Ballard’s Beginning: Newly hired head coach implementing culture change

By Brett Shweky/Sports Director

 

A new era is underway for the FIU men’s basketball team, as recently hired head coach Jeremy Ballard is beginning to mold the foundation of his new program with the signing of his first two recruits.

“They’re two young men, first a foremost, whose character fits what we’re trying to do here at FIU and what we’re trying to build culture wise,” said Ballard on his evaluation of newcomers, Marcus Burwell and Cameron Corcoran. “They can handle the ball well. They can shoot it, they can play off ball screens and can make plays. These guys are also quick-twitch players, who can really get after it and pressure the ball defensively.”

Burwell is a 6-foot-3 guard from Richmond, VA, who played last season at Northeastern Junior College (NEJC) in Sterling, CO. While he was there, he averaged a team-high 19.7 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.4 rebounds-per-game. Along with displaying his multidimensional skill set, Burwell also proved he could be an efficient scorer as he shot an eye-opening 50.9 percent from the field,

including 81.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Corcoran was the second signing for Ballard’s recruiting class and spent his first season at the collegiate level with the Little Rock Trojans. During his short stint with the Trojans, he played in 31 games but was limited to only two starts. He averaged 6.7 points, 0.6 rebounds, 0.9 assists in 16.6 minutes-per-game.

His best game came on Jan. 13, 2018 against Texas State, where he scored a career-high 16 points, managing to go 5-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the three-point line. The 6-foot-1 guard must sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules, however, will be available in the 2019-2020 season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

The Panthers’ new head coach expressed how the team will develop an up-tempo system to complement the incoming and current players on the roster.

“In our system and the way that we’re going to play, I want to put as much skill on the floor as I possibly can. We’re going to set a lot of ball screens, we’re going to shoot a lot of threes, and we’re going to play fast,” said Ballard. “So the more guys that are able to do that the better.”

Ballard included that for the current players to transition to this new system, the team must meet a certain level of conditioning, which is going to be a focal point throughout the summer.

“There’s talent on this roster. When you look back at their season last year, and you look at how things sort of played out, they were close in a lot of games. That record probably could have been flipped last year,” said the new head coach on his first impression of the current team’s roster. “The 14-18 could have easily been 18-14 if the ball bounced a different way a little bit.”

Last season, the Panthers were plagued with inconsistency, as the team finished with a 14-18 overall record and an 8-10 conference record. FIU also failed to develop a road-warrior mentality by posting a lousy 3-9 road record.

Bright spots for FIU, however, were the emergence of point guard Brian Beard, Jr. and two-guard Trejon Jacob. Both transferred into the program from different junior colleges and proved to be the scoring catalysts for the Panthers throughout the previous season.

Beard, Jr. led the Panthers in scoring with 16.4 points-per-game and also assists with 5.7 per-game. The defensive-minded guard complimented his scoring by leading FIU in steals by averaging 2.9 per-game, which was best for first in C-USA.

Jacob was second on the team in scoring, as he averaged 14.5 points-per-game. The Raleigh, NC native, was also a factor on the boards by averaging 5.0 rebounds-per-game.

With the offseason in motion, Ballard explained that his immediate goals for the team are to prepare them physically and mentally for the 2018-2019 season.

“We’re going to attack this summer. For our guys it’s a new system, it’s going to be a new way of playing, it’s going to be a new way of talking, in terms of terminology and the way we talk about things,” said Ballard. “They’re going to have to get used to a new staff. I fully understand, these players didn’t choose me, but I chose them, and I’m excited to be their head coach.”