Mentally, not as good as I hoped it would've been. But he gave us a good effort. Only turned the ball over one time in 27 minutes, so that was good."

North Texas coach Tony Benford said he wouldn't mind having some of FIU's guards -- and he wasn't kidding. Not only did Benford say the Mean Green were down to two true guards, but he got a call from FIU guard Malik Smith's junior college coach last year. Benford said he liked Smith, but couldn't find a scholarship for him.

POSTS

Folks, pick a name and stick with it. I've started checking IP addresses on posts. I'll do so every couple of days. Double posts under various names means all posts under all names get deleted. For the last several days, I've only eliminated the postings under the second name.

 

Baby Blue Ribbons and patches

Assistant men's basketball coach Mark Lieberman wasn't with the team Thursday night. Sunday, Lieberman suffered the worst loss -- his infant son, Max, died. Lieberman found out as the team was coming back from Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday.

The baby blue ribbons being worn by FIU athletic department staffers are in memoriam as are the patches FIU will wear for tonight's game against North Texas.

Kamika Idom out indefinitely; I wasn't escorted anywhere

Sophomore guard Kamika Idom, FIU's first off the bench, is out indefinitely with a knee injury. FIU could've used her in Thursday's 70-68 loss to North Texas. The Panthers looked ponderous against backcourt pressure applied by a small and not very quick lineup.

BAD RUMORS

Nobody escorted me off campus. Nobody asked that I leave campus. Nothing of the sort happened at all.

The table and chair in The Fieldhouse lobby at which I had been quietly sitting and working several days, engaging in conversation with those who wished to do so, mysteriously disappeared the other day. And a couple of other strange things happened. And I do think some questions I'm asking and people I'm talking to have given folks flippy-flip stomachs.

But I have not been harrassed on campus in anything close to the dramatic fashion described in a few of your posts. Thanks for the concern, though.

The holdup on the 2013 football schedule; free stuff at basketball games; Beaupre wins Sun Belt Diver of the Week (again)

FIU's non-conference schedule for 2013 long has been set -- open at Maryland Aug. 31; host UCF Sept. 7; host Bethune-Cookman Sept. 14; go to Louisville, Sept. 21.

But the Conference USA portion of the schedule couldn't be set until everybody knows who'll be in C-USA next year. And with it now looking as if FAU and Middle Tennessee State will join the league in 2013 instead of 2014, there's still not certainty of the JLA, er, C-USA Roll Call for next season.

The FAU-Middle situation should be settled at the next Conference USA meetings, which will be down here next week.

By the way, Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel gave FIU the what for in his Tuesday analysis of coaching changes...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130115/coach-hire-grades/?sct=uk_t11_a7

HOOP STUFF

The first 75 fans to the women's game and the men's game Thursday night against North Texas will receive a free t-shirt and free pizza and beverage on the plaza.

Wonder if that'll include the 10 NBA scouts in the house to watch North Texas' Tony Mitchell.

DIVING

Junior diver Sabrina Beaupre swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter events at FIU Winter Invite and in the dual meet against Central Connecticut State. So, the Sun Belt awarded Beaupre her third Diver of the Week award this season and 13th of her career.

Baseball schedule released; FIU fishing

At least FIU will start the baseball season playing against a College World Series team.

Stony Brook, which made last years CWS despite a name that looks lifted from The Flintstones, comes to town for a season-opening three-game series, Feb. 15-17. That starts a run of 16 of the first 17 at home, including three games Mar. 8-10 against perennial power and future intraconference foe Rice.

After those 17 come three road games Mar. 15-17 all the way up at FAU, then back home for three series, ending with a pair of games against Florida A&M April 2-3. The return series with FAU, May 16-18, closes the regular season before the Sun Belt tournament May 21-26 at Louisiana-Lafayette.  

BASKETBALL RECRUITING

FIU made an offer to Virginia Beach (Va.) Cape Hendry Collegiate shooting guard Ayron Hutton, a class of 2014 player.

Fallen Idom?

Guard Kamika Idom got her fifth start of the season and played 31 minutes in Saturday's 55-53 win at Arkansas-Little Rock. But, Monday, Idom, sixth on the Panthers in playing time (18:42 per game) and second to Jerica Coley in steals (20), was walking around with a leg brace consuming her entire left leg. I'm trying to find out how long she'll be out.

