Our #5 Cards will bring their game back to the KFC Yum Center this Wednesday after their best win of the season in a gutsy effort against Memphis on Saturday. It will be Pitino versus Pitino for the first time ever as the Cards face Florida International University.
Since joining the Sun Belt 15 years ago, FIU has had one winning season, a 16-14 campaign in 1999- 2000. Since then, the team hasn’t even approached .500. Their lone postseason appearance was a 92-56 loss to UCLA in the first round of the 1995 NCAA tournament. That streak doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy this year either. Isiah Thomas was unable to have any success as the FIU head coach and was fired the first week of April, shortly after an 8-21 season. Now former Cards assistant Richard Pitino inherits a team accustomed to losing. Unfortunately, things don’t look like they’ll get better soon. Five starters had to be replaced, and Pitino’s first recruiting class features a whopping nine players. Eighty-six percent of the scoring is gone, and the school became a transfer carousel in the offseason, though most of the new arrivals aren’t eligible until 2013-14. They are 3-4 on this young season and rank 74th in points per game, 304th in rebounds per game, 170th in assist per game and 147th in field goal percentage. Kenpom currently has them ranked 228th in his D1 standings.
Coach Richard Pitino: “When you bring in so many new guys, I think you certainly are concerned,” “You have a lot of guys on your roster who don’t have a lot of D-I experience, and the rest of them are guys who didn’t play a whole lot last year.”
In-conference offense: 1.00 points per possession (4th)
In-conference defense: 1.02 points allowed per possession (8th)
The Panther players:
Manuel Nunez SR (0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg) 6-5 G has not played this season.
Cameron Bell SR (0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg) 6-3 G has not played this season.
Gaby Belardo SR (8.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg) 6-2 G is not a game-changer but he handles the ball and does lead the offense. He averaged 2.6 assists and made 46 3-pointers while shooting 32.6 percent for a 5-25 Canisius team in 2011-12. He has scored 60 pts, has 23 assist in 148 min this season.
Tola Akomolafe SR (5.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg) 6-6 F is one of the key returners for FIU and is one of the more versatile players on the team. He has scored 40 pts and grabbed 32 rebounds in 192 min this season.
Steven Miro JR (0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg) 6-3 G has not played this season.
Tymell Murphy JR (14.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg) 6-5 F helped South Plains (Texas) College to a 36-0 record and a JUCO national championship last season. He’s a very versatile, very athletic and very quick player. He has scored 98 pts, grabbed 40 rebounds, has 21 assist in 193 min this season.
Malik Smith JR (16.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg) 6-2 G made 84 3-pointers last season at Jacksonville College in Texas. He has adapted smoothly to Pitino’s system, which mirrors his father’s pressing, 3-point shooting, uptempo trademark. He has made 27-63 3 pointers for 43% this season. He has scored 118 pts, and played 231 min.
Ivan Jurkovic JR (2.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg) 7-0 C provides some size for this FIU team. The skilled and savvy Croatian has scored 15 pts and grabbed 12 rebounds in 51 min this season.
Deric Hill SOPH (4.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg) 5-9 G is a returner from last season. He averaged over 13 minutes in 23 games and made one start. He has scored 34 pts, grabbed 10 rebounds and has 14 assist in 113 min this season.
Marco Porcher Jimenez SOPH (1.4 ppg, 0.9 rpg) 6-4 G is a Fairleigh Dickinson transfer who prepped at Oak Hill Academy. He has scored 10 pts in 50 min of play this season.
Juan Ferrales SOPH (7.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg) 6-2 G made 38 3-pointers while shooting 36 percent behind the arc last season at Broward (Fla.) Community College. He has scored 52 pts, 7-15 3 pointer for 47% this season in 147 min.
Joey De La Rosa SOPH (3.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg) 6-11 C is another returning player from last season. He has scored 22 pts this season in 66 min of play.
Jerome Frink FR (10.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) 6-6 F played at prep power St. Anthony’s (N.J.), which won a national title and went 65-0 his final two seasons. He has scored 71 pts, grabbed 47 rebounds in 206 min this season.
Dee Lewis FR (0.0 ppg, 0.5 rpg) 6-3 G has not play significant minutes this season.
The Cards finished strong on Saturday against Memphis but did have a very sluggish start. Will be looking for a faster start from them on Wednesday night. Chane Behanan got back to the player he was last March in that Memphis game and will be looking to see if he keeps that going with another solid performance. We are still waiting for that one big breakout game from Wayne Blackshear and waiting to see him return to the player he was in that Final Four game. Just maybe this will be his game for that return.
The highlight of this game will be the storyline of Rick Pitino vs Richard Pitino for the first time ever. This will be a special moment for this coaching family. And even more meaningful that it’s being played in the Billy Minardi Classic that is an annual event honoring the elder Pitino’s best friend who lost his life in the 9/11 tragedy. This will not be much of a basketball game but it will be fun two see these guys go head to head.
This is a good time for a game like this as our guys are a little banged up and are gonna need some extra rest time to get back to 100%. Cards will cruise in this one.
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 87 FIU 56