Andy Enfield

[Orangeyes]

Listened to him the other day and it was amazing to hear how he constructed this team. First, it must be mentioned that Enfield worked in the NBA in the player development department. In that capacity it was his job to clean up footwork, tweak shooting technique and smooth off the rough edges of prospects under his charge.

Basically, I would surmise, a fledgling school like Florida Gulf Coast, would have to do a lot of lab work to produce a winner. The players on that team have some basic attributes of blue chippers without the blue chip price tag and prior hype.

FGCU was a school I had never heard of until Selection Sunday, oh maybe I heard earlier this year that they knocked off Miami but the Canes were always bad anyway so who would be paying attention and it probably didn't register.

They are fast, athletic, determined and unfazed by the spotlight. A lot of psychological work had to be done to get these kids the edge that they play with. On offense they like to get a shot in the first 7 seconds, if a good one isn't there they go into some quick NBA sets. They have a plan on every possession.

How will they fare against the Gators? I don't know but Enfield has shown there is a different way to construct a winner without being a marque program.

 

[jdubs30]

It's a nice story no doubt, and I always thought they had a great chance to beat GTown (beating SDSU surprised me). But I think they're going to get blown out to be honest. GTown and SDSU have some athletes, but they aren't overly athletic anywhere; UF has some big time athletes and speed

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Listened to him the other day and it was amazing to hear how he constructed this team. First, it must be mentioned that Enfield worked in the NBA in the player development department. In that capacity it was his job to clean up footwork, tweak shooting technique and smooth off the rough edges of prospects under his charge.

Basically, I would surmise, a fledgling school like Florida Gulf Coast, would have to do a lot of lab work to produce a winner. The players on that team have some basic attributes of blue chippers without the blue chip price tag and prior hype.

FGCU was a school I had never heard of until Selection Sunday, oh maybe I heard earlier this year that they knocked off Miami but the Canes were always bad anyway so who would be paying attention and it probably didn't register.

They are fast, athletic, determined and unfazed by the spotlight. A lot of psychological work had to be done to get these kids the edge that they play with. On offense they like to get a shot in the first 7 seconds, if a good one isn't there they go into some quick NBA sets. They have a plan on every possession.

How will they fare against the Gators? I don't know but Enfield has shown there is a different way to construct a winner without being a marque program.

determined and unfazed by the spotlight

This is the difference. Give me good players who play with aggression, confidence, swagger, and togetherness over allegedly great players who don't. Get them to play on their toes, not on their heels (literally and figuratively). Play to your strengths knowing what you do will work, not to your opponent's weakness only hoping they don't figure out how to beat you. Dictate the flow of the game, not just react to what your opponent does.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

Andy reminds me of Paul Westhead of Loyola Marymount in the mid to late 80's

 

[Jasonrob44]

It's a nice story no doubt, and I always thought they had a great chance to beat GTown (beating SDSU surprised me). But I think they're going to get blown out to be honest. GTown and SDSU have some athletes, but they aren't overly athletic anywhere; UF has some big time athletes and speed

I actually live in Fort Myers and have a brother that goes to FGCU, and am married to a Gators fan that's actually torn as to who she's pulling for since she used to party at FGCU back in the day before there were any type of lighting on campus outside of the dorms. She literally watched the university build from the ground up. So I can provide SOME insight here...

Interesting match up! As for the Gators, they are a team that goes as their 3's go. If they are hitting from the outside they are very tough to beat. However, when they are off they severely struggle. They do play great defense and do have some nice athletes but to me, they are very one dimensional. If Ensfield, who has been absolutely masterful at game planning thus far in the tournament, can come up with something to control UF's perimeter game I can very easily see FGCU beating them. If the Gators are on however, it could be ugly. I saw a stat the other day that said that UF get's something like 40% of their offense from 3's!