The women's team is 10-6, 4-3 in the Sun Belt, with 13 regular season games left. Coley's third in the nation in scoring at 23.8 points per game.

Tuesday Afternoon...

Tomorrow's story on the basketball team, in case you don't feel like taking the paper out of the plastic...

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/08/3173733/so-far-fiu-panthers-basketball.html

Meanwhile, the head football coach's office at The Fieldhouse got Ron Turner and a new coat of paint over the last few days. Also, some offices got emptied as assistants, graduate assistants and support staff were being sent on their way during a rainy afternoon (which always reminds me of the song in the headline. 

Todd Orlando's allegedly up for the defensive coordinator job at Pitt. Let that irony sink in for a bit...

Vero Beach offensive lineman Chris Flaig, a former FIU commit, Tweeted last night that he's reopening the recruiting process and is taking an official visit to FAU. Flaig's rated at three stars by ESPN, two stars by Scout.com. Other reports have Jacksonville Sandalwood offensive lineman Donald Rocker doing the same.

Now, let's see if FIU can hold on to Boyd Anderson offensive lineman Sandley Jean-Felix, rated at three stars by ESPN and Scout.com, or Belen defensive back Xavier Hines, rated at two stars by Scout.com.

 

Swimmers & Balls

Before taking their regular spot in the stands at the day's highlight FIU athletic event -- who else can claim to have been there for the rainy kickoffs of not only football vs. Louisville, but the women's soccer season opener? -- the swimming & diving team won the FIU Winter Invitational over TCU and Eastern Michigan.

Junior Sonia Perez jacked up her wins total to 15 this season by taking the 500 freestyle (4:59.32) and the 100 Individual Medley (59.52). Junior diver Sabrina Beaupre won the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions with totals of 307.35 and 314.77, respectively.

BASKETBALLS

The women's game went about as expected, a 63-47 win for FIU. Louisiana-Lafayette came in 1-4 in the Sun Belt, the closest of the four losses by 12 points. As Lou-La threw a Polly Pocket-sized lineup on the floor, FIU wound up using only six players -- starters Jerica Coley, Finda Mansare, Marita Davydova, Kamika Idom, Carmen Miloglav and sixth woman Arielle Durant.

"It was a small group, so we couldn't get all those bigs in," FIU coach Cindy Russo said. "(Lou-La is) all guards except for one. Finda can keep up with them and the rest of our bigs couldn't. Zsofia Labady sprained her ankle. She'd usually be playing. I knew I'd have to play Kamika Idom as a four tonight."

Entertaining, thrilling, painful to watch in some spots...all describe the men's 75-70 win, especially in the second half. Some great defense, a lot of bad offense and even more poor shooting. I got one crack on Twitter about FIU coach Richard Pitino's comment that he worries about defense and rebounding, not "the ball going in," but that's pretty much in line with what I've heard said by many basketball coaches. Even a team of skilled gunners goes frigid sometimes. The best most hope for from offense is getting open shots for the right players in the right spots.

Malik Smith was one for 10 from three-point range before hitting the game's biggest shot with 1:30 left to give FIU a 67-64 lead. But, he was open, that's his shot and he's a shooter. On the other hand, any three-point tried by Jerome Frink or Tola Akomalafe qualifies as a lousy shot even if it goes in and should be grounds for two minutes on the bench. Hopefully, they will feel shame.

 

 "Really, really happy with the effort," Pitino said. "This is the second game in a row where we got 50 plus deflections. Our goal is 35. so to be able to go twice in a row with 50 plus deflections is really good. Tymell (Murphy), 28 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks and 10 deflections. So he's disrupting the game, changing the game with his effort. Deflections, all that is is a barometer of effort. They gave good effort against a very well-coached team, so we're really pround of the victory. They're only going to get better because they're really young and he's a great coach."

And there was actually something more resembling a crowd there to watch (official attendance: 855, actual attendance more like 500) than Wednesday. 

By the way, for those upset at the video from Wednesday: go to a game! Don’t be angry with me or anybody else for showing that a program in its 26th season of Division I basketball, in a major city, started a home night game with a crowd smaller than my wedding (not an exaggeration). No weather issues, no quarantine. Yes, it's holiday break, but most of the eighth largest enrollment in the nation lives within this metropolitan area. This isn’t some remote college town. Blame Florida A&M's local alums and fans, too. No few of them locally, but fewer than 100 FAMU fans were in the house at peak. I'm not sure I've covered an FIU game with fewer fans at tipoff and I covered the last season of the Rich Walker era, when they played Yale the day after Christmas.

