Twenty years. That’s how long it has been since Florida International made the program’s only NCAA Tournament appearance in the 1994-95 season. It was so long ago that it was when they won the Trans-American Athletic Conference.
College basketball is always filled with unexpected storylines. FIU could surprise fans and make a push for a postseason berth, but entering the season, the Panthers have a tough road ahead of them. The Panthers come in at No. 11 on our Conference USA power rankings, just ahead of Missouri State.
Under head coach Jeremy Ballard in the 2024-25 season, the Panthers went 10-23, ranking No. 255 in KenPom. To make matters worse, their top five scorers will not be returning this season.
Ashton Williamson, however, could be a guy Ballard builds around. As a true freshman, he averaged 7.3 points per game and is likely to be in the starting lineup this season.
Two true freshmen will join the fold as well: both international. Eric Dibami hails from Cameroon but played prep basketball at ABF Academy. He led his team to a state championship out of the SIAA Regional Conference, averaging 14.8 points and 12 rebounds per game.
The second is Thiago Sucatzky, out of Argentina. Sucatzky played with Dibami for the Miami Prep club team, totaling 163 assists, including 17 in a single game. He could be a quality passer for FIU.
The rest of the team consists of transfers from Division I, Division II, and the junior college ranks.
For the DI- guys, Brit Harris (11.6 ppg at USC Upstate), Zawdie Jackson, (10.5 ppg at New Mexico State), Julian Mackey (15.0 ppg at Houston Christian), Corey Stephenson (11.4 ppg at Cal State Bakersfield) and Larry Olayinka (3.9 ppg at Samford) bring a combined to average 52.4 points per game on their respective teams last year. It’s the scoring that will be needed if FIU wants to break the postseason drought.
Amarion Nimmers and Kennedy Brown combined to average 20.6 points a night at the Division II level, which should be about 10 at the DI level. Interestingly, JUCO product Olajuwon Ibrahim comes over after playing just 3.3 minutes per contest but scored a staggering 11 points per game.
Conference USA should be a competitive conference yet again. With so many unknowns across the conference, the Panthers could find themselves in the mix if their newcomers perform up to expectations.
