Barring some sort of cataclysmic error (or, say, another sexual harassment suit) Isiah Thomas deserves what every other new college coach deserves: plenty of time to build his program, and a touch of deference until that "plenty of time" line has come and gone. Still, if Zeke's debut at FIU is any indication, his tenure is going to be filled with that signature Isiah Thomas losing flavor. Drink it in. It always goes down ... actually, it doesn't go down smooth at all.

Yes, Thomas's FIU squad dropped its first exhibition last night in an upset almost as bad as Syracuse's the day before. The Panthers lost 71-61 to an NAIA team from West Pal Beach, Fla., called Northwood; NAIA, if you're not aware, is all the way down there in the college sports hierarchy below Division III. Which is not to say there aren't good NAIA teams. There are. It's just that, you know, NAIA schools are never supposed to beat NCAA schools, and they're especially not supposed to beat Division I schools with famous head coaches whose last job was general manager and coach for the New York Freaking Knicks.

But that's exactly what happened to Zeke's Panthers last night, and sure, it's not the end of the world. It's just an exhibition game, for one. And in the big scheme, it could be worse. Thomas's team is not supposed to be good this year; that's more than we can say for Syracuse, which dropped its exhibition game to a Division II school from the same town. The main problem for Thomas is not the exhibition loss. It's in figuring out how a team that lost an exhibition game to an NAIA school can four days later compete with the likes of No. 6 North Carolina ... which is exactly what Thomas has to do.In this case, a horrid exhibition loss is nothing compared to that which follows it.

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