I shoot video when I see something worth trying to shoot and remember that I can do it ("I wonder if Daffy will remember that he can fly...(sound of splash)...I guess not."). 

 

Nobody complained when I shot video of South Alabama's flouncing women's basketball coach or the controversial final seconds of the FAU-FIU men's game at The Branch last year or the women’s soccer team’s pre-practice Halloween costume party as they prepped for the Sun Belt tournament.

I don't know what the University of Miami drew for its most recent home game. And, I really don't care. I don't cover that school and wasn't covering that game. I'm equal opportunity. I've ripped UM for its crowds, too.

Monday's men's home game against Bethune-Cookman starts at 1 p.m., so as not to clash with the BCS Championship Game. OK, so FIU plays a weekday game at midday to avoid going head-to-head with a football game involving two schools most of their locally-based student body grew up despising if they cared about them at all...but won't move Saturday games to the afternoon, just to try it. Granted, winter Saturday afternoons in Miami aren't the gray, cold, pass-the-Grand Marnier-and-hot-chocolate blocs of time that they are in Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Kansas, etc.

But it's worth a shot.

 

 

Wednesday night at The Branch

So it was back out to Camp Mitch Wednesday night for the FIU-Florida A&M basketball game. I'm one of the few people who can say that on a night with school still out, the Heat playing at the Jetsonsesque Triple A and the University of Florida getting battered in the Sugar Bowl by Louisville.

  

Richard Pitino has said he wanted his team ready to play whether the crowd was five or 5,000 and after a shaky first few minutes, FIU looked happy to be home against Florida A&M. The women's hoop team dealt FAMU some pain in Tallahassee with Jerica Coley's 35 points and Finda Mansare hitting a shot with six seconds left for a 70-69 win.

At The Branch, 5-9 Deric Hill played defense like a one-man gnat swarm, deflecting 20 passes by FIU's count and making an official seven steals. At least two other times, his pressure led to steals by others and FAMU's shot clock violation came after Hill discombobulated a possession by deflecting a pass. Meanwhile, forward Tymell Murphy had the rare 20-20 night, 24 points and 20 rebounds, one game after having zero rebounds.

"No," Pitino laughed when I asked him if he saw this night coming from Hill. "He plays very hard and he's a disrupter defensively. He's always given us a lot, but giving us seven steals and eight assists is something I didn't anticipate."

At times, play rambled along with the raggedness and barely controlled speed of a hooptie with turbo. FIU's aggressiveness on defense eventually carried the day as the Panthers pulled away late to a 88-72 win. FIU forced 25 turnovers and ran to a 21-6 advantage in fast break points.

"This is the way I want to play," Pitino said. "I want to play a lot of guys, pressure teams, speed them up. Try to create offense from our defense. And we did that. We had almost 100 offensive possessions. We really got out and ran. We tried to emphasize that because the pace was too slow. We don't want to do that. We want to make conditioning a factor."

Marco Porcher Jimenez also gave FIU valuable minutes, especially in the first half when he had nine points and two rebounds in just six minutes.

"We've got very good walk-ons. Marco's a very good player, Juan (Ferrales) is a very good player, Deric Hill's a very good player," Pitino said. "The thing about Marco I love is he knows how to play, he guards and he can shoot. If you can shoot in our system, you normally are going to be successful. And he's not scared to shoot, too, which I love."

After six consecutive road games, the Panthers were happy to be back in their own house even if there was only about a house party's worth of folks there. (Official attendance was 778. By a late first half count, 278 is closer to actual attendance.)

"I'm very happy with that performance," Pitino said. "We haven't played great at home. We haven't played much at home. But when you're trying to rebuild a culture, you want to show your fans the brand of basketball you're trying to play. With the people who showed up today, they go home, they tell people and they come back and I think that's the way you build your program the way you want to build it."

A couple of conference gatherings, the Sun Belt and Conference USA, will be in South Florida soon. Look for this possibility: FAU and Middle Tennessee making the jump from The Belt to C-USA this coming academic year with FIU and North Texas instead of 2014. Apparently, there's been tension between those schools and The Belt. Middle-philes found it awfully suspicious that their 8-4 team, which finished tied for second in The Belt, played in the winner-take-all game for The Belt title and had beaten Georgia Tech soundly, got left out of the bowl party while 7-5 Western Kentucky went to a bowl. Shortly before bowl bids were announced, Middle announced it was moving to Conference USA.

