GETTING INSIDE

The hiring of basketball legend Isiah Thomas put Florida International in the national college basketball spotlight.

Thomas left the NBA’s New York Knicks’ front office—he earlier served on the bench in a head-coaching capacity—in a cloud of controversy, but he hopes to revive his coaching career by putting new life into a program that hasn’t had a winning season in a decade.

His team is almost as new to the college basketball scene as Thomas, who left Indiana in 1981. Only five lettermen return, and only one of them scored in double figures last year, forward Nicola Gacsesa, who averaged exactly 10 points per game.

The defection of the 2008-09 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, 6-foot-10 Freddy Asprilla, makes the Panthers as small as they are inexperienced. Only one player is listed over 6-6.

While the returnees learn Thomas’ system and the new players adjust to Division I basketball, Thomas is emphasizing defense.

“Defense will be our staple,” Thomas said. “We’re very small so we’ll have to depend on our scrappiness and tenacity. Here in college it’s just a matter of expanding on the things that they’ve already done. It’ll be new for me. My job right now is to teach and then observe, then try to piece it all together.”

“I want us to be known as a tough, aggressive defensive team. We don’t have a lot of size so we will have to depend on our scrappiness, our tenacity and our togetherness. I also want us to get up and down the floor and be a good offensive team.”

One newcomer could provide instant offense early in the season. Junior college transfer Marvin Roberts, a 6-5 forward out of Brooklyn, was the nation’s leading Juco scorer last year, averaging 29.6 points per game.

NOTES, QUOTES

• Isiah Thomas sought the advice of some of his closest friends and mentors before going to FIU, including his college coach, Bobby Knight, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and one of his NBA coaches, Chuck Daly, who died of cancer in May, one month after Thomas took the job.

“I was getting great advice from all of them,” Thomas told USA Today. “They were all saying, ‘You should take the job.’ They thought I would be good at it, and they thought the change in atmosphere would be good for me. They’ve all been right.”

• F Nicola Gacsesa is the top returning scorer (10.0 ppg). The 6-9 senior, a native of Serbia, also hauled in 4.6 rebounds per game.

• G Nick Taylor led the team with 99 assists last season, 3.1 per game. He started 21 of 32 games.

Quote To Note:   “My job right is to teach, observe and then piece together a team that can go out and compete. But right now, [the players] are new to me as a coach. I’ll be watching them play for the first time.”—Florida International coach Isiah Thomas.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Scouting The Newcomers:   Isiah Thomas is excited about his four junior college recruits, Marvin Roberts, the nation’s leading Juco scorer last year, and highly-regarded guards Stephon Weaver, Antoine Watson and Phil Gary.

Key Early-season Games:   FIU’s nonconference schedule isn’t that difficult, except for a November trip to Tulsa and the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which forces Isiah Thomas to make his college coaching debut in Chapel Hill, against defending national champion North Carolina.

Probable Starting Lineup:   PG Nick Taylor, SG Tremayne Russell, SF Marlon Bright, SF Marvin Roberts, F/C Nicola Gacsesa.

Roster Report:  

• Freddie Asprilla, the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year in 2008-09, spent the off-season trying to secure a release from his scholarship, and has reportedly enrolled at Miami Dade College. The 6-10 Asprilla averaged 13.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last year.

• Coach Isiah Thomas has his first blue chip recruit. According to scout.com, FIU received a verbal commitment in August from Dominique Ferguson of Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy. Scout.com rates Ferguson was a 4-star recruit and the 8th-best power forward in the country.