As for FGCU, my brother said that campus has been an absolute whirlwind all week. The locals and the snowbirds are flooding the campus which is usually very quiet. There are signs up all over town like I haven't seen in my 8 years of living down here. My brother also said that the national media has been all over campus all week as well. There is no doubt that this has to be at least a little bit of a distraction for the players. However the reports are that the players are taking it well. SWFLCuse can add to this since he's very connected to the program, but the players are very loose as they have been all tournament. On last night's news, they were showing some of the players participating in a dunk contest after practice yesterday. Basically this team is playing with nothing to loose and are having an absolute blast with this whole thing. If the stars align once again like they did in the Gtown game, I can easily see FGCU knocking off the Gators and making a run to the elite 8.

 

[cto]

As I said in a thread a few days ago, their success comes as no surprise to Adrian Autry who recruited against them when he was at Va Tech. The Hokies were amazed that they were losing recruits they really wanted to a school they had barely heard of. Adrian predicted they would beat SDSU, and he said they would only keep getting better as long as Enfield was there.

 

[SU2NASA]

He's been a CEO of two companies, is sitting on millions of dollars, he gets to coach basketball because it's fun, he took a random school that sounds like a regional airport to become the first 15-seed to go to the Sweet 16, and he's married to a model.

The guy has won at life, we're all competing for second.

 

[sufandu]

I've really liked watching him in interviews. I'll be interested to see which big time program snags him or if he decides to go the Brad Stevens route of staying in a place and establishing a program. Here's the recruiting pitch, "Look what we did with guys noone heard of before. Imagine what we could do with you. Oh, and by the way, we have a beach on campus... within view of the dorms... without Miami's crime."

 

[Jasonrob44]

As I said in a thread a few days ago, their success comes as no surprise to Adrian Autry who recruited against them when he was at Va Tech. The Hokies were amazed that they were losing recruits they really wanted to a school they had barely heard of. Adrian predicted they would beat SDSU, and he said they would only keep getting better as long as Enfield was there.

They have a transfer coming in that will be eligible next season named Jamail Jones. My brother says that the other players on the team are completely in awe of how good he is. He was originally a Marquette commit that was a 4 star recruit and a top 100 players on some sites. Word is that he's actually better than Sherwood Brown. It's absolutely amazing as to how fast this program is growing, and I have to wonder what Ensfields ambitions are.

He obviously doesn't need the money, he is set there and his salary is set to double at FGCU anyway, so I don't think he will be chasing dollars. I could see him leaving for a bigger school. I think he will be a hot candidate for the school that UCLA poaches their next coach from. However, he has literally built a program that is on the verge of becoming the next Butler, VCU, or Gonzaga. Does he stay and see that through? It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Orange87]

Not gonna happen.

FGCU is a great story and they're a good team on a roll, but let's take a step back. As a 15 seed, Georgetown simply didn't take them as seriously as they should have and by the time the Hoyas realized what was happening it was too late. SDSU wasn't nearly as good a team as Georgetown and they caught under the steamroller.

Different story now though. FGCU isn't sneaking up on Florida and Donovan is an excellent coach who has had more than enough time to prepare for them.

And lets not forget, as much as the FGCU has looked like world-beaters, this season they've lost to VCU by 23, Duke by 21, Iowa State by 11 and freakin' St. John's by 11. In addition to those teams they've also gotten beat by national powerhouses Maine, Mercer, East Tennessee State, Lipscomb (twice) and Stetson.

I would bet quite a lot of money that that Cinderella's slipper gets smashed to pieces on Friday night.

 

[Jasonrob44]

I've really liked watching him in interviews. I'll be interested to see which big time program snags him or if he decides to go the Brad Stevens route of staying in a place and establishing a program. Here's the recruiting pitch, "Look what we did with guys noone heard of before. Imagine what we could do with you. Oh, and by the way, we have a beach on campus... within view of the dorms... without Miami's crime."

Not that it knocks down how awesome it is to have a beach on campus any, but the beach is actually on Miramar lake. I think that many assume that it's actually on the gulf. Still VERY nice however and the Gulf is only about a 20 minute drive away from the campus.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

They have a transfer coming in that will be eligible next season named Jamail Jones. My brother says that the other players on the team are completely in awe of how good he is. He was originally a Marquette commit that was a 4 star recruit and a top 100 players on some sites. Word is that he's actually better than Sherwood Brown. It's absolutely amazing as to how fast this program is growing, and I have to wonder what Ensfields ambitions are.