SEARCHIN'...

Some athletic department staff allegedly were told Wednesday that the football coaching search could go another seven to 10 days. That does put it close to the Jan. 15, when Butch Davis will get another $592,000 from the University of North Carolina. What Davis' lawyer told me via e-mail was posted here previously. After almost two decades waking up next to a lawyer (Harvard Law '82, same class as John Roberts and Alberto Gonzales), I know that lawyers who started practicing before e-mail almost reflexively avoid putting things into e-mail that aren't certain. 

The American Football Coaches Association convention is Sunday through next Wednesday. Usually, that's a bonanza of interviews as everybody tries to get their staffs filled out before recruiting (college) or free agency (NFL). Mario Cristobal's staff remains technically in FIU's employ and will remain so until the new coach is hired. Then, whomever that person is will be given the option of what to do with the staff.

TRACKING SEARCHES...

To those who don't like the use of "sources," you obviously haven't followed a coaching search before. If you've noticed, rarely does a candidate for a job admit on the record that he's even looking for a job, much less has interviewed for it. Nor do schools or franchises often admit on the record who they're going after, especially if the group of folks running the search is small (as is the case here). What the Dolphins did last year, announcing interviews, is far from the norm. More the norm was Dallas offensive line coach Tony Sparano being almost the only person in Dallas who wouldn't talk about Tony Sparano as the next Dolphins head coach in the 24 hours after the Cowboys lost in the 2007 NFL playoffs. I think he was introduced as Dolphins coach two days later.

As I don't spend all waking hours at Camp Mitch -- wouldn't mind it some days -- nor am I Gene Hackman's character in The Conversation or Enemy of the State, several somebodies likely are going to see things I don't and hear things I don't. So I see what I see and sift through a lot of "you didn't hear it from me, but..." or "off the record, I heard..." Sometimes, people are honestly wrong. Sometimes, people lie.

Today, I told you about the two very different things I was hearing about Danny Hope. Back in the days before blogs and 24/7 reporting, I wouldn't have written anything. Or, maybe if this search hadn't gone on for a almost a month, I wouldn't have written anything. I've done coaching searches for over two decades, but this is my first with a blog.

For those who think I'm angry about things said in the comments, I'm not. Tired and undercaffeinated, yes, maybe a little miffed in a "Seriously?" way, but not truly angry. I'm too old for that (stuff).

Balls in the air...

During Furlough Friday, I heard a reiteration of what's long been suspected/murmured about the FIU coaching search: Butch Davis still the No. 1 choice, Florida State offensive coordinator James Coley No. 2 with the announcement to come after January 1 as the nation's college football media hits South Florida for the Notre Dame vs. Alabama Who Does South Florida Hate More? national championship game.

For what it's worth...

BASKETBALL JONES

FIU's women took out preseason Sun Belt favorite Middle Tennessee State Thursday, 58-51, extending their winning streak to four and ending Middle's winning streaks at home (14 wins) and in The Belt (17 wins).

Jerica Coley got hers as usual, 23 points. But Finda Mansare, Zsofia Labady and Marita Davydova combined for 21 rebounds and FIU held Middle to 32.8 shooting from the field.

The men's team bounced back from the expected drubbing by Louisville to beat Texas Southern, 48-45. Last week, coach Richard Pitino qualified his compliment of FIU's offense by saying the defense wasn't good enough for those nights when the offense would get shut down. Saturday, FIU made up for shooting only 36.0 from the field by holding Texas Southern to 29.1 percent.

Freshman Jerome Frink put up 14 points and redshirt sophomore Marco Porcher Jimenez put up 12. After a couple of days for holiday break, FIU goes to Western Kentucky for a Thursday game.

RECORDS

Slogging through what FIU e-mailed me Friday from Pete Garcia's file and Mario Cristobal's file. Fun Saturday night reading...

Postgame extra stuff from Louisville 79, FIU 55

Total attendance for FIU's first 7 games: 9,586. Attendance Wednesday night in Louisville: 21,411.

