By: Joel Delgado / Sports Director
When Isiah Thomas took the coaching job with the Golden Panthers nearly two years ago, he stressed that this team would be a work in progress.
And so far this season, it has become apparent that progress is being made on the court for a team that had struggled and stumbled in Thomas’s first season at the helm.
It is clear to see that the product on the court assembled by Thomas this season has been a vast improvement from the squad that played for the NBA Hall of Famer at this point last year.
The team struggled earlier this season without Dominique Ferguson and Alex Legion in the blue and gold and, with a couple of exceptions, looked disappointingly reminiscent of that undermanned and shallow team that was unable to compete even in an average basketball conference like the Sun Belt.
TURNING POINT
But the injection of the heralded freshman and the highly-regarded transfer has provided a much-needed spark to this Golden Panther squad.
Since Ferguson stepped onto the hardwood, FIU has won four of its past five games and the team has averaged 80 points per game during that span. Before that, a Ferguson-less Panther team was averaging just less than 70 points per contest.
Thomas has compared Ferguson’s style of play to Lamar Odom and with good reason: not only can the lanky forward post up down low, but he can also pull up and drain a shot from beyond the arc from time to time. He is the kind of player that can do a bit of everything.
Legion himself has also been a significant addition to the team, providing a consistent long-range threat as well as displaying an ability to change the game with a big shot at an opportune time in any given game.
Not only that, but a victory over Arkansas State on Jan. 6 gave the Panthers their seventh win of the season, matching their win total from last season with about half a season still left to play.
Having both of the floor helped initiate the transformation that is currently taking place and that will continue to progress as the season wears on.
GREAT TIMING
And the timing for their arrival could not have been better, showing up just a couple weeks before the conference schedule began and the weight of significance of every matchup became measurably heavier.
So far, the Golden Panthers have gotten off to a fast start against Sun Belt foes but the toughest matches still lie ahead.
Despite their lack of formidable size, having Ferguson and Eric Frederick in the same lineup is a vast improvement to what they had in 2009 and will be enough to compete in a conference that is not necessarily known for its big men.
And this team will continue to improve as they play more games together as a collective unit and the chemistry improves.
Ferguson’s numbers have been modest in the early days of his collegiate career, averaging less than 10 points and five rebounds a game. But he has tremendous upside and those numbers will undoubtedly improve as the season moves forward. They need to if the Golden Panthers expect to make a run for a conference crown.
This is a team that needs to prove itself against traditional Sun Belt powers Western Kentucky and North Texas as well as a rapidly improving young Florida Atlantic team up I-95.
They will get their chance soon enough.
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