He obviously doesn't need the money, he is set there and his salary is set to double at FGCU anyway, so I don't think he will be chasing dollars. I could see him leaving for a bigger school. I think he will be a hot candidate for the school that UCLA poaches their next coach from. However, he has literally built a program that is on the verge of becoming the next Butler, VCU, or Gonzaga. Does he stay and see that through? It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wouldn't say the rest of the team is in awe of Jamail, but he has some serious talent. If he plays with all his effort then he could be close to unstoppable at the A-sun level. There are times he can get frustrated and pout, and when he does that he is less than impressive because he tries to force shot and doesn't look to make the smart play. He also can settle for jump shots a bit to often.

 

[Jasonrob44]

I wouldn't say the rest of the team is in awe of Jamail, but he has some serious talent. If he plays with all his effort then he could be close to unstoppable at the A-sun level. There are times he can get frustrated and pout, and when he does that he is less than impressive because he tries to force shot and doesn't look to make the smart play. He also can settle for jump shots a bit to often.

Good stuff. Perhaps this is why things didn't work out for him at Marquette?

 

[SWFLCUSE]

Good stuff. Perhaps this is why things didn't work out for him at Marquette?

I believe the main reason it didn't work at Marquette was playing time, he was behind Johnson-odom, crowder, blue, and mayo on the depth chart for wing players. He probably would have played this year, but not as much as he wanted. He thought he wasn't given a fair shot to start.

 

[texascpa]

They have a transfer coming in that will be eligible next season named Jamail Jones. My brother says that the other players on the team are completely in awe of how good he is. He was originally a Marquette commit that was a 4 star recruit and a top 100 players on some sites. Word is that he's actually better than Sherwood Brown. It's absolutely amazing as to how fast this program is growing, and I have to wonder what Ensfields ambitions are.

He obviously doesn't need the money, he is set there and his salary is set to double at FGCU anyway, so I don't think he will be chasing dollars. I could see him leaving for a bigger school. I think he will be a hot candidate for the school that UCLA poaches their next coach from. However, he has literally built a program that is on the verge of becoming the next Butler, VCU, or Gonzaga. Does he stay and see that through? It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Yeah, I heard that they have two very good players that were not eligible this year.

 

[sufandu]

Not that it knocks down how awesome it is to have a beach on campus any, but the beach is actually on Miramar lake. I think that many assume that it's actually on the gulf. Still VERY nice however and the Gulf is only about a 20 minute drive away from the campus.

Yeah, I knew that, but the view out of the basketball players pic that was posted before the tourney was the nicest I've seen from a dorm room. I went to SUNY Oswego and the view of Lake Ontario in march isn't quite the same, haha.

 

[Moontan]

I would bet quite a lot of money that that Cinderella's slipper gets smashed to pieces on Friday night.

I've seen *a lot* of Gator games this year.

They're very inconsistent. Last year they were soft (saw them in person). They're a bit better now but don't look very confident. Rosario is Rosario (which in my eyes, is usually not a good thing). They live and die by chucking 3s. If Murphy is off or has more foul issues it could be a long night for the Gators. That said, the Minnesota game was the first one in ages where they faded and came back to finish strong.

I believe the game will be a lot closer than people expect. 12.5/13 points would be too high for me to touch.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

Yeah, I heard that they have two very good players that were not eligible this year.

The other player ineligible this season was Nate Hicks. He is a 6'10" 220 lbs center which is almost unheard of in the A-Sun. He will bring some solid low post defense and doesn't need the ball in his hands to make an impact on offense. He won't put up flashy numbers but he will bring the size that could look like a high level D-1 team based off the look test.
I could see stints next year where this team runs out a lineup of;
Nate Hicks 6'10
Eric McKnight 6'9
Chase Fieler 6'8
Jamail Jones 6'6
Brett Comer 6'3

The thought of this makes me giddy.

 

[Madbiker]

Where did he find these guys? No McD AA's. No top 100 ranked kids. But these guys have talent. I can't believe though that they lost to St. John's early in the season. We need to find a couple of "unranked" kids like these.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

Where did he find these guys? No McD AA's. No top 100 ranked kids. But these guys have talent. I can't believe though that they lost to St. John's early in the season. We need to find a couple of "unranked" kids like these.