"I've never played in front of that many people," said junior forward Tymell Murphy, who admitted to nervousness. "I just wanted to get a rebound, get a score to take my mind off the crowd. After that, it was just playing."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino likens Richard Pitino starting his first college head coaching job at FIU to his own early days as a head coach:

"I started at Boston University and the similarities are there. We didn't draw any people. I used to sit up in what was called the Eliberg Lounge and you could see the people walking in before the game. You cold count the people as they walked in the beginning. He's going to go through the same type of stuff, except they are going to go into Conference USA and, obvisouly, they can recruit a higher caliber basketball player. But, he has four or five really good basketball players. His bigs aren't where they need to be for the future, bu that is what he's working on. He's going to have a really good backetball player named Rakeem Buckles (a Louisville transfer) next year."

FIU head coach Richard Pitino, explaining how he and his father are different on the sideline (both Pitinos say Richard is more like University of Florida coach and Pitino favorite Billy Donovan), said, "We have different personalities. He's very very intense during the game. If I got that intense, I'd forget where I was. So, I'm trying to stay calm during the course of a game where he's really trying to fire the guys up."

Richard thought this year's Louisville team, compared to last year's Final Four team, is more physical overall.

Pregame on hoop big game; Sonia Perez Swimmer of the Week (again); lawyer time

Bigger dance hall, swankier dance partners, but the shoes are the only thing FIU coach Richard Pitino wants as a major change for tonight's game with No. 5 Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center.

Pitino said he spotted the South Beach model adidas at a summer AAU game. The adidas rep at the game welcomed Pitino's request that FIU get some and Pitino decided they would make their FIU debut at the Louisville game. (Thanks to Joey de la Rosa for contributing his shoe and a steady prop-holding hand to the above shot).

Otherwise, he wants to keep everything the same as most games, despite the fact they'll be playing in front of 10 times the crowd they usually face and FIU's highest ranked opponent since No. 1 UCLA in the 1995 NCAA tournament.

"It's an opportunity for us to get better," Pitino said after Wednesday's morning shootaround. "Regardless of who we're playing, that's been the goal from Day One when I took this job. Let's get better every single day. This is another opportunity."

Louisville shouldn't be familiar just to Pitino. FIU players should recognize the Cardinals' high pressure style.

"It's funny because we play the same defense as they do," Pitino said. "When we're going over scouting, I'll tell them to get into Louisville's "White Press." All of a sudden, they're playing harder and it's more aggressive. I want to tell them, 'Guys, that's our defense, too! Play that hard every single time!' So we may switch the name of our press to "Louisville' instead of "White" to see if it'll work and carry over. It's good for them to see those guys playing the same style defensively, showing them that we can do it, we've just got to play a little bit harder."

SWIMMING

I know I'm usually up on the swimming thing and I knew about this one yet it still slipped through the cracks. Sonia Perez broke the FIU record in the 1000 freestyle with a 10:11.36 at Nova Southeastern's Sharks Invitational, won the 200 Individual Medley, the 400 IM and the 1600 free.

So the Sun Belt awarded Perez her second consecutive Swimmer of the Week award and her third of the year.

RECORDS REQUESTS

Called in our lawyers this morning. What I've asked for doesn't take long and in an information age, should take a few minutes. Pop a colada and get it done.

That is, it shouldn't take that long if said records actually still exist...

No interviews yet; men's hoop 3-3

Here's what I have after a day at Camp Mitch:

All my Christmas shopping done for the wife and the nugget that nobody's interviewed for the open FIU job yet. While this surely effects recruiting, I'm hearing the philosophy is they'd rather take the time to find the right coach for the next few years than snag the right recruits this year.

Meanwhile, as detailed in the previous post, other head coaching positions are being filled, both thinning the coaching talent pool for FIU and thinning the spots former FIU head coach Mario Cristobal might land that would ameliorate FIU's financial obligation to him. For what it's worth, according to Bowling Green Daily News' Chad Bishop, Western landed Bobby Petrino for $850,000 per year.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

With Louisville coach Rick Pitino watching, his son's FIU team evened its record at 3-3 Sunday by taking out Stetson, 82-79. Indicative of what can happen against when you use a high-pressure defense, FIU allowed 50.9 percent from the field, but forced 16 turnovers.

They've got a chance to nudge over .500 with a Thursday trip to Florida Gulf Coast. Then, next Wednesday, Dec. 19, it's the Oedipal Shootout at Louisville.