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I was thinking recently that it’s probably time to stop using the phrase “new-look team” to describe a college basketball team. It’s a bit of a redundant designation these days. Is it a college basketball team? Yep, well then it’s a new-look team.
Consider these official NCAA statistics about roster turnover. Your average school can expect the following attrition after any given year:
— 2 players lost to graduation
— 2 players lost to transfer
— 1 player lost to falling deeply in love during a summer semester in Spain
— 0.75 players lost to pursue their dreams of becoming an astronaut
— 0.25 players lost by Delta Airlines
That’s approaching half a roster right there! And so it is for FIU, which welcomed four freshmen and three graduate transfers to the squad this year.
Howdy, Pantherinos
| FIU in '22 | Adj OE/DE (rk) | eFG% | TO% | OR% | 2FG% | 3FG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIU in '22 | Adj OE/DE (rk) | eFG% | TO% | OR% | 2FG% | 3FG% |
| Offense | 97.3 (278) | 49.9 (173) | 20.1 (289) | 27.0 (210) | 49.0 (207) | 34.0 (153) |
| Defense | 106.1 (248) | 50.2 (184) | 18.5 (162) | 29.8 (250) | 50.2 (198) | 33.4 (166) |
The Panthers lost three senior starters, and had a fourth starter leave for the greener pastures of Duquesne, as one does. Their leading scorer through two games this season (one of those was against a D-II school) is sophomore guard Denver Jones (6’4, 195), who’s at 17.5 PPG.
Jones was a high-workload contributor as a freshman and proved a pretty good three-point shooter (36%), but the main thing with him is you do not want to let him start racking up free throw attempts. He was 103-115 (89.6%) at the stripe last year, so he not only got there a lot, he was just about automatic.
Freshman Arturo Dean (5’11) and junior Javaunte Hawkins (5’11, 160) are off to nice starts to the year as well.
FIU was among the most three-inclined teams in the country last season, and I wouldn’t expect many of the guys on this guard-heavy roster to be shy about taking those shots. The Panthers don’t play a lot of bigs to begin with, while the ones who do play tend not to be involved in the offense much.
One of them is seven-footer Seth Pinkney, who has been an elite shot blocker throughout his career. NC State has yet to face a dude like this, so we’ll se what adjustments that entails.
KenPom likes NC State by 15.
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