In Enfield's first class he brought in Comer, Thompson, Cvjeticanin, and McKnight.
Comer got released from his LOI from FAU after his father died of cancer, Enfield just gave him the opportunity to start and the confidence to play away from home. There was a time when it was on the table for Brett to go to Rollins college, which was closer to home.
Thompson almost ended up playing baseball instead of basketball, he has a mid 90s fastball, and a plus offspeed pitch. Enfield offered him the same thing he offered Brett which was a chance to start as a freshman. The real thing that put Bernard over the top was the fact that he could be part of something special and help build the school from the bottom up.
Cvjeticanin was a light recruited 6'8 sharpshoot from Croatia. His father played on the 1992 Croatian team that lost to the USA in the gold medal game. He has had a down season this year due to chronic back problems, but make no mistake when he is healthy he can be deadly of the bench.
Finally McKnight was a transfer frown Iowa St. who was promised more PT than he was given as a freshman. Enfield saw his potential and gave him a second shot and he has not disappointed.

 

[Col. Bleep]

The biggest question I have is how on earth Sherwood Brown was a walk-on?????

Nice article below.

Best line: “I don’t joke around with him about his wife,’’ Fieler said. “He does control my playing time.’’
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/80768/fgcu-coachs-risks-are-paying-off

 

[sufandu]

Where did he find these guys? No McD AA's. No top 100 ranked kids. But these guys have talent. I can't believe though that they lost to St. John's early in the season. We need to find a couple of "unranked" kids like these.

The better question is, how does he go about developing them after he gets them? He said in one interview that his staff has changed everything about the way these kids play. They've taught them how to pass, dribble, and shoot. He said a couple of years ago, the lob passes that are making them dunkcity now were into the stands.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

The biggest question I have is how on earth Sherwood Brown was a walk-on?????

Nice article below.

Best line: “I don’t joke around with him about his wife,’’ Fieler said. “He does control my playing time.’’
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/80768/fgcu-coachs-risks-are-paying-off

That's the million dollar question, sometimes talent just falls through the cracks. He is the heart and soul of this team and plays with a chip on his shoulder unlike any I have seen before. I honestly could see him getting some shot in the Nba. He is a 6'4 sg who is built like a bull, can get to the rim as well as shoot from 3. I think his persona is the thing that will give him a chance.

 

[texascpa]

The better question is, how does he go about developing them after he gets them? He said in one interview that his staff has changed everything about the way these kids play. They've taught them how to pass, dribble, and shoot. He said a couple of years ago, the lob passes that are making them dunkcity now were into the stands.

A few things:

1) He has one of the best FT % in college basketball history, so he knows mechanics
2) He was a player quality control assistant in the NBA, teaching players how to shoot properly
3) He was a founder of AllNetShooting.com that provides technique training, consultation and instructional material

The guy knows basketball.

From this article:

Nelson describe Enfield as a clutch player. Yeah -- kinda. In 12 postseason games, he went 55 for 56 from the foul line. His 92.5 free-throw percentage remains an NCAA record across all divisions, men's and women's. Enfield was inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. He is a two-time First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American (1990 and 1991) who graduated with a 3.52 GPA.
Still-standing Hopkins records at the school:
-- Single-season points (610)
-- Career points (2,025)
-- Career scoring average (18.8)
-- Career field goal attempts (1,302)
-- Career field goals (680)
-- Career 3-pointers (234)
-- Career 3-point percentage (.470)
-- Career free throws (431)
-- Single-season free-throw percentage (95.3)
-- Career minutes (3,542)
-- Career minutes per game (32.8)

 

[AluminNV]

THey are legit good and will be next year. He needs to schedule them good games early but this year they went on the road and played good teams.

Confidence is a big part of basketball and Enfield has given to the kids he deserves plenty of credit for their 2 wins.

That said that type of ball guarantees you'll have off nights and be extremely beatable those offnights. Now they will be high profile all the teams they play will be gunning to get a big win against them. So they probably disappoint next year regular season until/unless they win the conference tourney and go dancing.